The dark, damp walls of a cave deep underground echoed continuously with the squeaks of a mischief of rats. There was a plie of squirming, scrambling, four-legged rats slightly smaller in size than two rats combined. In the center of the pile were a handful of swollen-bellied female rats on top of soft grass looking to be in the middle of giving birth.

Out pops one rat baby, then another, and then they multiply to cover the ends of the earth! Halleluja! JK.  

     The mother rats, in the safety of the rat pile, give birth to a total of twenty-two little ratlings, with each mother giving birth to at least three. The rat pile, as if electrocuted, spasms mightily before swarming downwards and opening up the center. The newborn rats take their very first breath of fresh air, their tiny limbs and noses twitching. Their mothers, having given birth in their homes, had no need to transport their children anywhere else, so they began caring for their children on the spot.

     Of course, a tiny rat baby with unopened soft green eyes was among them, unnoticed, and not any different from the rest. 

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  Home Cave

     It'd been 15 days since the babies were born, and they were getting used to being able to see what they could only smell before. The soft-green-eyed rat had grown slightly faster than the rest of his siblings, as it was visible that his fur had begun to grow. His core had yet to solidify anywhere in his body though, because he had yet to reach the half-year age mark.

     The soft green soul had been born into a mischhief of Earth-Water Rats, a species of magic beast rats with an elemental affinity to water and earth who were also fiercely protective of their young, as they had few females and only one 'mating season' annually.

     He, as his gender was now set as male (in this life), had opened the senses of his physical body for the first time since he came into being. He was amazed at everything he saw, heard, tasted, felt, smelled, and whaytever else his newfound senses sensed. His senses allowed him to know of anything that occurred within a little bubble around him, about the size of a queen-sized bed, and everything that happened on the edges of his senses were known to him as well.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

     Because of his over-active curiosity, he was among the most lively little rat children in the cave. He scuttled from rat to rat, rolling all over them and ran all over the cave walls with a few other lively little rats. The Earth-Water Rats, being magical beasts, were more intelligent than their regular cousins (but by how much, it differs individually).

    The adult rats watched with reminiscing gazes as the lively green-eyed rat and his friends dashed by, recalling the days when they themselves had just opened their eyes. They subconciously compared their younger selves against these baby rats, finding that they had only had one rat that had been so lively during their generation, and she was currently looking far more youthfully energetic than they were...

     The adult rats, snorting to themselves every now and then, gave up on their negative trails of thought and kept watch over the little rats. They kept an eye on the rats that weren't as energetic as well, to make sure they were doing well and were healthy.

     The good old supervisor rats' days were packed with baby rats running, baby rats nibbling on them, bringing baby rats back to their mothers for feeding, and so on and so forth. All was peaceful (baby rat opinion only).

    Around a week later, just about all of the baby rats had completed their coats of fur. The green-eyed rat had made a name for himself among his broodmates, known to them as the liveliest and the most curious one of them all. He was known for peeking in on nearly everything; from daily actions to using the restroom, and from watching and cheering on a dispute up close and personal to sitting on the chief Earth-Water Rat and watching and asking him about everything he did. Since the chief didn't really mind too much, neither did anyone else.

      Currently the Earth-Water Rats' children were considered to have grown enough to keep themselves safe, but not enough to be able to protect themselves, so they were all being taken outside of their birth cave for today. By this time of their lives, all of the young rats were energetically scuttling around.

     None of them had been outside of the cave they were born in, not that any of them hadn’t tried to catch a glimpse. Of course, the best of all baby plans got exposed halfway through, resulting in their ultimate failure, which is why they were all so exited to go outside for the day.

    With the adult rats leading the way and young, jittery rats following behind them, foolishly happy in a simple way, with no knowledge of what is to come in the world outside of the cave.