*NOTE* This is more based off of George Pal's 1960 flick rather then the book or the updated version of the movie. Though the Eloi themselves are more like described in the book. Sorry about any writing errors. I'm still learning how to write properly haha.
Chapter 1. Little Shikha
The Eloi pulled around the bend of an ancient trail worn into the rock from many centuries of use. Their entire journey was all the same as their very ancestors. The night journey that never seems to end for the small breed except individual death. It was their destiny. This very thought ingrained in all their minds. Artificially bred for their small, fine and blonde features, the Eloi were very beautiful creatures.
Behind them came another creature that dominated their every whim, the Morlocks. With heavy leather whips made from the skins of the Eloi, they cued them down the worn trail quietly with only the occasional crack of the whip. There was only one purpose why this trail is taken. The Eloi, being very beautiful, were also very stupid. They had degraded throughout the many millennia from their original human ancestors. For only one purpose they still existed and that was for food. The Morlocks bred them to be carefree and distant from their environment. Eloi totally depended on the night creatures to pamper them.
One pregnant Eloi female had become a meal for a mated pair of Morlocks. A broad gentle-natured female called Marn and her heavily scarred mate Fown. The pregnant Eloi was killed swiftly with no regard to her swollen stomach. Too many centuries of feasting on Eloi made the night breed care very little. Strangely enough the Morlocks were also descendants of mankind as were the Eloi. Two separate branches of human creatures evolved in totally different worlds.
"Fown, look at this." The Morlock female pulled a bloody baby out from the Eloi's open uterus and clutched it in her mutated hands. The baby just fit in her palms. It was not the fact that finding an Eloi fetus was surprising but one that was alive and ready for the world. Which in fact the little Eloi baby was already fully developed and just hours from being born.
If not for a twist of fate or even a spark of pity the story would have ended here, in the stomach of a Morlock. The female had no children of her own as she had failed to conceive any healthy ones. If she did it was normally a stillborn or miscarriage. It was always greatly discouraging to her as to any female. Now here she had a tiny screaming newborn in her hands, begging for somebody to take care of it.
The ugly, greenish face stared down at the baby with thoughtful concern. Finally she gazed over to her mate and announced with glowing eyes. "I want this baby. It's a girl. I have always wanted a girl Fown."
The hideous male furrowed his heavily rolled brow and shook his three-fingered hand at his desperate mate. "No Marn. She is an Eloi and only for food. She is an easy meal."
The female was already won over of course. Her motherly instincts have over-ridden any possible yearning to feast on the helpless child now. She clutched the filthy Eloi child to her pale breast and glared at Fown. "No. She is mine and I will take care of her."
"You are being silly." Fown stuffed his face with Eloi liver. Even if you could raise her the other Morlocks will not allow it. Especially not now that the Eloi are rising up against us with their new master, the Time Traveler. Plus Eloi live in daylight and on fruits. Not on meat and damp, dark air."
The half-blind male had made several good points but it was no use. Nothing could break the strong bond now formed between the two oddities. Too joyful with her new bundle she got up and ventured back into their own private cave. It was small enough just for a few Morlocks to stay comfortable in. On a blanket woven from a special soft plant she laid the Eloi baby upon. If the baby was merely a year or two older human of our time she would have screamed in horror from the ugly monster that gleamed down at her with glowing orbs and unusually long, jutted front teeth. This was her first image and in her undeveloped mind that relied purely on instinct for the time being, she clung to the image and smell of her mother.
The Morlock mother's newfound feelings and with the help of certain plants she started to lactate. The near-starving baby drunk furiously in the wrapped arms of her mother. For her sake Marn started to add fruit to her own diet since she realized a herbivore would not last long on milk from a carnivorous creature. Being since long evolved from having a staple diet of fruit on the menu, Marn found them somewhat distasteful. They weren't revolting, she could put up with it.
Her mate shook his head and clipped his chisel-like teeth at the newborn that had now taken a place in his home. "Never thought ever that my own mate would take in an Eloi for her own child. I would have imagined Eloi flying before that."
After a few weeks Marn finally decided to come up with a name for her baby since it was still going strong and healthy. "I have been thinking very long for a way to call you my little girl." She held the squirming baby in her two hands like the way a child would hold some pet frog. "I shall call you Shikha. It means Flame, which your kind reminds me of. They are not afraid of the flames. It is a very old name. Passed down from our ancestors who were once one."
"Now you are naming your pet? Interesting. I will tell you this now. When she manages to grow up fat and broad I will eat her for dinner. I will promise you that. As there is no other future for an Eloi." Fown informed her.
Marn scooted away and hissed at him with exposed teeth. "You dare do such a thing and you will find the place next to your bed cold."
"Oh? We will see Marn." Fown looked at her firmly. "I am not saying it to be cruel. It is the fate of every one of them. It has always been that way and will always be that way. Plus she will grow up being very stupid. It's the way they are bred."
"No Fown, We will see if she is stupid or not." The anxious mother stroked her baby's blond head with a finger. "Look at the Time Traveler and what he did with the other Eloi, they suddenly had fire in their eyes. As if it was hiding all along. Suppressed and nothing more was their instinct to fight."
The male Morlock leaned over and stared into his mate's glowing eyes. "And you think that is a good thing? To try and raise an Eloi on our knowledge? It is too great for an Eloi. Sure they might be able to rise up and fight a small bit but that means nothing. They are still very stupid animals."
"They are merely light Morlocks." Marn whispered and cooed at her baby again. "We were all one many centuries ago you know."
"Then yes but not now. It is their fault that they went back to the sun. Some of us couldn't." Fown heaved his heavy figure off the ground and rubbed his round stomach full of Shikha's mother. "It was their fault that they decided to fall to our grasp and to become lazy. We are the future. Not our frail cousins."
Marn raised her brow and a gentle smile lit upon her mouth. "So? That was the first time I had ever seen you admit the fact that you are related to the skinny animals that we feast from."
Fown grunted and pulled his loin cloth back up against his waist. "Look she's changing everything already. I do remind you that you don't cling so tightly to that baby. She won't last long without much sun. She will get sick."
"So you actually care for our little one?" Marn rubbed it in. "More surprises."
Fown waved his hand at her and snorted, making his way back out from the cave to work in the caverns. Marn peered down at Shikha and nodded in agreement to her mate's advice. It was a very good idea that she would get sunlight.
"I know exactly where to put you." The Morlock ventured towards an old abandoned part of some caverns. Inside the dry place was old equipment everywhere. A good century ago the Morlocks used to raise some Eloi babies in special light systems for study on improving the breed for better meat. At least here nobody would suspect a baby and there would be no dangers of the outside world. The equipment was still in working order. Marn shoved it to a hidden crevice just incase a curious Morlock child comes to play around in the rubbish. It was mainly here where Shikha spent most of her time as a baby and a toddler.
When she grew older and could just venture around outside in the real world was when the other Morlocks began to notice her. Of course it was out of place to see some little blonde toddler scampering about from the tiny cracks of the cave. Her mother taught her to squeeze herself between the small cracks where the adult Morlocks could not reach her. It would take a good two full years till the night dwellers finally grew to tolerate their Eloi addition to the pack. It was only tolerance and not love. Still she had to stay under the watchful eye of her mother just incase a hungry Morlock decided to come too close. Fown also in return watched over his mate to make sure no other tried to overtake her for Shikha. As much as he disliked the blonde child he still had great love for his mate. The last thing he wanted to see her was in great mourning.
Little Shikha had a hard time moving around in the caverns as most of the areas were pitch dark. Only the glowing eyes of the Morlocks scuffling around her were the things she could see. It wasn't until she discovered the areas where the cave dwellers managed the machines and other equipment that she noticed a small amount of light reflecting off the glowing machinery and the running water. Here she would sit and watch the machinery glow gentle colors of orange and blue wave and bounce. After she grew bored of that she would play in the water till the exhausted Morlocks would chase her away. Often she would try and sneak around the machinery, thinking she was invisible to them since she could barely see them herself. She proved wrong in all places and decided to question her mother.
She raised her arms towards her, asking to be picked up. Marn cradled her in her hairy arms and grunted. Shikha spoke to her in their animal-like grunts and groans since it was the only language she knew.
"Momma why is it that they can spot me and I can't?" She motioned her fingers around at the working Morlocks.
"Because you can't see in the dark like we can." Marn smiled. "You are a light dweller."
"Why? I thought I was the same as everybody else." Shikha went on. The blonde child had actually never seen her own reflection and imprinted that she had the same gruesome features as those around her. It was too dark for her to notice that she grew no white hair down her arms and legs or that she sported five fingers instead of three. There was many things she didn't know of.
"You will understand later Shikha." Marn finished. "Now it's dusk outside but the clouds have moved in. It's time to go up."
"To catch an Eloi?" The little child asked, with eager she clapped her hands. Marn nodded quickly, feeling slightly concerned how Shikha was so eager to seeing a slaughter. Maybe it was because it was her same breed. Poor little Eloi thought she was a Morlock.
After the feast Shikha went off to explore again. She didn't like meat naturally and only ate the fruits her mother brought from above. Her little hands and feet were conditioned to the rough surface of the rock. Her sense of smell and hearing was stronger then normal. After she reached the machinery again she searched for a faintly lighted spot and sat there. Her poor vision didn't catch the four Morlock children that stood close by. Only when their glowing eyes came closer did she realize she was not alone.
"Hey look. It's that little Eloi. Everybody calls her morsel because she should be." One of the children finally grunted at her and motioned towards his friends. They all chuckled and pointed at her with their thick fingers and gawked. Shikha could just barely make out their round faces and huge eyes.
"Leave me alone!" She finally worked up the courage to talk to the other children. "All of you are just cowards anyways. Plus I am not an Eloi."
"Oh? Us cowards?" The boy placed his hands on his hips and threw back his shoulders in a proud gesture. "Actually we are very brave! We don't allow anybody to push us around." He poked a hand in her face. "Of course you are an Eloi. What else do you think you are?"
"I am a Morlock like you are too." She yelled, getting up and standing as tall as she could. Her small stature just barely reached the other's chins.
At this response the boys all busted out laughing and shook their white hairy heads. Shikha shrunk back and tightly clutched her fists. A surge of anger gave her legs power and she rushed at the boy that stood in front of her. With a great shove she slammed the Morlock child to the ground and slammed her fists on his chest. The other boys only protested and encouraged their friend to beat her to a pulp.
With a heavy lift of his powerful legs, the boy kicked her off of him and grabbed her wrists. "Silly morsel. You aren't very brave."
"Neither is picking on a little girl," Another voice boomed over them. Marn had come to the rescue, she stood over the boys and grabbed the one that was fighting Shikha by the hair. "Silly Mog, you should run along now before I put a nice handprint over your bum."
Shikha squinted at the boy. So that was his name. Mog returned the glare and shuffled off into the darker parts of the cavern. After they had gone Marn looked down at her charge and shook her head. "Shouldn't let yourself be cornered. You run and hide."
"But mom, they are small and like kids too. Why should I hide? I want a friend momma." The blonde child protested and yanked on her mother's clothing.
Marn sighed, it was true. Her child couldn't be lonely for the rest of her life. She needs to find friends. Better yet she should find allies, ones that will protect her. It was actually a good idea. Who would be her friend though? Not many takers for the little Eloi child. Most only threatened to eat her as Mog did.