This is part of an original fiction series using an altered version of an established continuity, commonly known as fan fiction. No claim is made to ownership of the original content used for inspiration, and no permission is granted to republish this new work elsewhere. The story takes place in an alternate timeline of Tamriel from the The Elder Scrolls series of games.
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The Body
Phan-xu stared at the body. It was not one of her kind: no scales, no prognathous snout, not even a tail. She had seen dead bodies before. Birds, small lizards, even aged members of her own people who had returned to the soil. But never had she seen anyone, living or dead, who wasn't one of her people.
The sun was low in the sky and all was quiet except for the buzz of the insects busying themselves on and around the corpse. Phan-xu stayed at a distance. The sight was intriguing but unsettling, and scavengers would soon be drawn to that spot. Large birds were already pecking at it. In the marshlands bodies disappeared quickly, and interested beasts such as snapjaws would not pass up an additional meal that might be lingering about.
The sight of death never failed to fascinate Phan-xu. Worse still was seeing an injured animal and knowing it would struggle in pain before its end. Members of her village would put such animals out of their misery, but Phan-xu was certain she could never bring herself to do it. The talk of birth and death and the endless cycle of life didn't change how she felt about such things. Each moment had its own meaning and value, even if it was one of desperation and misery.
The smell had brought her here, to this small hill in a clearing. The pungent, disturbing odor of death. She had expected to find one of the larger animals native to the area, such as those they used to guard to village or to carry their goods. Those sometimes passed away from illness or injury rather than falling to predators. On one occasion she had managed to edge close enough to the body of one of the more ferocious beasts that roamed those parts to touch it. She had been scolded for her carelessness, a lesson which still had enough strength to overcome her curiosity about this new discovery.
The basket she had been carrying to gather leaves and berries sat idly behind her. She was old enough to go out on her own now, and she felt pride in that. She sat looking at the stranger and wondered why they had come here. Outsiders were rare and considered dangerous nuisances. Her people still told stories of the many troubles the outsiders had caused them, the grief. After the world changed, her kind retreated to their homeland and took up a simpler way of life. Phan-xu had heard of camps where some of her people traded news and goods with outsiders under the protection of warriors, but the camps were nowhere near her village.
A zizat bird called out as a light rain started, abandoning a piece of rotten fruit a few feet from Phan-xu. The rain changed the weight of the scents in the air, disturbing and dispersing them. Drops ran down Phan-xu's brownish-green face, and she wondered what it would have been like to live in the world that had been, unaware of the presence that crept toward her.
