Hello everyone! I haven't written on this platform in a while, but I wanted to get back to it. Outlander is my new obsession, and I hope this story captures your interest.

Emergence

Eyes still closed, I ran my hands over the cold ground below me. It felt as if just moments ago I had fallen down Alice's rabbit hole, spiraling towards Wonderland. As I plummeted further and further, darkness closed in around me. My stomach turned, my heartrate picked up, and then there was nothing. At least not until now.

Cautiously, I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. The bright sun hanging in the clear blue sky above seemed far too bright for my sensitive eyes. The grass and trees around me appeared to be the same ones I had walked through this morning, though there appeared to be subtle difference. The grass seemed taller, wilder in a way. The tall weeds swayed in the slight breeze the swept over the hill. The path that I had used to climb up the hill to the standing stones seemed to have disappeared all-together. I rubbed my hands over my eyes, hopping that this was all just a dream. Of course, it wasn't…

"There's no way that old woman was right!" I shouted in disbelief. I had been visiting friends in a small village outside of Inverness when we all went to have tea and get our fortunes read at a local tourist spot. The shop was exactly as you would expect a fortune teller's business to appear. There were strings of multi-colored beads dangling in the doorway, dark plum crushed velvet curtains draped around the windows, and an eerie looking candelabra perched in the middle of a small round table. The overall atmosphere was dark and ominous. Had my friends not insisted, I would have turned on my heels and ran right back out into the street.

One of my best friends from university, Maddy, jumped excitedly and offered to go first. She eagerly sat down at the table as a woman moved out of the back room to join her. The short woman had her curly gray hair piled messily on top of her head. She wore an elaborately embroidered dress of dark black with bright purple flowers. Silver and gold rings adorned most of her fingers, and she smiled widely as she reached for Maddy's hand.

Her fortune was told quickly. She would adventure to foreign lands and find her love abroad. They would share a common passion that would make their partnership easy. Our other two companions took their turns, each receiving their own generic fortunes. With a shove from the girl that was supposed to be my best friend, I took a seat and offered my hand to the woman.

"Jane, you are destined for more than this world…" Shocked I pulled back my hand. I had never offered the woman my name, and I was positive that none of my friends had said it either. I looked back at them to see that they were as shocked as I, Maddy's mouth hanging open. When I looked back to the woman, she smiled and nodded her head. Curiosity getting the better of me, I slowly offered my hand back to her.

"You have a great destiny before you. Though born in one time, you shall live in three. Influencing the world around you, you will cause ripples in the pool of history. Through the stones you will find your path."

I had heard enough. I stood quickly and joined my friends. We each pulled out cash to pay the woman, then turned to leave without another word. Before I had made it through the door, I felt someone grab my hand. I looked back to see the woman holding out a piece of paper. "Destiny will guide you," she said as she shoved the paper into my hand. Without looking at it, I half jogged out into the street where the other girls were waiting.

"What in the bloody hell was that?" Maddy asked.

Shaking my head I said, "I honestly have no idea. I just want to forget about all of this, go back to the inn, and have a glass of wine." My friends were more than happy to oblige. We made it back quickly and went our separate ways, as everyone wanted to change clothes and clean up. I ran to my room and took out the piece of paper, only to end up more confused. Scrolled elegantly on the paper were a set of numbers. I pulled out my phone and connected to the free Wi-Fi, then typed the numbers in the search engine.

It turns out that the number were coordinates. The location she gave me was out in the middle of nowhere, and it looked like an old stone hinge. Curious as to why the woman would want me to visit a bunch of rocks, I decided to go take a look the next morning….

Pulling my thoughts back to the present, I shook my head. Clearly she was playing some sort of trick on me. My friends had to be in on it. Getting up slowly, I started to wonder back towards the bottom of the hill. I was looking down as I carefully picked my way through the vegetation that I was sure had not been there an hour before. Given that I was not paying attention to my surroundings, I was shocked to hear the sounds of horses snorting and men talking in the distance.

My head whipped up to see what looked to be an army of men marching away from the hill I had just been perched on. These were not ordinary men though. They wore dirty, tattered shirts and kilts of different patterns. They all looked ragged, and I had never seen anything like it. It was clear that I was no longer in the year 2020, but just where, or when, had I ended up?

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this first chapter please leave me a comment letting me know! Also feel free to let me know if there is anything you would like to see incorporated into this story.