text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, grimdark, female protagonist, villain protagonist]
  
  Everyone has a story.
  
  Some are short and deal only with a major turning point in what will surely be a longer struggle.
  
  Some are long and involve a series of obstacles to overcome in what seems to be impossible to avoid.
  
  Still others are epic and explore an entire life lived until it ceased to be.
  
  Yes, everyone has a story. There's just not enough time to tell them all.
  
  > The Deadly
  You glide across the ethereal landscape passing several other spirits as you have countless times before.
  
  You remember when you first arrived here; you would attempt to interact with them. Most of them ignored you, though some of the "younger" ones did, eagerly asking questions and exchanging information. It was fascinating.
  
  Of course as time passed you became much like those "older" spirits. Not wishing to interact with others and just peacefully drift in this place.
  
  Time of course is a funny term to use since you've pretty much lost all concept of it. You honestly can't remember how much time has passed since you first arrived here. Still, it's the best term to use for the lack of a better one.
  
  You do have memories. They just tend to be a jumbled mix and fleeting. Every once in awhile you get a strong one that brings forth emotions that were once thought long dead as you are. Your memories of your beloved still tend to be the strongest. You did spend most of your life with him after all. You still miss him even in this place.
  
  While some spirits eventually fade away even in this place of "final death", your tie to him will always keep you waiting until he joins you again. Even if that won't be for a very long time.
  
  However, it was the first time you managed to piece together your memories that you discovered completely by chance that you could still contact him. It's no easy task though. Sifting through memories half faded by time is always something that requires focus because you're essentially reliving those moments all over again as if they were real.
  
  And it isn't always simple to focus when you've got new spirits suddenly asking you silly questions. (Just like you once did)
  
  Whether you're successful or fail, there's always a "down" period that you have to wait for before you can try it again. It's a kind of magic you suppose. You're not exactly sure how it works.
  
  What you do know is it's time to try again.
  
  You find a relatively isolated area away from any other spirits to lessen the chances of being disturbed and begin to focus...
  
  > First memories
  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.
  
  > sneak out tonight
  You have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow and if you'll even have the opportunity to get away for long since Miss Olga will be awake and will probably go looking for you as soon as she's unable to find you in the orphanage. At least she'll be asleep right now.
  
  You get out of bed and put on your shoes. Chloe stands in shock for a moment before realizing you're serious about sneaking out.
  
  "Cat are you seriously going to do this?" Chloe asks.
  "Yes, keep your voice down! Now are you going to come with me or not?" you whisper.
  "No! And this is a really bad idea!"
  "Fine. I'll go by myself then."
  "Catalina you can't..."
  
  You're already quickly creeping away while Chloe is still disbelieving you're actually going to do this.
  
  You manage to leave the sleeping area and into the hallway. You're fairly certain nobody woke up since you still hear Patty snoring. You quickly make your way past Miss Olga's bedroom, which is silent.
  
  The bigger challenge is walking down the creaky stairs without waking up everyone. The only thing you can think of to do is to crawl-slide down the bannister to the bottom. It's tricky, but you manage it and soon you're on the ground floor where you quickly make your way to the front door. You unlock the door and slip outside.
  
  The park isn't too far away, and while you hear a few sounds of the night, the streets are empty. The only dim light is the moon above, as typical in this area someone hasn't kept up on keeping the street lamps lit.
  
  You get down the steps and then hear something behind you. You're fully expecting it to be Miss Olga, but turn and to your relief you see Chloe.
  
  "I still don't think this is a good idea." She says as she approaches you.
  "We won't be gone long. I'm sort of glad you're here though, looks like the lamps aren't lit and the moon isn't that bright tonight. That night vision of yours might come in handy in case someone is lurking in the darkness." You respond.
  
  Your words of someone potentially lurking in the darkness don't comfort Chloe, but she comes with you anyway.
  
  You and Chloe make your way to the park fairly quickly with no encounters. When you get to the park, it's a lot darker as the excessive amount of trees block the moonlight, and nobody even bothered to light the walkway lamps here either.
  
  It's dark enough that you are having a slightly hard time remembering exactly where you saw the butterflies. Chloe manages to help in keeping you from tripping over rocks or falling into small holes in the ground made by small furry animals.
  
  "Are you sure this is the right direction?" Chloe asks.
  "Yeah, I'm...sure...there they are!" you suddenly exclaim midway speaking to Chloe.
  
  You see a faint purple glow at the bush you must have seen them before. This isn't a constant glow though, they're fading in and out. Going from a deep purple and back again. Looks like they're all on the bush sleeping perhaps.
  
  You leave Chloe who maintains a bit of a distance from you, saying to be careful. You're not paying attention to her though; you're drawn to the glow.
  
  You approach closer to the bush focused so much on the grave wings that you forget that they were swarmed over a cat corpse earlier which you trip over.
  
  Fortunately the fall isn't too bad since it's partially broken by the bush itself, but you managed to disturb all the grave wings which flutter away.
  
  "Catalina! Are you alright?" you hear Chloe shout as you're rolling back over.
  "Yeah, I think so, I just..." you start to say and then feel something on your leg.
  
  It's hard to see in the dark, so you try to bend your leg forward. You feel a sharp pain and give a yelp.
  
  "What's going on!?" Chloe shouts.
  "I dunno, I think...I think I got something in my leg."
  "Oh no!"
  "Hurts...hold on..."
  
  You grope at your leg and pull whatever it is out. You do so causing yourself to grimace and stifle your cries of pain. You then shakily bring the object closer to your face so you can actually see it. Looks like a piece of bone. Maybe a rib from the cat? You don't really know. You know you're bleeding though.
  
  At this point Chloe has overcome her reluctance and finally come over to you.
  
  "I knew this was a bad idea! Does it hurt?" she says.
  "Yeah...can you help me up? Gotta get back before..."
  
  Your attention is once again drawn away from the immediate situation and back to the grave wings, which have made their way back to the area. Chloe for whatever reason is really scared of them.
  
  "Argh! No!" Chloe screams and moves out of the way so they don't land on her.
  
  They don't seem to be focused at all on her, so much as they are at you and several descend on to your bleeding leg, while another lands on your hand.
  
  "Pretty..." you say, not realizing that Chloe has run off.
  
  You also don't realize that the grave wings are currently feasting your open wound at first until you feel a lightheaded sensation.
  
  You look once more at the grave wing on your hand, which seems to glow just a little brighter and then you lose consciousness.
  
  When you come to, you see Miss Olga standing over you. You're not in your bed; you're in a spare bed used for when someone is sick.
  
  "Thank the gods you're awake, do you even know how much I was worried that you wouldn't?" Miss Olga exclaims.
  
  You don't answer, since you're still groggy.
  
  "You're lucky Chloe was foolish enough to follow you on your nightly adventure, yet wise enough to run to get me. I told you that grave wings are filthy creatures! You're also lucky I managed to clean out your wound before infection spread. We're going to have to keep an eye on it though. Hopefully, we won't need to take you to a proper doctor."
  
  You continue to say nothing, as there's no point in interrupting Olga's rant. You'll just make her madder.
  
  "Now I'M going to get the rest prepared for adoption day. I had HOPED that you'd be out there since you obviously need more structure than I can possibly provide. But you're in no condition right now so you're missing this one. Do you have ANYTHING to say for yourself?"
  
  If Miss Olga was expecting any sort of apology or introspectiveness on your actions last night, her hopes are dashed as you silently just shake your head.
  
  Miss Olga raises her hands up, rolls her eyes, gives an exasperated sigh and leaves. You hear the door being firmly locked afterwards, not that you were going anywhere, since you still feel a little strange.
  
  Time passes and you start feel a little better. You look at your leg, which is wrapped up, but it doesn't hurt so much as it just aches.
  
  You then hear the door unlock, you expect it to be Miss Olga, but it's Chloe, with a small vase of flowers.
  
  "Catalina, I brought these for you." She says, approaching your bed, looking a little downtrodden.
  "Oh. Put them on that table near the bed I guess." You answer.
  
  As Chloe does so you wonder why she's here.
  
  "Why aren't you out there standing around for adoption day?" you ask.
  "Oh, I was for awhile. But um, nobody was coming up to me at all, then Fatty Patty was taunting me about it and I just left. I don't even think Miss Olga noticed I was gone." Chloe says.
  "So did someone adopt her?"
  "No, she's just stuffing her face with all the food laid out. I don't think anyone is interested in her either, but doesn't stop her from being mean. Anyway I ended up going to the park and decided to pick some flowers for you."
  "You went back to the park? Did you see the grave wings?"
  "No! I didn't even go anywhere near where we went last night. That was scary and I was afraid you died!"
  
  Chloe grabs your hand after she says this. You never really noticed how much Chloe values your indifference towards her as "friendship."
  
  You suppose it probably is a good thing she was looking out for you.
  
  "It's fine Chloe, and thanks for getting help." You say.
  "So did you need anything else? Some food? I don't think Fatty Patty has eaten it all yet." Chloe asks.
  "No, in fact you probably should leave. Last thing either of us needs is for Miss Olga to come in and start yelling at both of us."
  "Yeah, maybe that is a good idea. Okay, you get better."
  
  Chloe smiles and leaves. You lie in bed thinking about what compelled you to go see those butterflies so badly. You don't really know. It couldn't have just because you thought they were pretty. The flowers that Chloe just brought in are pretty and you don't feel as strongly about them.
  
  You've also been wondering about some of the weird stuff you were seeing while you were sleeping. You don't really remember most of it, but there were images of skulls mixed in the butterflies, cat's corpse, the Nuro graveyard, which you remember seeing once when you wandered off and got lost in the city. (You probably would visit there more than the park if it wasn't so far) and just weird dark shapes in general.
  
  And while some of this is a bit scary to you, most of it is just intriguing.
  
  Tired of being stuck in bed, you sit up and try to walk around. You use the nearby table to prop yourself up, but when you finally stand on your leg, it's a little weaker than you thought and you stumble, causing the vase to fall and break.
  
  "Damn!" you swear. You know you're not supposed to swear, but it just seemed appropriate in this situation especially since you know Miss Olga is going to come in and complain about the mess you've made.
  
  With some effort you start picking up shards of the vase and putting in a drawer. When you touch one of the flowers though something interesting happens.
  
  It slowly wilts in your hand, causing you to drop it immediately.
  
  Hesitantly, you pick up a different flower and the same thing happens. It wilts to the point where the petals actually blacken and fall off. You pick up yet another flower, but nothing happens which confuses you.
  
  You set aside the unchanged flower along with the newly dead one and go back to the wilted one that you dropped.
  
  It remains the same at first, but then something odd happens, it shows a bit of life again. Still wilted though.
  
  "Cool..."
  
  > Awakening
  After a couple weeks of sneaking to the park and recreating your "discovery" on various plants and flowers there, you learn that it doesn't seem to be going away.
  
  You think maybe it's due to the grave wings biting you and it could very well be, but you don't really know. In fact, you haven't seen the grave wings at all since that last night you fell unconscious.
  
  While you've never been there, you do know that this city has one of the most important magic schools in the world. (Well at least what little you know of it). You once remember seeing someone performing magic in the park for a crowd until a guard ran him off saying how he wasn't allowed off school grounds.
  
  Your knowledge is very limited on how this works or even why, but you can only come to the simple conclusion that you must have magic abilities!
  
  While this is exciting, even you're aware of how dangerous magic can be. You aren't sure if you should tell Miss Olga or not. If you did maybe you'd go to the magic school?
  
  While you're thinking on this, you aren't paying too much attention to what you've been doing to the flowers nearby.
  
  "By the gods!" you hear a voice exclaim.
  
  You look down and see dead flowers near your hand, then you look where the voice came from and see Chloe standing nearby in shock. You're a little surprised as well since you've been careful to not let anyone see.
  
  All you can utter is:
  
  "Wha...what are you doing here?"
  "Miss Olga told me to come get you for lunch since she knows I'd be able to find you quicker than she would...you made those flowers wilt!" Chloe says readdressing the situation.
  "Shhh! You're the only one who knows so far!" you say.
  "I am? When did you become magical? Wait, was it after that night?"
  "Yeah."
  
  You fully expect Chloe to get scared, but instead she's curious.
  
  "Well...what else can you do? Can you create a fireball?" she asks.
  "No. I mean...well I dunno. I haven't tried it." You say.
  "So, you can only kill flowers?"
  "No, I can make them better too, look."
  
  You focus a bit and the dead flowers show some vigor again, but not much.
  
  "They still look in pretty bad shape." Chloe says.
  "Yeah, I can never get them to go exactly back to how they were. I keep trying, but it doesn't seem to work." You reply.
  "Well...maybe you need to practice?"
  "I have for a week now, but it's not like I can practice for long periods of time."
  
  After saying this to Chloe, you notice something on the ground by some of the dead flower petals. It's a dead bee. You guess you didn't notice it when you were near the flowers before, but you can only guess it was in one of the flowers you wilted and as a result, you killed it too.
  
  You get an idea...
  
  "What are you doing now?" Chloe asks.
  "This bee. I think I killed it, when I wilted the flowers. I'm going to see if I can make it better."
  "What? You...you can't do that!"
  "Why not? I can bring back flowers...well sorta. Anyway it's worth a shot."
  "I dunno Cat, this seems like a bad idea. Couldn't you just try to change that rose purple or something?"
  
  You ignore Chloe's concerns and focus on the bee.
  
  And focus...
  
  And focus...
  
  "I don't think it's working."
  "Shhh!"
  
  You focus again and after feeling a bit light headed, you see it! You see a wing move, if only for a brief moment! Chloe sees it too and now she's scared.
  
  "You...you shouldn't be able to do that." Chloe remarks.
  "Why?" you ask.
  "Because...that's like against the rules! Don't you know that story?"
  "Story about what?"
  "About the Great Lich Lord and how he nearly conquered the world with the dead!"
  "I don't remember Miss Olga telling that story before."
  "You probably were here in the park as usual, but last year she told a scary story about him and why that sort of magic is against the rules. You can get into a lot of trouble doing it."
  "Oh. Well I'm not doing that. I'm just seeing if I can revive this bee."
  "I think that's the same thing Cat! Come on, we need to get back anyway for lunch."
  
  Reluctantly you leave with Chloe and head back to the orphanage where you're already late. Fatty Patty wastes no time in calling attention to that fact when you both try to quietly go to your chairs in the dinning room. The other children don't say anything, but of course...
  
  "Miss Olga! Cat and Chloe are late!" Patty shouts obnoxiously while partially eaten food crumbs fly out of her mouth.
  
  Miss Olga comes out of the kitchen frowning, but she seems more annoyed by Patty than you two since it was already obvious you were going to be late.
  
  "Well I see you two finally decided to join us. I told you to get Catalina a half hour ago. What happened Chloe, you get lost on the way?" Miss Olga asks.
  "No Miss Olga." Chloe says looking down.
  "And as for you, well I'm getting to the point I can see you're just determined to be difficult even after your recent episode. Both of you go take your seats at the table."
  
  You and Chloe silently take your seats while Patty and a couple other children snicker. The other children finish before you and Chloe since you came in late, that's when Chloe speaks again.
  
  "You going to tell Miss Olga?" Chloe asks.
  "Huh? Tell her what?" you ask.
  "About your magic powers. You probably should since she'll know what to do."
  "What? No! I don't want to tell her, I'll get in trouble!"
  "Maybe, but I mean magic is serious, you can't just keep it secret!"
  
  "Keep what secret?" Miss Olga asks staring at the pair of you. Obviously she only heard the last part, but she knows something's up.
  
  You feel anxious. Part of you does want to tell her since you really don't know what you're doing, but you feel like you're going to get locked away forever if you say something.
  
  > tell Miss Olga the truth
  You don't know what you're doing and you feel like Miss Olga always knows everything. Even if she doesn't, she's going to be able to tell if you're lying. You still think you're going to get into trouble, but maybe the truth will at least lessen it.
  
  You tell Miss Olga everything very reluctantly. You're on the verge of tears and your voice quivers a bit, but you keep it together. Miss Olga's eyes widen when you mention magic. In fact she looks concerned until you finish. She remains silent though, which is probably more upsetting to you.
  
  Chloe breaks up the silence after you stop talking.
  
  "Miss Olga, it's not her fault! Please don't send her to magic jail!" Chloe exclaims.
  "Chloe, calm down. Nobody is going to jail. But..." Miss Olga sighs heavily. "I am not equipped to help you Catalina. I know you're not some demon spawn or anything like that, but you obviously have a condition that needs people more experienced than I in these matters."
  "Don't send her to jail! Please!" Chloe yells again.
  "Chloe, be quiet! I just said I wasn't going to do that. In fact, YOU leave. I need to speak to Catalina privately. And DON'T tell any of the other children about this, you understand?"
  
  Chloe nods and leaves the table slowly, she even hugs you before exiting the room. You're left alone with Miss Olga and you're very nervous. Miss Olga shakes her head.
  
  "Catalina, your little night time adventure has really complicated things for your life. But what's done it done, now it's my job to at least try to provide help to you, like I always have, contrary to what you might believe."
  "What are you going to do?"
  "Well I'm going to have to actively find parents for you as soon as possible, fortunately we live in a city that has the most popular magic college in the world. There's a professor there that can probably help. Haven't seen her in years, but we were on good terms last time we spoke. More importantly I can trust her. At least I hope I can. Well I'm going to have to in any case."
  
  You shift in your chair a bit silently, still worrying about what's going to happen.
  
  "As for you, you're going to be sticking to me from now on. You'll be sleeping in the extra bed in my room until I can find proper parents for you, you will NOT be sneaking away to the park or anywhere else. You are to remain in this building at all times. And you are definitely NOT to practice ANY sort of magic! I catch you doing any of that and Chloe's concerns about you going away to jail will be a reality. You understand?"
  
  You tense up and nod rapidly.
  
  "Good. Now get ready for bed."
  
  You leave the table and start to exit the room but then turn to tell Miss Olga that you're sorry. Miss Olga maintains her firm composure, but says she's at least glad you told her the truth when you did and that as long as you behave, everything will be fine.
  
  As you start to head to Miss Olga's room, everything starts to get hazy for some reason. You don't even remember actually getting into bed, but you're suddenly there when you wake up.
  
  How long have you been asleep?
  
  Your time at the orphanage seems to be a blur. You're playing with Chloe one moment and you're eating at the table the next. It's all sort of mundane and even a little boring.
  
  You briefly think about sneaking off to the park, but you're too afraid now. Not to mention Chloe is always around you now. Is she spying on you for Miss Olga?
  
  You don't know how much time passes, maybe a week? You do remember seeing an older lady come into the orphanage to speak to Miss Olga. She had completely white hair and walked with a cane. She had to be even older than Miss Olga. Strange you can't remember her face even though you spoke to her.
  
  You get called in and answered a few questions about your magic abilities. The older lady asks, though you can't really understand any of what she says. You still can't make out her face either.
  
  You mostly answer in a yes or no way or repeat what you were able to do. The lady casts some sort of magic and then speaks to Miss Olga. You can't understand what she says, but Miss Olga nods and seems relieved.
  
  She turns to you.
  
  "Catalina, you're going to go stay here another week and then you will meet your new parents. They will be able to help you and train you in the way you need. Until then, just continue to stay in the building and behave okay?" Miss Olga says.
  "Yes, Miss Olga." You answer.
  
  You are told to go play, which you do. Chloe asks what happened, but you can't really explain well. Everything is just hard to focus on. You tell Chloe that nothing happened and that you just need to go lie down.
  
  Again, you aren't sure how long you sleep. Has it been days? You just know that something important is happening.
  
  Miss Olga comes in and tells you that your new parents are here and they're eager to meet you. You aren't so eager to meet them though.
  
  They come in and your attitude changes. You see two well dressed figures and at first you can't make out their faces until they get closer and that's when you see them clearly.
  
  Both of them have grinning fleshless skulls rather than faces. Their skeletal arms extend to embrace you and you are filled with a sense of safe familiarity. You waste no time in hugging your new parents, then everything goes 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. It was sort of a comforting image though and you briefly wonder how different things would have been if you'd been adopted so early. Then you quickly dismiss such thoughts.
  
  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.