The Story

"For as long as Geneva can remember, her older brother had told her stories about the mysterious guardians that watch over the forests near her home in Rome. Stories of spirits, strange creatures, and magic.

Before her brother passed away, he left Geneva a small crystal necklace shaped like a beautiful stag, telling her to always remember him by it, and to always remember the stories.

When Geneva finds herself in trouble, the crystal stag may be her key to seeing those stories become a reality."

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The story of Crystalline is very loosely based on an ancient Roman fairy tale called The Golden Stag. In the original story, a young brother and sister are lost in the forest, and the brother is turned into a Golden Stag when he drinks water from a Stag's tracks. The brother becomes the girl's guardian and raises her in the woods until they are found by a prince, who takes the girl as his wife. 

I really liked the guardian idea between brother and sister, and so I basically took that idea, along with a few other ideas from other fairy tales, such as The Glass Coffin, and eventually landed with my story for Crystalline.