The Crystal Ball
In a small village on the outskirts of Germany there once lived a witch. She lived happily in her little cottage until there came a time when she had, she thought, ruined her own life. She gave birth to three healthy baby boys, one Autumn and although she was happy with them they grew to be untrustworthy and the witch feared they would take her powers, little did she know that it wasn't her sons that wished to take her powers from her, but the man of which had helped sire them.
Still unknowing she cursed her sons to animal forms. The eldest she cursed to be a magpie, who would forever resembled the sorrow it felt from being separated from his brothers. For yes these three sons were triplets, and therefore they felt the grief of being without each other to their very bones. The eldest son was banished to the woods, where he would live out the rest of his life, hoping for something shiny, for the brother cared for the shiny necklace that his younger brother wore around his neck, and he would forever look for it in this form it seemed.
The middle brother was transformed into a shark, a man eating animal who would forever scour the seas for his youngest and eldest brother in the hopes that he could find them. Unfortunately if he ever did, he would be compelled by the nature that was the shark's to kill them, such was his curse. And to this day many have thought this the worst curse from the mother witch.
Now the youngest brother, upon seeing his elder brothers turned into animals fled from the cottage before the mother could turn her attention to him. And this is the story of what happened to him next.
'Brother!' Anton called as he spied the magpie flying just above his line of vision as he stumbled through the woods, falling over felled trees and catching his clothing on branches that seemed to try and hold him in place. He had to leave he had to get away from his mother. Gosh but how much he had loved his mother, he had played on her knee when he was a child, he had watched as she'd made potions in the cauldron, he'd helped her write spells as he'd grown older and he'd picked ingredients for her potions, even killing bats and frogs for her. And this was how she repaid him?! This was how she repaid them?! Why? What had they ever done to warrant this?
'Brother what should I do, show me the way,' Anton called to his eldest brother, but the magpie never said a word, was only interested in the silver necklace that hung at Anton's pale neck. When he didn't answer, silence reigned and he could hear his mother chanting a spell behind him. But it wasn't just a spell was it? She meant to curse him as she had cursed his brothers. But why, couldn't she at least spare him? He had always been loyal had never betrayed her! He at the very least did not deserve it!
He heard the spell before he saw it and managed to duck out of the way as the blinding silver light fired straight through the forest. What damage it would do Anton knew not, for he did not know the nature of the curse, if it hit an animal it could turn into a human and if it hit a human they would be turned into animals just like his brothers. Yes he loved his brothers more than he loved his life in the forest, but now he knew they were dangerous. His eldest brother was a magpie and could strangle him with the shiny chain around his neck and his other brother was a shark, meaning Anton could never go into any water lest his brother rise up and be compelled to attack him.
Racing faster Anton hoped he would come to a town or village soon. Yes they lived far in the heart of the forest because they didn't want to be caught and tried for witchcraft. Of course their mother would not have lasted the trial and so would have died in the flames or the water, but he, he could be safe in the town or the village for he had inherited his estranged father's genes and could not perform any kind of magic and as far as the village knew he would be safe.
And as he ran, Anton thought about his brothers, how he could save them and how he could take vengeance on his mother for what she had done. No woman should ever do that to her own children, witch or no; and because of their situation he would have thought she'd treasure, cherish them more for they were all she had. And as he ran, he knew he was wrong. The woman did not have a heart, could never come to love the children she'd bore.
'Mother why have you forsaken us? Why would you curse us this way?' Yes Anton had no physical curse, but he had been separated from his brothers too and that in itself was a curse. Perhaps she parted them because she feared they would want to steal the magic that she had, but why would they do that when they knew they wouldn't be able to wield it anyway?
Anton kept running and running, but he found no village. It was almost as though mother had wiped every village and town off of the face of the earth so her family could not be found.
So Anton made camp in a tree far up, knowing she would not see him hidden up in the leaves, and there he lay down to sleep, watching for his elder brother, knowing he would try and take the necklace from him, for it was shiny and it was a locket that held a picture of their estranged father, one that the two older brothers wanted but the younger had been given because...well he didn't know why, and after he cured his brothers of their curses he would discover the truth behind everything.
That decided he lay down, tucked his locket in his breast pocket and slept like an angel...