The Bracelet, the Thief, and..

The bracelet glowed white-hot around my wrist. Wisps of smoke appeared as it burnt into my flesh, but there was no pain. There would never again be pain. I looked at my wrist, sickened as the bracelet disappeared beneath my flesh until only the amethyst that had been inserted into it was visible above my skin. I touched the purple stone that was now apart of my body and whispered, 'I honestly didn't think it would go this far'.

I looked into the cold, orange eyes of my adversary. There was a low boom as she slammed her twisted staff into the ground. Dust rose up around me, causing me to cough and my eyes to itch.

The woman's eyes turned into accusing slits. 'But you stole it. Did you think there would be no consequences?'

There were always punishments, but we were a poor family. I had thought we would be pitied, exempt. That morning I had found the woman snoozing on a mat in the park. She had taken off her bracelet. It had looked like cheap costume jewellery, the surface matte even under the sun's golden light. I wouldn't have stolen it if I had thought it was worth anything. I looked at the amethyst now, sparkling in the dingy cavern the woman had transported me to. I rubbed the dust out of my eyes. Then the woman continued:

'Three hundred years I have paid for the crime I committed against a wizard. Now you defile my presence, and I hand the curse onto you.'

She let out a shriek, and before my eyes she transformed. Her flawless skin blotched, shrivelled and slacked. She shrank a couple of feet as her spine curved and caused her to hunch. Her fingers thinned into bones, and her hand shook. Her staff dropped from her useless hand onto the floor with a small clack .

She gazed at the staff and gasped, 'That cursed thing is yours now.'

I stared at her mutating form, my own body trembling; my stomach queasy. Cold rushed through me, but I didn't step forward to gain my prize.

"Take it!' she wheezed, 'take it and end me.'

'I didn't want it to go this far. I only wanted a present for my mother's birthday.'

'It's too late. You stole from me. You stole from a cursed woman. There are no reprieves for that. There is no sympathy. There is only your punishment. Now take that wretched thing, or see a fate far worse than immortality.'

I clutched the twisted wood of the staff, and felt a warm bond embrace me. The world filtered orange, and I felt strength and power ignite inside me.

'My girl, I only hope it doesn't take three hundred years for you to find release.' She let out a satisfied sigh as I instinctually aimed the tangerine-coloured orb of the staff at her. A bolt of crimson electricity shot out and enveloped her body in white. When the light reversed back into the orb, there was only a bright imprint of the woman's form before me. After a few moments, even this had faded.

Then there was only silence. I clutched the staff more tightly, my only possession now. I touched the amethyst that was embedded in my arm with the orb. The purple stone rose out of me. A hole remained where it had lain. I touched the stone again, thinking of the bracelet. It transformed back into what I had stolen. Curious, I thought of a necklace, and a fine silver chain held it. So this is what I had to do, find someone to steal it. But why had she waited three hundred years, surely there were enough thieves around to morph it into something they would want? The staff grew hot, searing, but again, there was no pain. Only a sense of power. Why would you want to give this curse up?

I slammed the staff into the ground. The earth shook and cracked. Fire emitted from the staff and wrapped around me. Who would have thought stealing a simple bracelet would have got me this far?

***

The cursed woman felt relief as, for the first time in three hundred year, the sickly orange hues turned into a variety of colours which blotted her vision. Knowledge flooded through her of who she once was, and who she was dying as. She knew the staff would have found the girl worthy enough to take on. Many people had stolen that damned amethyst, but few had power enough for the staff to welcome as a new master. She hoped the girl wouldn't be corrupted by it, as she had once been. It had been a hard thing to break, her attachment, her want to get rid of the staff. But even more so was the loneliness, that sudden realisation that everything she had once loved was gone. That was where the curse lay. That was where the punishment scolded. She hoped the girl would be able to break the bond, before she lost herself.