This story is about a young man who wanted to be beautiful so badly that he nearly gave his life for it.
The young man in this story was not favored by the gods of beauty. You would think they were angry when they made him.

He was born with one side of his body partially paralyzed. Not so much that he couldn’t use it at all, but enough that he had to drag his leg, and he could only lift his arm just high enough to point in a direction. One side of his face hung slightly, which made it look as if that side was always sad. As if that wasn’t enough, his head was a little too big and his hair a little too thin. The cherry on top came when puberty punished him with acne. Overall, he was not considered good-looking.

The young man didn’t have it easy at all. Kids can be the meanest creatures. They made fun of him, he was an easy target for bullies. Others tried to be friendly, but they felt uncomfortable around him, he could tell. He often caught adults whispering behind his back. When people see him, they have all sorts of expressions on their faces, from sadness, to confusion, to shock to disgust. Most people try to avoid him, which he was fine with. It had always been like this, that was all he knew. 

He had a kind heart, but the world around him didn’t see that. They were distracted by his appearance. He grew tired of how people saw and treated him. The older he got, the harder it was for him to deal with it. You would think that one gets used to it, but every new chapter in life brings its own difficulties. And puberty was the hardest for him. While everyone else was falling in love, having their first relationships and first kisses, no one even wanted to touch him. His pain grew so much that he just wanted it to stop. He just wanted to look normal. 

He had heard of a witch who lived in town and decided to pay her a visit. If anything could help him with his situation, it had to be magic. To his surprise, the witch was one of the few people who had a friendly expression on her face when she saw him for the first time. The young man told the witch what he wanted. Luckily for him, she was able to help him with a potion that would make him look beautiful. Unfortunately for him, magic was expensive, and he couldn’t to afford it. 

Still very much determined and eager to be beautiful, he told the witch he would do anything for the potion. The witch thought about what he had just said and offered him a bargain. She would give him a potion, in exchange he would give her some of his life-energy. The boy was very confused and didn’t know how to do that, maybe a part of him didn’t even believe that you could trade your lifetime. He felt a bit uncomfortable, but he agreed. The witch prepared the potion and gave it to the young man to drink. She told him that this wouldn’t last forever, no spell does, but he could always come back for another deal. 

The young man drank the potion and felt a sudden pull towards the witch that didn’t last too long. Was that his life-energy transferring to her? Then his body began to tingle, as if a thousand needles were hitting him. His body began to change. For the first time, he was able to move his fingers. He walked up to the mirror, not dragging his leg, but actually using both his legs properly. What he saw in the mirror shocked him. His look has changed, he would not have recognized himself if he hadn’t known it was him staring back. 

His life changed so much, he was finally experiencing what he had always wanted! But as the witch told him, the potion didn’t last long. Not wanting to give up his newfound happiness, he went back to the witch for more potions and more trades of his life-energy. This went on for a number of years and the young man could feel the loss of his life-energy. He felt a deep tiredness and grew weaker with every trade, until he became very sick and wasn’t able to visit the witch for another trade. Realizing that if he continued, his life might be at stake, he understood that this would have to end at some point. He wasn’t ready for the end just yet, though, and decided to do a few more trades before he would stop and go back to his previous life.

There was no way for him to win in this life. He was hoping that for the next one, the gods would favor him a bit more.