Getting used to his new body took some time, but as Katherine refused to break the curse or even acknowledge it, Colin had no choice but to accept the change as it was - for now.

The occasional visitors who came to ask for the witch's help would be somewhat alarmed by his appearance now, and so Colin took a habit of simply sitting still in the corner, pretending to be a large doll as not to disturb the visitors. Whenever he could though, he would cover his body as well as he managed and talk to people, but often these people came to the cottage without any warning, thus not giving him time to prepare.

Life continued on.

No longer could Colin feel the wind brush against his face and hands, nor could he summon the magic he once had lived and breathed into his body. The sensation was completely gone, and it felt like a part of him was now missing. But he adjusted, and patiently waited for a next chance to get free from the witch, this time with even more determination and sheer desperation than before.

And then he found a magic wand.

It was in the basement, safely tucked away inside a small wooden box with some other objects, all of which were junk compared to this find. Colin took the wand and made sure to keep this all hidden from the witch, practicing only when she wasn't at home - after all, the wand was, perhaps, Colin's final hope to ever get free.

Years passed by, and what was first 5 years spent at the witch's cottage soon turned into 10, and then 20, and then 30. Colin's sense of time was warped: his body never changed and the witch always looked the same as well, and although the seasons changed, he had lost the track of all the times they had done so.

During these years Colin was able to keep his involvement with magic a secret, and he learned to use the wand: the item itself was magical with an artificial core of its own, and as such no core of magic was needed to operate the wand, as long as the user knew what they were doing. And while Colin had no core anymore, he did remember how making magic worked.

But without a core there was only as much a wand could do, and so Colin had taken to reading books on word magic. Again, it was another type of magic where a core was not needed: using certain words and phrases he was able to borrow magic from the world around him; from the trees, the leaves, the fairies outside and the occasional unicorns that grazed around the meadows. The spoken words were like a negotiation where the one speaking tried their best to convince the world around them to borrow what the user didn't have, and the world of magic around would decide from the tone and assertiveness of the spoken incantations whether the user was worthy or not.

It was not the easiest magic, however: just as he had to be assertive, he also had to be humble and respectful and not to come across as someone who thought of himself as stronger of the two. Indeed, Colin had to bow down to the world round him, to show he was borrowing from it precisely because he was weak, while the magic around him was strong and omnipotent.

Countless of mistakes were made, the words spoken too fast or too slow, the intonation was wrong or he would forget the correct spelling of a word, and the magic would slash at him. But without a core or a human body where to feel the true sting of this power, Colin could withstand this, and so he learned.

Day after day the same chores repeated themselves, and Colin would bend over backwards for the witch as not to anger her anymore - the curse she casted still bothered Colin even after all these years, and while it had not made him any more inclined to accept the situation, it had made him more careful around Katherine; he had to be careful, he had to be patient, as not to let her know of just what he was planning.

And then, after over 40 years of being her slave, the time of one last showdown arrived.

Katherine had just returned from a trip, tired and exhausted as she had gotten in trouble with a powerful customer. This whole situation reminded Colin of the day of his curse, but he had learned from it and pretended like everything was just like always: he took her jacket, handed her the recent newspaper an owl had brought that morning from the main village, and finally served Katherine her share of food. Colin had became an excellent cook during all this time, even if he could no longer taste his dishes himself.

"You were gone longer than I thought you would," Colin spoke as he washed some of the plates in the small sink. "What exactly happened?"

"The customer was a literal bear," the witch sighed and rubbed her forehead with her bandaged right hand. "She got angry when the medicine I carried to her didn't work as it would, and she ended up punching me straight in the face."

"I didn't know someone could harm you like that."

"I'm a witch, not some divine creature; of course that's possible," she snapped back at him. "And I wasn't expecting such an attack so fast. Regardless, I'm quite embarrassed of all that."

Colin hummed in thought.

"What did you put in this tea, by the way?" Katherine then asked and held out her tea cup. "It has a flowery aftertaste."

"Ah, I just used some of the flowers I picked last summer; I dried them, don't you remember?"

Katherine was silent for a while, looking at the cup with the kind of frown that showed she was thinking hard.

Colin smiled.

"These are not the flowers you dried," she then spoke slowly and her words started sounding slurred. "What did you do?!"

Her tone was agitated and she gasped for air, but when she tried to raise her hand, nothing happened - she was already far too weak to do anything.

"Oh, but they are!" Colin grinned. "I just put in some extra for you."

The witch fell on the ground, the chair coming down with her as she hit the floor. The teacup she had been holding shattered into pieces, dark brown liquid covering the floor around her like a slowly blooming flower. Once more she made a desperate attempt of gasping for air, eyes wide and saliva starting to come out of her mouth as she became unable to swallow.

"You!" she screamed, but Colin only smiled and took a few steps closer, the artificial joints of his legs clicking and snapping slightly, echoing hollowly in the room.

"No more," he then whispered, his voice more serious and sullen now. "No more am I going to be your puppet."

He took out the wand from his pocket, and the weakened witch gasped at the sight of it - although she had always been aware Colin would probably try to hurt her again, she had always thought she would be able to handle it. After all, as long as Colin had no magic on his side, he had zero chance in completing his plans. Even in this state, had he not have had a wand with him, Katherine was sure she could have made it through this alive, even if with wounds.

But she had trusted far too much in the fact Colin had no core. She had been a fool to think she had made all Colin's attempts to once more fight back at her completely empty, void of any hope of winning against her.

"I'm going to kill you and I'm going back home!" Colin finally screamed, and the light from the wand flashed bright green and long like a serpent. Weapons that had been hidden and scattered around the room started rising up from the power.

"Branch o' spruce and

backwoods eagle:

show me the spikes of your claws"

The numerous weapons struck at the witch, and an ear piercing scream filled the room.