This was just an idea I had while getting ready for bed, and I really liked it. I know it's not the best but I hope to continue it if y'all don't hate it ;_; Read and review, please.
My life is an odd one, a sentient snow elf living amongst the devolved remnants of my race, the Falmer, in a place that the mortals above call Blackreach. I'm one of the last of my kind that hasn't turned into a shadow of a being that waddles around underground like apes, though I suppose I'm not too unlike my brethren in some aspects. I've never met any others of my kind that weren't the slimy, violent little beasts that live here with me, and I've only met a few other beings in general at all. I was a fluke, to be honest. A baby born from the fabled beasts that was, somehow, not like the rest. Intelligent, statuesque, normal. It's really very unclear why I even was born like this; maybe something has a plan for me that I can't control. The others down here don't even know the difference, though. They're little more than animals scrabbling in the dirt trying to survive long after they were rightfully screwed over by the Dwemer. They don't speak any real language anymore, more just grunt and hiss at each other to get their point across. They raise skeevers and those terrible giant stinking bugs, chaurus for food and armor, and they promptly dispatch anything unlucky enough to stumble in here and then fight over who gets to nibble at the remains first.
Truthfully, I don't like it down here. It's dark, cold, wet and smells badly. I smell badly, too, but I can't help it. I'm entirely unsure how to fix it. The giant glowing mushrooms that sprout up around the place are poisonous and therefore inedible. I find myself revolted every time I walk past one- according to a few journals and books I've managed to scavenge from around the ruin dating from long before my family were in such a bad way, these mushrooms are the very things that the Dwemer used to turn us all into mindless beasts. So far, however, I've been too scared to leave the actual ruin itself. I imagine it to be a terrible, violent place that few can dwell in and while it's not the best life down here, it's familiar and safe and I'm at least not alone. Up there, no one would care about me or even want to. At least the Falmer have retained some sense of familial bond, and they watch out for their own. Many times I've tried to test the new babies for any signs of being like me, but so far none have passed. They're slowly getting smarter, though, and the extra set of blind eyes that their predecessors have are now completely bred out. I've even seen some hints of a nose in a few of them. This is exciting news. My kind may just make a comeback after all!
A deep, guttural cry came from near the entrance of the cave, and my sensitive ears prickled immediately. That was a noise I'd never heard before, and my brethren were just as curious as I, scampering toward the noise with weapons clutched tightly to them. I bent to all fours and decided quickly to make sure the children and pregnant mothers were safe while everyone else dealt with whatever had tumbled into our midst. Pushing my way into the largest tent in the cavern, I came upon a heavily breathing and very miserable looking woman that I'd taken to calling Pallor on account of her exceptionally pale skin. She immediately caught my scent and hissed loudly in my direction, pawing at her bulging belly in desperation. The children, all a few years old now, were cowering in the corner with one of them bleeding from a scrape on his face. He'd apparently gotten too close to Pallor and gotten a swipe across the head for it. I smiled and shook my head, kneeling at the soon-to-be-mother's side and spoke nonsense in a soothing voice as she struggled and screamed, trying to rid herself of the baby within. I rubbed her shoulder and she wailed some more. Outside, the entire camp had dissolved into chaos and I was suddenly very afraid for all of us, but Pallor hadn't seemed to notice and I didn't want to send her into a panic when she was so nearly done giving birth. That wouldn't help anything.
Moments later, a wet noise came from between the struggling woman's legs and I saw the pale skin of her baby briefly flash as it dropped onto the dirt and began to scream wildly. Pallor now seemed frightened, her ears twitching about as she listened to the commotion outside and rose quickly to shaky feet. She scooped up her baby, still wet and bloody and actually disgusting and shoved it into my arms before bolting from the tent, destruction magic kindling between her fingers. I looked down at the thing for the first time, entirely unsure what to do and was startled at what I saw in its eyes…intelligence. Its face wasn't twisted and ugly, and its body was small and pudgy and soft rather than looking like a little clone of its parents like Falmer children usually did. I inhaled sharply and wiped some of the muck away from its face with my hand and smiled down at the little thing. It would likely be like me, a normal snow elf. This was exciting in so many ways. I would finally have someone of my own that would understand me and be able to understand things other than cleaning chaurus chitin and eating raw skeever and smearing its own shit over itself for camouflage. The baby had stopped screaming and was now gazing up at me, not smiling or making a single sound. Just staring.
I also noticed the noises from outside had stopped and I was relieved at that. Whatever was going on out there had undoubtedly been taken care of, but the footsteps coming toward the tent I was in didn't sound like the scuffling little gallop that the Falmer usually did, but I didn't care. There was another snow elf like me and I needed to get back to my journal and document this historical moment. In the back of my mind I wondered if this would be a recurring thing, but my thought process was cut short when the gloomy light that filtered through the open tent from the mushrooms outside was blackened by a tall, thick figure that definitely wasn't Pallor coming back to retrieve her child. I screamed and clutched the baby to my chest, and it started sobbing again too. The beast raised its weapon, looking down at me briefly before dispatching the children who were all huddled up in the corner, quivering in fear. I pressed myself harder into the wall and squeezed my eyes shut, clutching the slippery baby tighter and hoping I wasn't going to die right after I'd helped birth another like me.