'Impudent fool!' The howling wind whipped through the trees, beating the branches together in an ominous rhythm. In a small clearing, under the darkening clouds, a handsome man cowered in pain at the feet of a powerful witch. Her arms spread to the sky as she unleashed her wrath.

Her voice rose above the wind, condemnation falling heavily upon his shoulders, 'In your arrogance and selfishness, you have believed yourself to be above reproach. You requested my services in selecting a bride, yet in your vanity, you betrayed her and broke her heart, as well as her spirit.'

The man moaned in agony, his face contorting as his limbs twisted and writhed against the magical bindings trapping him. 'I didn't know!' He screamed as she unleashed a bolt of lightning just to his left.

'Silence! Do you still believe I cannot see through your deceptions? You knew of your wife's feelings for you, yet you considered yourself above someone so plain. In her distress, she has taken her own life. Her blood covers your life and you shall never be clean of it.'

The man cried out as his bindings tightened. The image of his wife flashed through his mind, her plain features pale in death, her body broken and forever unmoving.

'Your mistress has been killed for her indiscretion, but you…no, death is too easy a punishment.' He stared up at her, tears and sweat mixing as they coursed down his pale cheeks. Dread pooled in his stomach as she slowly lowered one hand to point at him, her bony finger never straying from his heart. 'You I shall curse. It is not enough that you should live knowing you have destroyed the woman who loved you. No, let it be that all eyes that fall upon you see a hideous monster, as ugly as the heart you carry, so that you will know the same pain of rejection and disgust you yourself had inflicted upon your wife. You shall spend an eternity in shame and solitude.'

She raised her arm once more, the clouds swirling above them, and began speaking rapidly in Latin, lightning cracking all around. The wind beat her cloak against her body, but she paid it no mind.

'No!' The man bellowed, struggling mightily against his binds. Her voice rose and the wind increased, the trees nearly bowing from the force.

The witch stared down at him without pity, her eyes hard until she finally released his bindings. Everything went eerily still. The clouds vanished and the man's gasping breaths broke the sudden silence. His limbs shook as he fell forward, catching himself before his face hit the ground.

'What must I do, Great Witch, to change your powerful mind?' He asked, trying to appeal to her vanity.

Her lips thinned as she stared at the pitiful sight before her. The curse was already taking effect as his features became distorted, the perception spell weaving its way into his aura.

'My mind cannot be changed. However,' she lifted her gaze past his bowed figure, 'if you somehow manage to learn to love a woman, for her heart and not her appearance, and vow to be faithful to only her, the spell will be broken and you will be mortal once more.'

He jumped up and reached for her in anger, his hands itching to choke her, only to still in horror as he saw his bony, clawed hand. He slowly touched his face, feeling a vein of thick scars crossing his once handsome features. His hand shook at he moved it higher, no longer finding the familiar curls atop his head, but ridges and scars.

He whispered angrily, 'What have you done to me?'

The witch's lips twisted in irony, 'I have given you a second-chance.'

'A second-chance?' He spat.

'In time, you will understand.'

He stared at her in confusion and anger. He made to step closer, but his legs were shaky and weak, sending him to the ground with a grunt.

With a last, pitying smile, she turned from him, calling over her shoulder just before she vanished into the air.

'Goodbye, Sherlock Holmes.'