No one saw Hope during those days after.  Not once did someone notice a light in the Augustine house window that usually shone brightly each night as Hope read herself to sleep.  She shut herself off for those days, to the point where people wondered if she was even alive.

That is what made the day Hope stepped out of the protection of her home so surprising to the people of  Blackoak.  News spread through the town like a whirlwind, "Hope is better!" they would say.  You see, Hope was well liked around the city, the townsfolk were all very concerned for her well being.

The unfortunate truth was that Hope was anything but ok.  Ever since Jason was taken she had slipped into a state of depression.  Every night she would be welcomed to sleep by horrid nightmares of the Patrol.  The only reason she left her house was to go to the local apothecary, a person in every town who practiced the arts of superstition as well as medicine.

The little door bell rang as she pushed open the door into the store.  It smelled of herbs.  She yelled, "Hello, anyone here?  I need something for bad dreams."

She got no response, so she began examining a few of the things on the tables around the store.  A small circular mirror caught her eye.  It's edges were embroidered with amber, but the mirror itself appeared to be faulty, when she looked into it all she could see was a burning fire.

"Well then, I see you have taken notice in my Arriareebia," an old man stepped out of the back room who was most definitely the apothecary.

Hope quickly set down the mirror, "I apologize, I shouldn't have touched anything.  Please, forgive me."

The apothecary laughed, "Do not worry young lady, it entices everyone for some reason.  But do tell me, what did you see in the mirror?

"Just a fire, it didn't seem to work well, is it some form of magic?" she asked.

"In many ways, yes.  But it is as I expected, the fire burns bright within you, for anyone else the mirror would have shown darkness.  You have a great destiny in front of you Hope." the apothecary commented.

"What sort of destiny?" Hope asked, this made her curious.  Sure, she didn't believe in all this magic stuff, but the apothecaries were supposed to be some of the wisest people in the land.

"You are destined to bring the fall of Lord Theodoric, as well as reveal the true nature of the Morvis," He replied as he began mixing with some herbs behind his counter.  The two stood in silence for a good amount of time, "Well, here is something to help with those dreams of yours.  And if you would like to follow your destiny, I would suggest going to the capitol of Crystralion, Falmor."

She nodded her thanks as he handed her a vial of a purplish liquid, "Do you need my rations card?"

"For you Hope, no, I'm just glad to help."  He replied smiling.  Hope was just about to close the door behind her when he exclaimed, "Wait!"

She turned around, surprised, "Yes."

"Take the Arriareebia, who knows, its magical qualities may be of some use to you later."  He handed her the mirror.  She politely nodded and then headed back out the door, "And Hope," he said.

She sighed turning around, "Yes?"

"Be careful,"

Hope smiled, "I'll do my best, now I really should get going."  The apothecary nodded as Hope finally made her way back on to the streets of blackoak.

She felt so conflicted.  On one hand, since when did she ever believe in this whole destiny thing?  But, it couldn't hurt to do something sporadic?  With all the events of late, she really wanted to do something crazy like go on an adventure.

And with that, she had made her decision, she would be leaving the next day for Falmor.  As soon as she stepped through her door she began packing contently.  She hummed a little tune as she worked, excited for her journey.

Suddenly her door burst opened, through it came her best friend, Kendrick Teel.  Though something was off, he was usually a very calm person, but now he looked as though he had just seen a ghost.  That and had run a very long distance, he was never the most athletic person.

"Hope, oh good you're packing," he wheezed, "we have to go, the patrol is after you.  Someone reported you for treason."

"What?  If anything I've done is treason, then the whole town of Blackoak should get arrested,"  Hope replied outraged.

"It doesn't matter why, just that they are coming for you," he said, slowly regaining his breath, "They already have the apothecary, we need to get you out of here!""We?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't seriously think that I wouldn't join you on your quest to avoid the patrol," he replied wittily, "nope, you're stuck with me, sorry."

Hope laughed, it was a nice way to lighten to mood a bit, they were after all about to do the impossible.  No one had evaded the patrol for long, they will most certainly find her at some point.  She grabbed her half packed bag, oh well, she probably had enough, "Alright, let's go."

"Awesome, I know a underground passage out of the city, it should help us get out of here undetected." Kendrick said.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Hope exclaimed.  She had to admit this was somewhat exhilarating.

Unfortunately, as soon as they step foot out of Hope's home they heard the patrol yell from down the street, "Halt, by the name of Lord Theodoric!"

Kendrick grabbed her hand pulling her into the crowds.  The one fortunate thing about living in Blackoak, is that no one was going to make it easy for the patrol to capture someone.  They would be a resistant as possible.

They ran down the streets, the patrol, though not exactly sure of their whereabouts, were close behind. "We're almost there," Kendrick told Hope.  "Just around this corner..."

Just as the said that, they literally ran into a patrol officer, "Hey!" he yelled.

"We're very sorry sir," Hope said, "we'll look where we are going next time."

"You better hope you do, now scram!" He exclaimed.

Kendrick and Hope quickly walked past him.  Kendrick pulled her into a small alley in which there was a door.  They opened it and walked into the tunnel.  They could hear the yelling of the patrol from outside.  She almost felt sorry for the guard who let them slip past.  He would no doubt be sacrificed.

Kendrick smiled to Hope as he lit a torch, "We made it!"