You are and moved away to safety.

Your eyes open softly as morning light fills your room. You rest on your white bed with your wife, Elayna awake and looking at you with a content smile and heartwarming eyes.

"Good morning, love," she spoke, her tone pristine as typical of elves. Her golden bed-hair shift down from her shoulders as she slightly raises her head with her hand, looking down at you. Her blue eyes seem to pierce through you, melting your heart. You could stare at her all day with her button nose and round face. While most elves have more of an elongated head, Elayna is a little different and actually looks more cute than wise.

"Morning," you reply simply, eager to snuggle closer, but you are surprised when you feel her other hand touching your chest, stopping from moving closer.

Elayna's smile fades and her eyes grew more concern. "Are you sure you want to be doing this?"

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion. "I...what are you talking about?"

Elayna smiles sadly and her hand from your chest slides up to your cheek where she grazes it.

"I'm afraid that you need to get up. Survive," she explains, but she is too vague for you to understand what is going on. You didn't want to think of anything but her, so why is she so sad for you?

"Get up," Elayna repeats, more firmly now.

You try to reply back, but you find you can't anymore. Her glowing face fades and you feel being pull away from the comfort of your wife. You cry out, begging to return!

"Get up!"

You gasp as cold water splashes on your face. Trying to get a sense of your surroundings, you find yourself being constrict with your hands tied together behind your back.

You try to remain calm, blinking several times as your vision started to clear from the cold water in your eyes. As your vision clears, you see a fire before you, warming the surrounding area and your feet. In front of you, and across from the fire is the drow that you thought would end your life, sitting cross-legged and staring intently at you. She appears to have taken the cloak you threw at her as a distraction to keep herself warm given that she had no other clothes.

Funnily enough, as you recognize her, a pain enters your head and you realize she elbowed you pretty hard in her effort to put you down. You didn't appreciate the blow at all, especially when you tried to save her from giving the trolls a nice gift.

"I imagine you're confused, human," the drow speaks, her voice crisp but unlike your wife with her delicate and formal tone, this dark elf has a more of a rasp whenever she opens her mouth.

You let out a snort and stare at her incredulously. "Well, I certainly didn't expect you to repay me from waking you up amongst the trolls by attacking me."

The drow narrows her eyes and frown. "I won't apologize for that, human. Within Madness, you can hardly trust anyone even if their intentions might be good."

You frown back at her and furrow your eyebrows. "So why am I still alive? You were able to see through my position and knock me out without any need for weapons."

The drow lips curl up. "I was planning on finishing you, but you actually surprised me with your skills and reaction. In fact, I probably would not have detected you if I hadn't sensed an abundance of male hormones raging that I am used to feeling around me."

Your face fell slightly. So basically, you got caught because you were staring too much at her curves and popped a boner? How embarrassing.

The drow seems pleased to see that you readily acknowledge your fault, but she grew serious, deciding to get straight to the point as to why you are alive.

"The reason for me sparing you is because I require your help..."

You wait for a moment, expecting her to clarify, but she only studies your eyes carefully. You figure she is hesitating from explaining further because she wants confirmation whether you could be trusted.

Closing your eyes and chuckling, you shrug and reopen your eyes, staring at her flatly. "...and why should I help you?"

"To have a better chance at surviving, of course. I have come to Madness for a reason just as you have. I believe we are better suited to working together than against each other, especially considering we both excel at adapting into our surroundings," she explains, still avoiding her reason for coming and understandably so since she couldn't trust you yet.

Still, you are a little surprised at her willingness to work with someone else. You didn't figure a drow to work with someone of a different kind. Then again, this is the first time you've met a drow and you could only guess based on what you've heard from others.

"You look surprised, human. Let me guess, is this the first time you've met one of my kind?" she asks, raising her eyebrow.

You grew a little flustered that she saw through you. You clear your throat. "Yes, I'm afraid. You'll have to forgive me if I'm misjudging you. I figured a drow would be **** to work with a human like me. There is also the pre-conception that your people are 'evil', which I'm confused about."

The drow sigh and closes her eyes for a second, curling her lips. "Well, that is a bit annoying, but since you intended to save me, I'm guessing that you could care less about the rumors you hear. I've heard that about us as well, but it's a bad preconception just because we just live in the shadows and are relatively reclusive. It is true though that we wouldn't normally work with another outside of our kind, but I can't be picky considering there is no other drow here."

You hum, figuring something like that. "So then, why are you here?"

The drow raises an eyebrow and smirks. "I think I should be asking you first, human. For all I know, your goals could be in conflict with mines which would then make you an enemy that I have to kill. Don't take it personally."

While you did worry a little about your fate, you are at least glad the drow isn't cruel and completely irrational, otherwise, you are sure you wouldn't be having this conversation. Honestly, if you are in her position of advantage, you probably will have done the same. After all, in Madness, you don't take any chances.

Sighing, you wonder if the drow may look at you crazy at your story. She'll have every reason to disbelieve you, but you had no reason to lie.

"To put it simply, I believe someone or something decided to trap the soul of my wife here under Madness," you explain.

The drow stares at you blankly for a long moment, looking to see whether you were playing stupid with her. After a few seconds of silence, focusing on your unwavering eyes, she closes her eyes and sighs, rubbing her temples.

"So you're filled with madness before you got here, huh?" she question disappointedly. It was clear she saw something more in you.

You chuckle, knowing how ridiculous it sounded when you hear it. You clarified to her with the dream that replays in your mind every time you sleep, taunting you to come save your wife. You note that despite being "dead", her body always remained at a lukewarm temperature. She isn't in a coma or deep sleep, yet her heart didn't beat once and there wasn't a single breath out of her body.

Saying all of this, the drow could only raise both of her eyebrows and cross her arms.

"I'll admit human, I would have never believed that an elf would marry a human who she knew would amount to little in her long life, but it appears you know her well enough and what it means to be truly dead," she observes.

"So, do you believe me then?" you ask, hopeful.

The drow curls her lips and shrugs in uncertainty, pulling your cloak around her tighter. You didn't notice it before, but it appear that despite the fire before you, she is quite cold herself. Of course, the cloak is not going to help as much if you didn't wear any clothes underneath. You are impressed that she didn't give any indication so far in your conversation that she was cold.

"...I suppose it doesn't matter whether I believe your story, but I do believe your conviction. How are you sure that your elf wife is trapped around here?" she questions.

"I don't," you answer, frowning. You didn't want to think about it either.

The drow lowers her head and chuckled, "Well, that only makes your journey worse if you aren't sure. I couldn't give you any clues as to who may give you this dream. Who knows? If this being exists and is expecting you, I have no doubt that it will give you bigger surprises than your sleeping beauty. I just hope I do not get my soul pulled without warning like that."

You raise your eyebrows. "So...you will accompany me then?"

The drow snort. "It'll be more like you will be accompanying me, human. I will not be following you when you aren't sure where to begin in this deadly mountain. I would hope that if we do find your wife's soul, she doesn't mind her husband with another woman, especially one of a 'darker' alternative."

The flash of her sly smile did not escape your notice under the low fire. You aren't sure what "other" surprises you can expect from her in the future based on her double meaning, but you won't be picky, just prepared.

"Well, I hope she won't mind," you answer flatly, forbidding yourself from growing flustered again, "...now I'd prefer you to call me by my name, Daeel rather than 'human'."

The drow shrug. "Fair enough Daeel, but don't get offended if I call you human from time to time. I'm not much for remembering names. My name is Nathraena Everhath."

The drow stood up with a knife in her hand. You look down at your belt and realize that she took in case she needed to use it, probably on you. Since she was unarmed and you had a spare, you are content with letting her keep it for now.

Walking behind you, she bends down and cut the rope that ties your hands. You grunt, feeling your arms ache slightly upon being freed. Just how long were you left with tied hands?

Shutting your eyes tightly and then stretching your hands and arms, you sigh, glad that the drow finally released you. You make a note to remember not to get on her bad side in the future.

Rubbing your hands, you return your focus to Nathraena who sits next to you this time and focuses her attention on the fire.

"...now, I shall tell you my reason for being here..." Nathraena began.