text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, villain protagonist, war, female protagonist]
  
  It's all a haze. You see yourself as a child, but it's hard to tell when exactly. You're maybe five or six right now? It's the earliest you can ever remember, any younger as it's just a mystery. But as with anything that happened in your past life, does it really matter any more?
  
  You do remember growing up in an orphanage. You never knew your real parents. At best maybe your birth mother knew she couldn't take care of you and tearfully left you in the hopes that some other family would.
  
  At worst, well you wouldn't be the first unwanted child and better that you were at least placed in a half way decent orphanage than just sold on the black market or something.
  
  Miss Olga's Home for Lost Children.
  
  Lost is sort of a nice way to put unwanted. Makes it sound like you just took a wrong turn and wound up there just waiting for your parents to come pick you up.
  
  Though that isn't too far off from what an orphanage does. You wait around for someone declaring themselves as your parents to pick you up.
  
  Well that's what happens to some children anyway. Others never do for whatever reason and just eventually age out of the system and get thrown out on the streets.
  
  Of course at this age you weren't really thinking about any of that. In fact you snuck away from the orphanage as much as possible. Usually to the nearby park.
  
  Nuro's park was pretty nice one. The city really took care of its major green area. So much so that there were signs that clearly warned people to NOT step off certain paths.
  
  While there was no real dangerous animals or flowers there, just more of a case of Nuro's council not wanting the beauty of the park trashed. Of course this didn't stop people from straying off the designated areas, usually young folks nipping off to copulate in the bushes or something similar.
  
  Of course your reasons were more due to being drawn to observing animals and insects.
  
  You watch a couple of squirrels frolicking for a time and eventually finding a morsel of food, the pair of them run off into one of those off limit areas. Making sure nobody is looking or in the area, you quickly sneak off to follow.
  
  Eventually the squirrels climb up a tall tree and you lose sight of them, but your attention is drawn to something else. A large amount of purple butterflies fluttering about a bush.
  
  You've never seen butterflies like that before. Their coloring is very beautiful. You decide to get closer.
  
  When you do, that's when you notice something at the bottom of the bushes. It's furry and not moving. You see the butterflies fluttering all over it.
  
  Even at this young age, you understand the concept of death, but you've not seen many direct examples of it. Granted you've seen dead animals before, but this is different. Mainly because this one is covered in these weird purple butterflies rather than the traditional ones.
  
  You take a step closer and see that the animal isn't a squirrel like you at first thought, but a cat. The butterflies are swarming around the body. You wonder if they're eating it.
  
  Just as you're about to inspect even closer, you suddenly feel a hand grab your shoulder.
  
  "There you are just as I suspected! You are always sneaking away to this place after I specifically told you not to! I know this place may be filled with animals and such, but it isn't safe. Anyone could just snatch up a young thing like you. Especially with the demonic types living in this city."
  
  You look up and see Miss Olga. The older lady who runs the orphanage hence why it's named after her.
  
  She gives you a disapproving look. The same one she has many times before, but you know she's not completely mad at you. She just worries about you as she does with all that live in the orphanage.
  
  "I wanted to be here." You answer.
  "Yes, I know you always do, but you can't keep sneaking away like this, especially at this late hour! I have so many others to look after and worry about. When I'm looking for you, I can't watch out for the others as easily. It's not fair to them that..."
  
  At this point you're too focused on the butterflies to completely pay attention to Miss Olga. She recognizes this and finally looks at what's got your attention.
  
  Her reaction isn't one of wonder though; it's of minor concern.
  
  "What the...Grave Wings? Here? Usually they're only found in more remote areas of wilderness like the Drozz plains. They're not your normal butterflies. They're more like regular flies except they're specifically drawn to death. Doesn't make sense that some are here though. Bah, probably some escaped from an alchemist's lab from the magic college. They're never mindful of their experiments, it's going to be the ruin of us all one day!"
  
  As Olga is going on about the magic college, one of the butterflies flaps away from the corpse and towards your direction. You smile and hold a hand out towards it. You think it's going to land, but then Olga once again pulls you away.
  
  "Catalina! Don't touch those vile things!"
  "But they're pretty."
  "They're carrion eaters! They're filthy and probably crawling with disease! And the city council needs to exterminate them from the park before they breed anymore."
  "Hey they're glowing!" you shout, still focused on the butterflies.
  "Yes, they do that when it starts getting dark. Now come on!"
  
  As you're pulled away from the Grave Wing gathering, you continue to be fascinated by their fluttering and faint glowing.
  
  Eventually you get back to the orphanage where upon Olga tells you that food will be prepared in a few minutes and she expects you to be there as well as going straight to bed soon afterwards.
  
  As Olga walks away, Chloe, a little half orc girl about your age approaches you. She's not very popular with the other children most likely because of her heritage. She tends to hang out with you probably because you don't care what she is, but then you don't care about a lot of things most would.
  
  "Catalina, did Miss Olga yell at you?" Chloe asks.
  "Yeah, a little." You answer.
  "Well I didn't tell her where you were, but Patty said you were at the park."
  "Of course she did because she's a big fat tattle tale. Doesn't matter, Miss Olga always knows where I sneak off to now."
  "So why do you keep doing it?"
  "Because I like the park better. There are all sorts of interesting things there. Like today I saw these purple butterflies! Never seen anything like them before. Miss Olga called them Grave Wings."
  "Grave Wings? They sound scary."
  "No! They were pretty and they were eating a dead cat!"
  "That sounds awful! Poor kitty!"
  "I'm going to go see them tomorrow!"
  "Tomorrow? You can't sneak off tomorrow. Tomorrow is adoption day! People will come here to adopt us! Well you they will, nobody will want me."
  "I'm sure you'll get adopted, but I don't care about it, so I'm going to go see the butterflies."
  "If you sneak off tomorrow, Miss Olga is going to be furious! You'll be on permanent cleaning punishment for months!"
  "Hmm, well I don't like cleaning...maybe I can sneak out tonight after bedtime."
  "Sneak out at night!? That's crazy!"
  "I won't be gone long, the park isn't far and I know where I'll be going."
  
  Chloe sputters a bit, trying to find the words to talk you out of your plan and then you both hear Miss Olga call everyone to dinner at which point you head towards the dining room.
  
  After eating, Miss Olga mentions to everyone that people will be arriving tomorrow afternoon and she expects everyone to be dressed in their good clothes and on their best behavior. In fact instead of allowing you all to still play after dinner, you're ordered to go straight to bed.
  
  You go to bed as ordered, but not to sleep. You aren't the only one as you can hear the whispering of some of the other girls talking to each other. Meanwhile you're deep in thought about how much you're not looking forward to tomorrow.
  
  You don't like the idea of being lined up for a bunch of strangers to inspect you. Something about it seems weird to you. And if you get picked, who knows where you'll be going? The people who adopt you might not even live in Nuro and you won't get to go to the park anymore. Worse, they could be mean or even demons in disguise!
  
  As much as you don't care for the orphanage, at least the park is nearby and Miss Olga isn't cruel.
  
  A bit more time passes and suddenly you hear Chloe whisper to you. She must have gotten out of her bed.
  
  "Hey, you're not still thinking about sneaking out are you?" Chloe asks.
  "I was going to wait until at least Fatty Patty was asleep, which I'm guessing she is due to all the snoring." You say.
  "But...but it'll be dark, how will you see them? And how do you know they haven't just flapped away already?"
  "I dunno, I feel like they will still be there. As for light, they glow! So I'll be able to see them."
  "Okay, but you still have to get to the park and it'll still be too dark to see really well and dangerous!"
  "It'll be fine...wait, orcs can see in the dark right?"
  "Um, yeah?"
  "Then come with me so I won't be alone and you'll be able to guide better."
  
  Chloe nearly raises her voice but then stops herself so as not to wake anyone up.
  
  "No, it'll be too scary!"
  "The dark is nothing to be afraid of. I thought orcs weren't afraid of anything."
  "I'm only half! And this doesn't sound like a good idea."
  
  Chloe's apprehension aside, she'd probably still help you out, though you'd go without her even if she didn't.
  
  Of course there is a part of you that isn't completely reckless. If you really thought about it, sneaking about at night might be a little dangerous (and a little scary). You probably could still just as easily sneak away in the morning before all the people show up for the unpleasant adoption process.
  
  > wait until morning
  You think on it, the danger of the city at night, Chloe's words, potential trouble with Miss Olga...yeah it's probably not worth it.
  
  "Yeah, maybe you're right Chloe. I'll wait until tomorrow morning at least." You say.
  "I still think that's a bad idea, but I guess it's better than going at night." Chloe says.
  
  Seeing that you're not sneaking out, Chloe returns to her bed and you roll over to try to sleep.
  
  Except you can't sleep. You're too wound up from having the idea of sneaking out and then not acting on it. Not to mention Fatty Patty's snoring is keeping you from even trying to sleep.
  
  You close your eyes and try to sleep, but it just isn't working. All that keeps going through your mind is seeing the butterflies again.
  
  With Patty's snoring going on and your active mindset, you can't lay in bed all night. You MUST go to the park now; it's worth risking the consequences.
  
  You figure you'll wait a little while longer until you're sure Chloe is probably asleep and THEN you'll leave. You don't want her trying to stop you again.
  
  You aren't sure how much time passes, but eventually you look up to see if everyone is actually asleep now and feeling confident that they are, you get up and sneak out the room.
  
  You head towards the stairway and then on reflex, you let out a big yawn as now of all times the wave of sleep hits you. Worried that you might have awakened Miss Olga, you quicken your pace and head down the stairs.
  
  Which unfortunately results in you tripping down them, not enough to break anything, since you manage to catch yourself from tumbling completely, but certainly enough to be unpleasant. Surprisingly you don't cry, but you definitely hurt.
  
  This also has the effect of most certainly waking up Miss Olga.
  
  "What's going on? What's all this sneaking around?" you hear Miss Olga say before seeing you laying sprawled out near the bottom of the stairs. Then she quickly descends to get you to see if you're all right.
  
  After seeing that you haven't broken anything, she begins scolding and questioning you. About the only thing you can think of is that you were going to the bathroom and thought you heard a noise downstairs. Fortunately she doesn't dwell on it too much and just carries you back to bed exclaiming how you should have come to her immediately if you heard a strange noise in the night.
  
  The some of the children temporarily wake up when you're returned to bed (save for Patty who is still snoring) Chloe asks what happened and if you're okay, Miss Olga just tells her you're fine and to go back to sleep. She tells everyone to go back to sleep.
  
  Meanwhile, you ache and you're tired enough now that you don't want to go anywhere except lay in bed. You'll sleep and tomorrow morning you'll go to the park. That's the new plan. You just need some sleep.
  
  Eventually...
  
  "Catalina! Catalina! Wake up! Wake up!" you hear Chloe say.
  
  You groggily wake up.
  
  "What's going on?" you ask.
  "You feeling okay? Miss Olga said you fell down the stairs last night."
  "Huh? Oh. Yeah I did."
  "I'm guessing you tried to sneak out anyway, but I didn't tell! Are you feeling okay though?"
  "Yeah, yeah, just ache still, but I'm fine. What time is it?"
  "It's like close to noon. A bunch of adults are coming in to adopt already."
  
  You begin to stir a little more and realize you've overslept.
  
  "What?! Noon? Why wasn't I awakened before now?"
  "Miss Olga said you'd probably need the rest more and you don't eat much breakfast anyway. I think Patty ate yours. Anyway Miss Olga told me to try to wake you up for adoption though since she's busy greeting everyone."
  
  Well there goes your idea to sneak away. The grave wings might very well be gone by now.
  
  You suppose there's nothing for it now except go downstairs, maybe there will be an opportunity to sneak away later.
  
  Chloe mentions that you should wear your best clothes for the best opportunity to get adopted. Not that you're really running around in rags anyway, but you're not really concerned with getting adopted, so you just wear clothes you normally wear.
  
  Eventually you go downstairs and see a bunch of adults and your fellow orphans. Miss Olga sees you and walks over to you immediately.
  
  "Catalina are you feeling alright?" Miss Olga asks.
  "Somewhat, I still ache a bit." You respond.
  "Hm, well at least you're walking around. Here, I want you to meet two people, I think you'll like them. Come."
  
  Miss Olga pulls you away from Chloe and towards a group of adults, two of them in particular stand out, but it's odd. You can't make out their faces and you're clearly close enough to them. In fact everything is starting to seem off.
  
  Something isn't right here.
  
  > run away
  Everything about this situation feels wrong, you know it. As soon as Miss Olga lets go of you, you immediately take off running for the front door!
  
  "Catalina! Stop!" you hear Miss Olga shout, but you ignore her.
  
  Fatty Patty is standing near the door stuffing her face and you somehow manage to shove her out of the way, though as you grab the door handle you see her fall to the floor and her head cracking open like a fragile egg causing blood and brains to leak out all over.
  
  Shocked by this event, you run out the door as you hear laughter all around you, even as you run down the street, which is starting to look hazy. You need to get to the park. It's the only place you'll be safe.
  
  You run in the direction that you usually go to the park, but it feels like you're not getting any closer. In fact everything is starting to look unfamiliar. Did you somehow take a wrong turn somewhere in your haste?
  
  You hear Miss Olga shouting your name, but it doesn't completely sound like her. In fact the voice is getting deeper and more menacing. It also seems to be all around you.
  
  Eventually you see the park, but something is seriously wrong.
  
  You see the park completely devoid of life. The trees, the bushes, the flowers, even grass are dead. You don't hear or see any animals either. Not even insects.
  
  This isn't how it should be. At least not yet? Was it always like this? You don't remember it being like this.
  
  Suddenly you feel a hand grip your shoulder, you turn and see Miss Olga except she's a rotting corpse. It's pretty startling.
  
  "You wanted to see the grave wings? Well here they are!" Miss Olga exclaims.
  
  And then a bunch of them come flying out of Miss Olga's decayed mouth and straight at you. Everything is purple for a moment then it goes completely black.
  
  You look around and find yourself back in the present, whatever that means in a place like this. Obviously that wasn't how your life went though.
  
  After a bit of reflection on what just happened, you realize you'll have to try again to reconnect later. When will that be? You never can tell.
  
  But it'll happen again. You'll reunite with your beloved.
  
  It's only a matter of time.