Disclaimer: I do not own 'Merlin'. Please remember that I do not own, make money off of, or profit from this story and/or its characters in any way. I only own the plot and any OC characters!

Rating:T for language & fight scenes. Please note- this may change to 'M' later on in the story, but for now I'm running with 'T'. I will make it obvious if the rating changes.

A/N- This chapter is quite text-y and focuses around Aria, the OC, but don't worry, more conversation will happen in Chapter 2 onwards! Please leave constructive comments- no flames please. I'm just trying out this story as I've been thinking about it for a while now, so it would be useful to get some comments and feedback from readers :)

Also, I don't have a beta, so if anyone would like to help beta my work, that would be fantastic- just PM me :)

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Chapter 1: The Beginning

30th July 2013

Sighing, Aria pushed her sun glasses further up her nose and tapped her finger on the steering wheel of her car. Why did she have to be stuck behind a tractor today of all days? Staying late after work had been tedious enough, but now crawling up the hills of the A436 to get home was proving to be even more of a chore. She didn't know what it was, but having to wait in a car was so frustrating! Even if she was in the most beautiful place on the earth, it would annoy her. Aria's eyes started to wander to the surrounding scenery. Taking in the beautiful English countryside landscapes had always been a favourite past time of hers – she could sit in fields all day long, staring up at the sky and day dreaming. Her mother had always told her off for getting 'lost with the fairies', but Aria didn't mind – she felt timeless as she watched the clouds move slowly across her vision.

Flicking her long, blonde hair over her shoulder, Aria sighed again, wishing she were lying in the grass on the hill to her left, so that she could view the Cotswolds landscape, watching life go by. In front, the tractor in front made a churning noise as it shuddered to a near-enough halt. Argh, why drive a tractor up a hill if you know it won't go up it?! Surely this is obvious and just common sense?! Obviously not…

Travelling up a particularly steep bit, Aria's car rolled to a stop. Oh well, at least I stopped in the shade of a tree and can look at the villages sprinkled in the valley to my left… Looking left, Aria noticed a tiny church with a few houses dotted around it. It looked very pretty, and Aria really wished that she was able to live in the countryside again. She had indeed grown up in the middle of nowhere, but as she had gotten older, her parents had thought it was better she grew up in a city- or a town at least- so she could learn more about the world. And so, her family had up-rooted and moved to a town called Cheltenham in the Cotswolds, which was actually a really nice place. Aria had made some wonderful friends at school, and had really enjoyed her time there. However, there was something inside of her which made her miss the countryside, the rolling hills, the forests to be explored and the thrill of running through fields of long grass with the wind whipping at your hair. Now that Aria was a lot older, she had moved to Oxford, which was also a beautiful place and full of fantastic buildings and a lot of history. But, she did wonder why she hadn't moved to the countryside- she supposed it was because she had moved to be closer to her job, as a psychologist, and hadn't really given much thought to where she would live after that.

She had been working away from the office today and had in fact, been to Cheltenham for work. She was originally going to pop into her parents to say hello, but after leaving so late, she decided that she'd much rather go home and relax with a nice glass of sparkling lemonade.

Aria sighed, why, oh WHY, did I choose to go to meet this client today? If I had just gone to the office, I would have been saved from sitting in a boiling hot car behind a stuck tractor in the middle of the countryside.

"BEEP! BEEP!" Aria jumped out of her skin – the cars behind had started beeping the tractor, evidently getting more and more frustrated that they weren't going anywhere. Aria rolled her eyes, it's not like the driver of the tractor can do much – if the tractor is stuck, it's stuck.

Seeing that drivers behind her were getting shifty and starting to inch their cars into the opposite lane, Aria decided she may need to be the first person to overtake the tractor, seeing as she was the first car behind it. Sighing for what seemed like the fiftieth time this journey, Aria edged out into the outside lane to overtake, and when it was clear of traffic, overtook the tractor. She hated doing this, it always felt so dangerous on country roads, but she could just see an accident happening from another car trying to overtake 5 cars (including hers) and the tractor… so she didn't have much of a choice.

Happy she had finally gotten away from being stuck on the hill –not that it was that much of a hassle, if we're honest I was enjoying the scenery- she accelerated and continued on her way, wind flapping her hair all around her face as she drove with the windows down. Turning up her stereo so that she could hear it over the noise of the wind, Aria started singing along to her favourite band, Amplifier, "climb aboard the wave, to somewhere you ain't never been and in a world of make believe-"

Something flashed to her left and Aria, stopping her singing abruptly, shifted her eyes to see what it was. Not noticing anything immediately, and also trying very hard not to look too much as she was driving, shrugged and carried on singing, "I'm gonna catch a ride and see what I can see. I'm gonna climb inside of my time machine into another dimensi-"

Out of nowhere, large amounts of what Aria could only imagine was hay, suddenly hit her window screen and she gave a little shriek of surprise, her car swerving slightly on the road. The hay was gone as soon as it had arrived, and she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. That serves you right for trying to look out of the window at something that flashed when you're driving- it's probably just a window reflecting the light, you moron.

"Wha- hay? Where did that come from?" It suddenly hit her that there was no traffic in front of her –or behind her for that matter- so where on earth had the hay come from? It must have blown from the side of the road, obviously.

Growling in frustration at herself for getting scared over some hay, she continued on her way, still singing along.

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Flinging her keys onto the hallway table, Aria opened the door into her kitchen. Immediately she was greeted by her young, black and white moggie cat, George, who meowed at her indignantly for being left alone all day. Laughing, she picked him up and gave him a cuddle. She bundled him under her right arm, and used her left hand to open the fridge and grab a bottle of sparkling lemonade.

"Right George, that's enough cuddles for you- I'm dying for a drink right now. You've no idea how hot it was in my car, even with the windows down I felt like I was in the middle of a desert!"

"Meow!"

"Don't give me that, I'm sure you've had plenty to do and play with all day." Shaking her head that she was talking to her cat – my God I must be lonely – Aria poured herself a drink and went into her garden. The sun was still beaming, despite it already being nearly eight o'clock.

Aria pulled a chair away from the shade so she could soak up a bit of sun, "This is the life, a nice bit of sun is what I need after today." And it would be nice to make my frustratingly white skin gain a bit of a tan…

Even knowing she shouldn't fall asleep in the sun, especially given that her skin was so fair, Aria felt her eyelids drooping shut…

"CLANG! CLANG! HUFF! Argh, you got me!" Jerking awake, Aria wondered what the hell was going on. Rushing to the wall that surrounded the right side of her garden, she climbed onto her recycling bin to peer over.

"What the…" Across the road were two men dressed in armour! In this weather?! Are they MAD?! Even in normal English weather, why on EARTH would they be in armour?

"Oh, it must be practise for that Tewkesbury Medieval Festival or something… hmmm." Some people really take it seriously… Shaking her head, she looked up and over the wall again and saw that both men had vanished. Oh Jeez, they must be running all over Oxford practising… they're fast though...

Jumping back down, Aria moved her chair into the shade, just in case I have sun stroke and started to imagine things…

Taking another gulp of her drink, Aria thought back to a medieval festival she had gone to when she was a young girl. It had been quite fun, as far as she could remember, and she was able to pat the mane of a horse that had been involved in the jousting competition – this had been the highlight of the entire thing. She grinned thinking about the medieval dress she had tried on- it had been far too big for her and she felt really stupid as an 8 year old in a woman's dress, but at the same time, she felt quite regal. Aria stayed outside for a few more minutes then headed back inside to cook some dinner.

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31st July 2013

The following morning, Aria headed into work like normal. She loved her drive in the mornings as she got to travel through some truly beautiful villages- Burford, Bibury and Barnsley Village. It must be something about villages beginning with 'B'!

The weather was glorious again, so the drive was even more enjoyable- it definitely made the 70 minute commute more bearable, that's for sure. Turning off the main road just past Burford, Aria noticed something shining in the far distance. Straining her eyes to see what it was, she could faintly make out that shining was from light bouncing off two moving objects. Putting her foot down on the accelerator to get closer, Aria noticed it was two people and they appeared to be wearing armour, which caused the light to bounce off them.

"Again?" Aria muttered. Was this a widespread addiction that had escaped my notice?

Turning around a corner, Aria lost sight of the two duelling people, and when the road bent round again, they had gone. That's weird, they've vanished again… I wonder if it was the same two people that I saw yesterday…

Glancing to her left, Aria gasped when she saw a small village full of what could only be described as 'shacks' and small brick buildings. Has that always been there? No I'm sure it hasn't- I drive this way every morning and that old looking village has never been there! Looking back again, Aria saw that the village had vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Oh my God, I'm going insane. Unless… unless it's a make shift village for this Medieval Festival? That must be it…

As she carried on driving to work, she witnessed a few more incidents where she saw old buildings and strange people in armour out of the corner of her eyes. This is worrying- I'm definitely seeing things. No, think rationally Aria- there must be an explanation! You've been watching too many historical programmes and mum is definitely right, you daydream far too much! It's affecting me, obviously. Come on, I'm a psychologist for goodness sake, I must have a reason for this somewhere in my head! But as try as she might, Aria was stumped at what was happening- her job and forte was focused on business psychology, so helping recruit and develop the right people, and it had been a couple of years since university when she had studied clinical psychology.

Aria shuddered, "this isn't funny, there's no reason I should be seeing things like this. There is nothing there. There is nothing there." Trying to talk herself into agreeing that there was nothing there seemed to be working - that was until she drove past Barnsley Village and was confronted with the most magnificent castle she had ever seen in her life.

"Holy crap!" she screamed, What the HELL? Slamming on her breaks – and thankfully no cars were behind her – she swerved into a lay by and stared at the castle in front of her. It was a beautiful white-walled castle with lots of majestic spires pointing into the sky, with flags adorning them. Right, Aria BREATHE, take one breath at a time, that's it, breathe…

Aria blinked and held her head in her hands, this isn't happening. There must be a logical explanation… Nothing. There was nothing that she could fathom about what was happening. Nothing that could explain it. Looking back up, the castle had vanished, replaced by the empty fields that had been there previously.

Shakily, she reached down, put her car into first gear and carried on driving to work. Thankfully she didn't witness any more strange visions – that was the only word she could think of to explain what she had seen – and as she pulled into her work car space, she wondered if maybe she needed to get more sleep.

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Aria left work in high spirits – she'd managed to impress the client she had visited the day before and her boss was really happy with her. Finally! I'm getting appreciated! Such a great feeling!

Humming, she strapped herself into the car and went to drive home. Ellie and Maria are coming this weekend as well, I'm so glad it's Friday! She had almost forgotten about her visions earlier that morning. Almost. Let's push those to the back of my mind, enjoy my Friday afternoon drive and look forward to Ellie and Maria tomorrow!

Still no visions after 40 minutes into her journey, Aria grinned, "Yes! Obviously I was just tired and down that I hadn't been appreciated at work- thank God for that."

However, Aria's good fortune did not last. As she approached her house, she nearly drove into the two men she had seen fighting in armour the night before. It seemed as though they hadn't seen her though, and she growled, frustrated that they were taking up the road when they should be in a field or something if they wanted to play around with swords. She rolled down her window and asked them if they wouldn't mind moving out of the way- they just ignored her.

"What's wrong with you? Can't you hear me? Move out the road! I need to get home- go on, go to the field round the corner, you have loads of room to play there!"

Still ignoring her, Aria realised that actually both of these men were very attractive. The one on the left had dusty blonde hair and even though he was a few metres away, she could tell he had blue eyes. The armour looked very realistic, Aria had to say – the chainmail was glistening in the sun and the red fabric of his top was patched with sweat. They aren't wearing helmets though, interesting… I thought armour consisted of helmets too? She also noticed sweat at the top of his brow. No wonder, it's boiling hot and he's in full armour fighting- of course he'll be sweating profusely! The guy is obviously well built, just look at those arm muscles! He was focusing intently on the fight he was having and looked serious about winning.

Glancing across to the other guy, Aria noticed he was just as good looking but also very different. He too was well-built and toned, but instead of dusty blonde hair he had dark brown hair which seemed to hang down into his eyes. He looked a lot more rugged than the blonde, with a beard, mischievous looking brown eyes and a smirk gracing his lips.

Raising an eyebrow, Aria tried again, "Look, you're looking great and all but I really must be getting back home- I have to clean, cook and prepare everything for tomorrow for my friends. Please- can you just move out of-"

"BEEP!" Aria jumped and turned around, why do people keep beeping their horns right behind me recently? It's annoying!

"Can you get a move on luv? Why you stopped in the middle of the road?"

Hanging out of the window of the car behind, was a topless, middle aged man. He waved at her, "Go on- get a move on!"

Flicking her head back to in front of her, both armoured men had vanished. Gulping down bile, Aria waved out of her window and carried on her way. Pulling into her car space, she slowly got out the car and walked back to her house in a trance. This can't be happening.

Patting George briefly on the head when she got in, Aria did the only thing she could do- went straight to bed.

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The next morning, Aria woke up feeling really groggy, with George pressed along her right side by her neck. She groaned, Eurgh, that's what I get for sleeping for so long- a stiff back and a horrible, groggy feeling. She sat up, George giving her 'the eye' and meowing, unhappy that he had been woken up. Checking what time it was on her mobile, she grinned seeing it was almost nine o'clock. Yes! A nice, long sleep and a good two hours to prepare lunch and clean the house until Ellie and Maria arrive.

Jumping up out of bed, she noticed she hadn't even changed into her pyjamas and was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Undressing, she went into the bathroom and jumped in the shower. Feeling the warm water gliding over her made her feel even better and she quickly washed and got out, wrapping a towel around her. Feeling rejuvenated, she looked through her wardrobe and picked out a white skirt with small flowers in lace on it, and a blue short sleeved, plain top.

She had an OK figure she thought – she wasn't massively skinny, but liked having some curves and a bit of meat on her. Being five foot six was also nice- although, coupled with her tiny, size 4 feet, she often lost her balance and had to run to catch up with fast walkers.

Satisfied with how she looked in the mirror, Aria brushed her hair and tied it up into a pony tail. Meanwhile, she heard George playing around with water dripping from the tap in the bathroom – he always did have a fascination with water, she didn't know why.

Sorting out a few things in her bedroom, Aria spent the next hour tidying the house up. When she was satisfied, she prepared a salad for lunch. Her friends thought her crazy for eating so healthy when she didn't need to lose any weight, 'After all Aria, you're only a size 10!' Ellie would joke with her, but Aria wasn't concerned with weight, she wanted to be healthy to save her insides. She still remembered a biology lesson she had when she was 16, which explained about atherosclerosis and how fatty deposits built up in your blood vessels if you ate too much fat, and this led to heart attacks and things like that. Even if some of the details have been forgotten/skewed, she wasn't taking any chances! She had tried to explain this to Ellie and Maria, but they just grinned at her and obviously thought she was just focusing on her weight.

All too soon, the doorbell rang and Aria bounded towards it to let Ellie and Maria in. She had contemplated telling them about her visions, and after debating whether to with herself all morning, had decided she would tell them. They'll think I'm mad, but I think I have to tell someone.

"Eeee Aria! It's been too long!" Ellie flung herself at her friend in a rib crushing hug. "I've really missed you- you're crap at communicating, you really should call me more often."

Aria hung her head at being scolded, and Maria added, "Come off it Els, she's been busy with work and stuff- give 'er a break!"

Ellie gave a playful glare, "Hmph. Fine, fine- but you know it's just because I missed you!"

"I know guys, I'm sorry, things have been kinda mental at work – you know how it is. I've been trying to impress my boss and finally things may be looking up!"

"That's great!" both agreed in unison.

"Anyway, come in, come in, I have lots to tell you- and actually, something really weird has been happening recently and I want your opinion."

"Of course, but first, where is Georgie-kins?!" Maria breezed past and picked a nervous George up, to hug him. Once he remembered who she was, he relaxed and meowed at her, whilst sniffing her neck.

"Oh, he's so cute!"

"Haha, yeah, he's acting cute more like. Anyway, want a drink?"

"Can I have a coke?"

"A lemonade for me please!" Maria shouted from the other room.

"Sure- go sit in the living room and I'll be in in a minute."

Aria grabbed their drinks, along with a coke for herself, and sat down next to Ellie. "OK guys, so I'm going to tell you what's been happening- I need you to be brutally honest with me and tell me what you think, OK?" They both nodded, so she continued, "Right, so I've been having these visions-"

"Holy Christ, you aren't thinking you're psychic are you?" Maria asked, raising her left eyebrow. I did love Maria, really I did, but it was annoying when she butted in without letting you explain.

"Maria! Let her talk!" Ellie scolded. Ah, bless Ellie, always sticking up for me.

Aria smiled lightly, "NO- I do NOT think that I am psychic Maria, let me explain…" So Aria recounted all that had happened in the last couple of days to them, noticing how their eyebrows seemed to get higher on their foreheads as she continued her story.

"Wow, that's…"

"Crazy?" Maria added unhelpfully. Aria rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I know it sounds mad."

"Sounds mad? It is mad! You saw all of this though? Truly?"

"Yes, it's been freaking me out, naturally."

"Well, at least the guys were cute right?" Maria grinned at me. Aria rolled her eyes again.

"Hmm…"

"What Els?"

"It's strange, that's true. But Aria, if you say you saw it, I believe you. Now we just have to work out what it was or is."

"You believe me?"

"Yes, I do."

"But Ellie it's not like I don't believe that she saw these things, but there's no way this could have actually happened! Just no way!" Aria could tell Maria was getting worked up, she rubbed her temples, maybe I shouldn't have said anything…

Suddenly, Aria whipped her head towards the French doors leading into her back garden. Yes, there it was again, the unmistakable sound of clashing swords.

"Oh my God! They're back! Can you hear it?" Maria and Ellie looked at Aria blankly. She jumped up, opened the French doors and ran outside, and yes, the men in armour were definitely back. She could hear them joking about something, something about a moving target and how it served him right? What could that mean?

"Can you not hear that?" Both girls tried, but to no avail. "No, sorry Aria, we can't hear anything…"

Aria started to shake, so she rushed back inside, and sat on the sofa with her head in her hands. "What's happening to me?"

Ellie looked at Maria pointedly, "I don't know sweetie, but there's definitely nothing out there. Maybe you should take a break from work? Just a few we-" But Ellie was cut off as Aria suddenly cried out in pain as a white light flashed and enveloped her. She could hear ringing in her ears and her vision started to blur and shake.

Ellie and Maria gasped as Aria was surrounded in a bright light. They both covered their eyes and involuntarily took a step back.

"Ah- what? Argh, my head!" Aria found herself in a lot of pain, her head pounding as result of the light and noise.

Both Ellie and Maria looked up and saw Aria had levitated about half a foot off the sofa and had her hands clasped over her eyes, evidently blocking out some form of painful noise. They both gasped and Aria lifted her head up and opened one eye to look at them. Suddenly, Aria felt herself falling backwards, as if she was falling through the sofa and the floor - the last thing she saw was Ellie and Maria looking shocked, reaching out to grab her whilst calling her name, and George hissing, evidently upset my something… but it was too late. Aria had already succumbed to the darkness.

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Camelot, Date Unknown

Merlin had gotten lost. Again. Why is it, EVERY time we go hunting, I get separated from Arthur? It's like he does it on purpose. Actually I'm sure of it. Sighing, Merlin looked around for any sign of the Knights. Seeing none, he decided to head back towards the castle, better than walking around lost all day.

"HISSSSS! CRACK!" Merlin immediately ran and hid behind a tree. Is this magic? It feels like magic. To his right, he saw a hole- like a bright, circular orb, open up near the top of the trees, and from it, fell a girl.

"Sæfarneņ" Merlin held his hand out and aimed his spell at the girl, slowing her speed until he could levitate her slowly onto the ground.

Running over to her, he noticed that she was wearing strange clothes and showing far too much skin. Blushing, he hastily looked around for something he could cover her with. Finding nothing, he scratched his head, leant down and checked she was alright. The girl was pretty, there was no doubting that, but where did she come from? It is obvious she is not of this land. Gaius would know, I must get her back to the castle immediately. But how, without anyone seeing?

Before he had any more time to contemplate this, he noticed the girl had started to frown and move slightly. He leant forward to see if she was alright.

"Ow- what the hell was that? Eurgh." Struggling to try and sit up, Aria noticed she still had a huge headache and felt dizzy. As she fell down again, she felt a pair of strong arms prevent her from smacking her head into the floor. Her eyes flew open, and the last thing she saw before she passed out again, was the most beautiful pair of sparking, blue eyes.

A/N- there's chapter one folks! Let me know what you think- please, constructive feedback! No flames, thank you. I know it's quite long and wordy, but now we are getting into the story more, you'll be seeing a lot more of the Merlin characters! Also, as an additional note, I've decided to create a magic 'language' instead of using that in the Merlin show, so that I can ensure consistency and that it fits exactly what I want it to say/mean.