It had been a long road for Johann. The pain of a broken heart had crept inside his soul far too many times to bear on one’s shoulders, so he broke. He slouched in numb defeat with a paralyzed energy; any sense of life was siphoned from the depths of his being.  Steps heavy as he walked, he willingly trudged through misery as it weighed him down like layered mud under his shoe. He forgot what it meant to hold on. His grip on life perished as his weakened spirit slowed to a threatening pace. Barely beating, barely eating, he was in dire need of nourishment and regeneration. Behind his transparent smile thrived a grim evil.