Her confidence was comical, fragile, and quivering. And yet, Elodie still swayed to the side of bravery and empathy as she pushed her limbs regretfully forward. The dark was hungry, the shadows ravenous, and though she knew nothing of who was out there nor what, she continued to try to find them.

Quietly, her gaze skittered from side to side, flashing amongst the shadows of the approaching night as she searched. At first, there was nothing beyond the scent of herbs and earth, of mysterious rain within a clear, cloudless night—but then, a voice.

And then a gaze she could’ve sworn had glowed in the absence of the moonlight’s darkened glimmer. Hello? She hesitantly asked again as the shadows before she transformed into a body—a silhouette that looked far more akin to a wolf than a beast.

Their words were cryptic but…normal. Enough so for Elodie to question the sounds she had heard not moments before. Had she dreamed those sounds of heartbreak and pain? That longing for something that would no longer come?

I— She hesitantly started as her pace slowed a mere few feet away from the stranger ahead. The golden girl’s ears wilted atop her head as hesitancy flourished like the beating wings of a bug between her flesh, I thought I heard… She murmured into the dark, toward the glowing eyes she swore bore into the shards of her soul that barely remained. If not…I may be… crazy. She shook her head, My apologies, she offered instead.

Perhaps it was she who was losing the last strings of her own insanity.

There's nothing I need...but is there…anything I can do for you, instead?