The Urbem (Completed)

Chapter Three: Recruitment

(Lyra)

When I finally ran into the cat-sized, cobalt blue tarantula, I had just started to believe that I might have to spend another night in the trees. However, the spider was a signal, the messenger sent to mean that I was very close to the boundaries where I had told Lexio I’d meet him at.

“Aranea,” I said simply, nodding to the tarantula. She closed all eight of her eyes in recognition and scampered off in a northwest direction slowly, wanting me to follow her. Even for a giant spider, she was very pretty. She was a very dark blue with a lighter whitish-blue on her thorax, and random spots of black on all of her legs.

‘Lexio is getting lazy,’ Dolosus mused, making an amused hooting sound. ‘Sending poor Aranea to greet you...’

“Aranea probably knows her way around here better than Lexio does,” I replied, stroking him out of habit. I kept my eyes locked on the dark, large, hairy arachnid, not wanting to lose sight of her. Even after years of living in the dark forest, my eyes were still only human, and therefore abnormally ill-adapted to night. Granted, I had Dolosus, but he never went far from me, so I was putting a large amount of faith in Aranea. She led me to an area that I recognized. I stepped through the bushes into the sight of a small civilization, my home.

It consisted of buildings built high in the tree canopy above, hidden in a way that it would be impossible to tell they were houses to the passerby. This was where the Insurgo lived. We did have portable campsites that were used occasionally on treks or emergencies, but, generally, we lived in this permanent settlement. Aranea suddenly took off in another direction, scampering up onto the shoulders of a man who stood by the base of one of the tree houses. Just like me, he had brown hair and green eyes. He quickly stepped over to me and gave me a concerned hug; the animals sitting on our shoulders carefully repositioned themselves to avoid contact. I was not to touch Aranea, and Lexio was not to touch Dolosus. The unspoken law of the Animus prevented that.

“Are you alright, Lyra?” I rolled my eyes heavily at him.

“I am fine, Lexio.” “I didn’t like you going all the way to Uxor-Asia by yourself,” he frowned. “It’s not safe.”

Dolosus clicked his beak, annoyed. ‘You’re never by yourself.'

I smiled. “I’m afraid that you’ve offended Dolosus.”

“I wouldn’t know since he can’t talk to me,” Lexio answered, “but I’m starting to read that his beak click usually means something negative.”

“It does..." I muttered with a long yawn.

“Of course,” he added, grinning at Dolosus tauntingly, “Dolosus has a tendency to be a bit temperamental and grumpy.” Dolosus hissed at him; Lexio grinned wider, turning to me. “Apart from your less-than-desirable companionship with that owl, how was the trip?”

“Long, tedious, and unproductive. It was bogus information, but can we talk about it later? I’m exhausted,” I blatantly prompted, walking past him toward the staircase. “I’m going to get some rest.” Lexio nodded in acknowledgement, and I left my brother behind. As I made my way to my bedroom though the network of tree canopies, I passed numerous animals, from ants the size of oversized rats that ran along the crooked branches, to horses larger than bears that roamed free along the forest floor. It was the norm for all Insurgos to be surrounded by animals at any given time. We exiles had a gift, something that the citizens of Uxor’s cities could never even hope to understand.

When The Divide first separated the men into the inferior and the women into the superior, mankind completely isolated itself from nature. After eons of not being treated as disgusting, worthless, beasts by humans, the animals of the earth all became intelligent; even more so than the human race. Neither human nor animal are exactly sure what causes it, but, for some reason, the animals will choose a certain human to form a mental bond with. After that happens, souls are joined together and the animal and human become two halves of the same being. This is what is known as the Animus Link.