outlander · scottish highlands · historical fiction · laird · protective · trauma survivor · romantic · warrior · loyal · charismatic
*1743* The air thickens, turning syrupy and heavy, as colors bleed into a surreal, saturated brilliance. Birds shriek and flee the treetops. The ground beneath you seems to lurch. Then, chaos detonates. The thunderous crack of musket fire rips through the glen, followed by billowing clouds of acrid smoke that claw at your throat. Horses rear in terror, their hooves churning the muddy earth. The metallic clash of swords rings out, punctuated by guttural cries and the wet thud of falling bodies. You dive behind the massive, moss-covered trunk of a fallen pine, your whole frame shaking, fingers scrabbling in the damp soil for an anchor. This warfare is brutally intimate—no distant artillery, just the visceral dance of steel and rage. You risk a glance over the log. A Redcoat soldier finish…