One paw in front of the other. It was a silent mantra that he intoned to himself over and over with the regularity of the setting sun. It drowned out everything, became all, and it drove him to walk day in and day out. It was all for her. If he could not have her due to his own failings then at the very least, he could do was die searching for her. His soul demanded nothing less of him and so he tolled. He bled. He died. All for her. His heart. His everything. Seraphina. Such was his melancholy he could almost hear her cry out to him as if she too crumbled internally. It was such a haunting call imbued with the toneless quality that marked her words. It was beautiful. It was chilling. Who knew that the mind had the power to conjure such mocking visions…yet it was not a vision. He did not see her tantalizing form before him like he normally did. And yet his heart still raced within his chest. His ears twitched as adrenaline flooded his system. Could it be?

Before he knew it, he was running. Well running was too strong of a word as it was more of a sad lurching hop but it was a marked difference in the defeated plod from before. His breath clouded the air before him as wide eyes desperately scanned the fields before him. It. Came. From. This. Direction. He was sure of it. Every few steps he called out her name, chanted it as if it was the most precious thing in the entire universe…it was. She was. THERE! Nose almost slams into the hard earth yet it is nothing compared to the force of his inhalations. She was close! She smelled DELICIOUS! He wanted to curl up into her scent and weep yet new resolve pulls him up by his skin and bones. He would get to her this time.

With renewed vigor he begins to scream her name, irritating all those within earshot, but he was beyond social standards. He almost thought he had gone completely mad and that he had imagined the whole thing when suddenly she appeared. She was searching a nearby thicket nearly devoid of foliage, her own snout to the ground as she searched some aroma out. The determined cast to her face nearly shattered his heart but not enough to stop the harsh cry that tore itself from his throat as he barreled forward. He had no intent on stopping until his body collided with hers. Then and only then would he give in to the exhaustion that colored the edges of his vision and chased after every labored breath. Only her embrace could ease his pain.