Teine Biorach - Chapter I: Because all books begin with an introduction.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, youngsters and elders ; I have the great honour and responsibility to be your narrator for the next pages you will be reading. As I wish from all my heart to keep you entertained and wish closely twice as strong not to get you bored, I therefore must make the choice of a good story for me to tell you. Shall it be a tale, a novel, or a short-story, the truth only lies further in these pages. But let me introduce our protagonist, for I think it is now the right time.

Our hero is named William. Sometimes shortened as Will, Liam or Bill by some grown-ups, he is mostly known as “Will-O'-The-Wisp” among his friends. This peculiarly surprising surname is due to his ability to never stop moving, as if he was always set on fire, but also to his capacity to draw his friends' attention towards him, whatever they were supposed to do before, after, or in the meantime. Will lived in Scotland, not very far from Aberdeen, in the quiet town of Stonehaven, which you may already know. If in the contrary you do not, I'd never advise you enough to cast a glance at it, for its charming scenery and warm welcoming inhabitants will most certainly please you. What better place to live in for a man called “Will-O'-The-Wisp” than a town in which the Fireballs Ceremony takes place?
Let me put Stonehaven aside until the very end of my introduction. William was a not-so-tall, dark-haired, sad looking boy in his twenties. Without being utterly banal, he was barely noticeable. He was, in some kind of strange way, special while being classic, a feature that makes him quite hard to describe efficiently. He always had a stub-beard which made him look older than his age, and a bit rough. The truth is-- William was a daydreamer. He could never focus on any thing irrelevant to his interest for more than a mere thirty seconds, which was, in many of his teachers' opinion, quite a short time. This daydreaming ability however granted him a curiosity, an imagination and an artistic sensibility which was as easily acknowledged by his surrounding than his lack of concentration. He was some kind of an artist really; he spent most of his free time trying to master music, trying any instrument which had the unexpected luck to happen to be near him. To be fair to Will, he liked every art equally. But his lack of real talent in the others, made him a bit shy at the idea of getting involved in them.

Ever since he was a wee yin, William lived in his own world. A world in which every legends – Scottish and others – really existed. A world in which freedom was granted to him. A world in which everyone could be happy, because they had the right to. This utopia of a world made him have peculiar friends which had the ability to understand him quite well, even though he still seemed a wee bit weird to them. Therefore, he met his three most faithful companions precisely a short while after his nineteenth birthday. The four of them formed what they called the “quadrality”, which was to be kept at all time-- meaning that if one of them was to miss, he had to be replaced by someone else for this time.
The first was Alastair, quickly nicknamed Al. He was a strong lad, very calm, but when it came to protect someone, he was not to be provoked, for one punch of him could send you some feet away. He was also interested in music – as they all were actually – and was similar to Will in his capacity to be bored very quickly, thence they used to get along really well and see each other quite often.

The second was Antóin, an also very strong lad. His origins were in Brittany, in France, and he took out of this a great Celtic pride he did not hesitate to show each time he could, so he was quickly logically called “The Breton” among the quadrality. He was a great fighter, and a great seducer, he was a great companion for his joviality and his inclination to always be excited and enthusiastic even about the worst ideas, every definitely-won't-end-well initiatives, and most dodgy plans of the group.

The third and last lad was Neil. However he was named Mícheál by the three others, in reference to a part he had in some play-- a part that suited quite astonishingly actually. This one was not a strong fellow as the two others, but the strength he did not have in his arms, he had it in his brain. Neil was a well of culture, he knew a lot of things, from music to politics, but also economics or literature. Nowadays, he would be what we could call a scholar, for is knowledge was really beyond the average of his fellows'. This made of him a really appreciable chap to chin-wag with, for you always knew the talk would be interesting and thoughtful.

And so was the quadrality. They all get on well, and constituted a group which was in the end quite well-known by the town of Stonehaven, people easily recognizing them. Oh, do not be a fool-- they did not do much. They just used to hang around in pubs at night. They mostly used to go to two main pubs, for they knew the publicans really well. Why, to be precise, the first was a bar more than a pub really; the Brainery. Dónal was the name of the publican, who was quite glad to see them each time, as they were really good clients, respectful, and keen on paying their drinks without failing.

The second was a pub called the O'Donnell's; they went there to end the night, as some kind of ritual, for it was always filled with a living moving dancing joyful crowd, and the atmosphere was always pleasant, even if sometimes tiring after too many pints.

So was it. They lived peacefully, without ever worrying about much, their days made of singing, talking, and drinking. Everything was fine, until, one day, out of the blue, as fast as a lightning, as violent as an earthquake, Will felt attracted to a girl. Get it right-- it was not the first time. He already had girlfriends, six, to be exact, but he was not really good at choosing girls, so it always ended badly for him.

But that time, somehow, it was different. And actually, this attraction was the beginning of something much bigger than the quadrality could ever thought of.