A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first story on this site and I'm extremely excited. You might've noticed that I've this story M, that is because of later chapters that may contain Torture and Rape. I will warn you in my A/Ns if the chapters contain any of the forementioned. Please read, enjoy and review.

Hope couldn't understand what had just happened. A second ago he was on Pulse fighting - with Lightning and the others, Barthandelus to the death. Now he's in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by what seemed like an endless scorching desert.

Where the hell am I? Hope thought in sheer astonishment as he surveyed the scene, and where are the others?

"Light!" He called, "Snow! Vanille! Sazh! Fang!" However he was not rewarded by hearing the familiar voices of his friends. So he sat down on the searing sand, shocked by the enormity of the situation he was in. His gloved hand covered his face, blocking his view and granting him the comfort of blocking out reality. Even if it was just for a few seconds.

Millions of questions raced through his mind. What should he do? Or actually, what could he do to find his friends or even any sign of civilization. His fingers parted slightly, granting him a look at the yellow sand underneath his feet. Hope ran his hand through his now sweat-soaked hair, trying to concentrate on what he should do next.

I should probably find some water he thought. This desert is sucking me dry. But a quick look around him confirmed that that was impossible. He couldn't see any sign of life, not even a single cactus. An idea suddenly formed in his mind, and he started shoveling the sand with his hand, until a hole about forty centimeters deep and twenty wide was created.

Hope aimed his hand at the hole and muttered, "Water" and the hole started to fill up with clear clean water. He drank from it as much as he could, relishing its freshness and coolness. "At least I wouldn't die of dehydration." Hope muttered.

Then he began making his way in the direction that, he hoped, would lead him out of this hell of a desert.

Two days later

Hope was not in a good mood. He'd spent the last two days walking aimlessly through the desert and now his feet hurt so much that he couldn't walk without limping. Also to add to his misery he was sunburned and had what seemed like a permanent headache.

"I don't want to see another grain of sand for the rest of my life!" He cried in frustration. Great, now I'm talking to sand he thought humorlessly. Then he stopped dead in his tracks.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing and he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining things. Hope saw grass! Not endless piles of sand, but lush green grass! He ran in that direction and he saw trees, with fruits of all shapes and colours hanging from them. Hope never thought he'd be as happy as he was now to see a bunch of trees.

His happiness was short-lived.

He was so engrossed in the fact that he escaped the desert that he failed to notice that he was being watched until it was too late.

Hope's hands were wrenched from behind and held tightly, in a vice-like grip behind his back. He struggled to free himself but it was all in vain. He turned his head to look at his captor, and all colour drained from his face.

The creature holding him had a body similar to a human's; however that's where the similarities ended. The creature's skin was grey and it stood a little more than six feet in height. The head was the most hideous part of that creature; it had long curved lethal horn jutting out from both sides. With yellow eyes and sharp fangs that gleamed viciously when it smiled.

A clinking sound came from in front of Hope, and he turned his head to see a man clad in full body armour. With his sword drawn out.

"Who are you?" The stranger enquired rather harshly,"and what are you doing here?"

"My name's Hope and I was about to eat some of those fruits before you and your pal here rudely interrupted," Hope replied in irritation. He was determined to show this man that he was not afraid of him or his pal.

"What should we do with him?" The ugly creature asked with his loud rough voice. Hope was shocked; he didn't think that monster was capable of speech.

"What do you think Urgal?" Stranger spoke the last word like it was an insult. Maybe it was, Hope thought. "We take him to Stronghammer." he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The Urgal glared at the man and if glares could kill that man would be dead now. However he didn't object.

The teen wasn't going to let these two drag him to whoever Stronghammer was without a proper explanation, at least not without a fight. He suddenly jerked his hands upwards as strongly as he could. Luckily the Urgal did not expect this move and his hold on Hope slackened.

Hope took this opportunity. "Aeroga!" he shouted. As soon as the single word was spoken a small but powerful tornado formed. It sucked both the soldier and the Urgal into it and spun them wildly around its vortex.

The teen turned to leave, but a piercing pain from the back of his head stopped him from taking another step and left him barely conscious. Somehow the Urgal was able to hurl a medium-sized stone at Hope's head while being spun around by the tornado. He watched in satisfaction as the boy finally collapsed unconscious.

The miniature tornado stopped and both the soldier and Urgal fell brutally to the ground. The Urgal walked towards the teen's limp body and threw him over his shoulder then strode towards their camp with the soldier nervously following him.

The two soldiers strode into the camp drawing weird stares from their fellow soldiers, human and Urgal. It was the figure on the Urgal's shoulder that attracted those stares.

Ignoring the strange looks aimed at them, the odd pair made their way towards captain Stronghammer's tent. The human soldier who stood guard at the tent let them in easily enough, although he raised an eyebrow when he saw what the Urgal was carrying.

Roran Stronghammer was discussing the last raid his unit had successfully completed with his right hand man Carn, who was also the unit's magician, when the two soldiers entered. The Urgal Roran recognized him as Zwanger and the human was Hank.

"Hank, Zwanger aren't you supposed to be guarding the camp, and what the hell are you carrying!" Roran exclaimed, flabbergasted by the sight of the limp body the Urgal was carrying.

"That's the reason we came here, sir" Hank answered a little uneasily. "We saw him walking towards our camp, and when we asked him about what he was doing in this area he evaded our questions. We asked him to come with us to the camp so that you can deal with him sir, but he unleashed a hurricane at us. He would've escaped if Zwanger here didn't knock him out."

"So what you're telling us is that this boy can use magic," Carn said doubtfully. "And that he's powerful enough to manipulate wind and nearly defeat two of the Varden's finest soldiers." Hank lowered his gaze till he was staring at the ground shamefully.

"You're both excused," said Roran. "Oh, and leave the boy here"

Zwanger laid Hope down on the floor though not too gently, and left with Hank.

"What should we do?" Carn asked.

"Firstly you should heal him" Roran said, "The back of his head is bleeding."

Carn kneeled down next to Hope and laid his hand lightly on the damaged area. Then he muttered "Waise heill." The flesh started to mend itself and the wound closed.

"What next Stronghammer" Carn asked.

"We wait,"Roran replied and turned back to his work.

Hope woke up fifteen minutes later. During that time Carn had left to tend to his other duties.

"So you're finally awake" the man sitting on a chair next to him said. Hope was lying on the ground with what felt like a pillow underneath his head.

No duh! Hope thought. The man who spoke was also dressed in armour however without his helmet, so hope could see his brown hair, eyes and short beard.

"I'm Roran," said the man "what's your name?"

"Hope," he replied feeling a bit groggy.

"I'm going to ask you some questions and it's very important that you answer me honestly, is that okay with you?"

Hope nodded and sat up, still feeling that this whole situation is just a dream and that he is going to wake up any minute now and joke about it later with his friends.

"My first question is what were you doing when my soldiers found you today?"

"Nothing, I was just passing by."

"Then where were you headed?"

"I don't know…" Hope answered honestly.

"Alright then, where did you come from? Surda? Uru'baen?"

"The desert?" The teen answered uncertainly.

Roran didn't doubt that last answer; if the boy can really use magic then he could probably survive in the Hadarac desert for as long as he wanted, his cousin had done it a few times.

"So, I saved the most important question for last," Roran said gazing into the teen's eyes as if the answer lay somewhere inside. "Do you work for Galbatorix?"

"Who?"

"The king, king Galbatorix do you work for him?" Roran asked patiently.

"No," he honestly had no idea what the man was talking about. Also Surda and Uru'baen didn't ring any bells, he was certain there were no places called by these names on Pulse or Cocoon.

"So now is my turn to ask," Hope said eagerly. "Where am I?" this was the question he's been asking himself ever since this mess started, and now he would finally know the answer.

"You're in a camp on the western side of Lake Tudosten," Roran replied, guessing that maybe the boy had amnesia or something similar, after all how could anyone not know the accursed king of Alagaesia. An idea occurred to him and he stood up, fetched what looked like a worn out scroll from the table at the far side of the tent and handed it to Hope before returning to his seat.

Hope examined the piece of paper that he held in his hands. It was obviously a map of a place called Alagaesia. He could easily see Lake Tudosten next to the Hadarac desert, and then realization struck…

He was lucky extremely lucky; if he'd chosen another direction while he was in the desert he could have been lost in there forever, surrounded by an endless ocean of scorching sand dunes, with no food and little water.

However, time was the one thing Hope didn't have. He glanced at the brand on his wrist, which was barely visible under the scarf that he had tied over it, like he'd done every day since he'd got it. The red-eye in the middle was still closed and three arrows were still missing. But once the brand advances to its final stage he'll turn into a monstrous Cei'th, unless he completes his focus, which is impossible as long as he's here so far away from home.

The thought brought tears to Hope's eyes and he blinked furiously to keep them from falling. Roran was still with him and he would't cry in front of a stranger.

"What now?" Hope asked miserably.

"It depends, on whether you stay with us or leave," Roran replied gently. He had sensed the boy's sudden change in mood. "If you want to leave, then you can do so right now, no one will try to stop you and I'll give you directions to wherever you want to go. However, if you choose to stay, then you'll travel with us back to the Varden."

"What-?"

A blond man in his early twenties entered the tent at that moment. His blue eyes looked troubled but as soon as he saw that Hope was awake and well, he smiled kindly and sat opposite to him on the ground.

"How are you feeling?" He asked looking genuinely concerned.

"Fine, I guess." Hope replied timidly. He was taken aback by the man's actual concern for his well-being.

"Hope this is my right hand man Carn, Carn this is Hope." Roran introduced them.

"You still didn't answer my question," Hope told Roran.

"Ah yes, the Varden are a group of rebels whose sole aim is to overthrow the king. They are led by the Lady Nasuada."

"This unit is part of the Varden," Carn added.

"Why do you want to overthrow the king?" Hope asked, puzzled.

"Because he's an evil merciless man with a sorry excuse for a heart. He uses his power to control the people. He sets high taxes that people can barely pay. He imprisons and kills whomever he wants for no reason without even a trial." Roran spoke with obvious contempt and his brown eyes were filled with anguish like he was reminiscing a dreadful memory.

He must have experienced these things to feel this furious, Hope pondered.

"I'll stay," he said confidently.

"Okay but there is something that you must do if you were to stay," Hope didn't like the sound of that.