Celtic Tales-At the Beginning1

Celtic Tales: At the Beginning

1: An End and a Beginning

The alarm beeped loudly as the clock in which it was in recorded that it had just turned 7: 00 AM.
In the bed beside the little table upon which the alarm stood, a sleeping man woke suddenly, annoyed at the abrupt end of his peaceful sleep.
He reached out an arm and hit the alarm button. Hard.
Immediately, the alarm stopped beeping.
About a second after that, the man’s head hit the pillow with a muffled whump.
He slept soundly for several more minutes until he decided that it was time for him to get up and ready himself for the day.
Pulling himself out of bed, he sat on the edge and ran his fingers through his messy yellow hair, staring at the wall for a long time.
Then he got up and wandered over to the shower.

After he had showered, dried, dressed, and eaten breakfast, he sorted through a pile of letters until he found the one he had been looking for.
It happened to be an eviction notice addressed to one David Sulchie (which was the man’s name).
The date by which David had to leave the premises was, incidentally, the same day as the one this story starts on. As in, right now.
David sat down and thought about what it would be like to live on the street.
The dirty, grey, crowded, street.
He got packing.

It wasn’t that he was a lazy worker. Truth to be told, David could work as well as a colony of ants. Perhaps better.
The problem was that all the jobs he could possibly have gotten in to were usually all filled up by the time he got around to applying.
Way to screw up your life.

David finished packing his things into a faded yellow bag. Then he searched the flat for any items he might have left behind (it turned out he hadn’t).
As he opened the door, he looked back wistfully at the place which, up until now, had been his home.
He remembered all that had happened there, both good times and bad.
Then he sighed, walked out the door, and closed it behind him.


David wandered around the city, wandering through back alleys and under bridges
He figured that if he was to be homeless, he may as well have a comfy place to stay until he managed to pull his life together and get back on track.
If he managed to pull his life together.

It was late afternoon when David felt a strange pull coming from an alleyway. He didn’t know what it was, or why he was feeling it, but it was irresistible to him.
He followed the strange feeling. He didn’t know how he was following it, but seeing as it gradually grew stronger, he figured that he was going in the general right direction.
The trail ended at a plain brick wall.
Plain, that is, except for the elaborate archway set into it.
A swirling, ever-colour-changing vortex was visible through the archway. There appeared to be a small window at the end of it. Visible through that window was a green meadow under a blue sky.
David felt stunned by this obviously impossible sight. He still felt a magnetic attraction to it, and felt compelled to dive right in.
At this point, however, his common sense kicked in.
Now, now, David, it said. It’s all fine and well that there appears to be a fine, grassy land beyond that portal, but really. Do you really think that you should go through it? It’s mostly the bits outside the vision that worry me. See, when I see a whirling colourful vortex, I think ‘Oh no, this could possibly be dan-
At this point David stopped listening to his common sense, grabbed his bag, and promptly ran right into the portal.
Oh, go on then. Ignore me. Fine. I’ll be sitting right here.


About a second of two after David jumped into the portal, it suddenly ground to a halt. The vortex disappeared, leaving behind a blank brick wall. In short measure, the archway also vanished, crumbling into dust.