Momentum (Completed)

Chapter One: Cuts And Burns

(Lyra)

I sat in a tree at the edge of the old, ruin-like, ivy-covered city that we called our home quietly, staring into the distance. The orange sun was fast setting, casting more and more shadows over the distant skyline.

A large white barn owl with splotches of brown and tawny all over his back swooped though the fading light, doing various acrobatics like dives, flips, spins, and occasionally soaring. This was my Animus, the one thing on this earth that probably knew me better than I knew myself. I smiled to myself; he seemed so happy. Nighttime flying was Dolosus' favorite, but he rarely did so just for fun... Being Bonded to a human had meant quite a reversal in his natural sleeping habits.

"Enjoying yourself?" I asked with a grin when he finally returned to me and perched on my shoulder.

'Of course,' he responded, casting a worried gaze at six more birds twisting though the air. One was only slightly smaller than him, while the other five were tiny. This was his family, consisting of his mate, Avi, and five chicks that he had never told me the names of. The only one I knew by name was a rebellious young female named Caeli, and that was only because she defied her parents' wish to stay away from me. I wasn't allowed near them, which didn't bother me too much; this hadn't been Dolosus' first brood.

That's how it had to be... If they became too comfortable around me, they might grow up trusting humans. This would easily prove fatal to the young owlets in adulthood, for the Uxors killed any animal they saw ruthlessly and without hesitation... Ever since The Divide spilt the genders, Uxor had built walls around their cities to keep any and all animals away, for they were seen as bloodthirsty monsters, not intelligent, living, thinking, feeling creatures... The only animals that trusted humans were the Animus; even Avi disliked me, though I didn't blame her. It was to be expected. I was watching the owlets on their first flight and it never ceased to amaze me how quickly they grew... Just a month ago, they were little balls of down, and now they were almost fully-fledged owls that would leave their parents soon enough, like all birds. Dolosus was reading my pondering and made a soft noise deep in this throat. '

'That will be coming soon enough. As soon as we are confident that they can fend for themselves, they will go.'

"Don't you ever miss them?" I asked him.

'Not really,' he said, sounding completely genuine. 'Birds aren't family-orientated animals. It is very easy for me to forget each brood every time a new one comes along. Sometimes I wonder what became of them, but miss? No. I have never missed an owlet.' I frowned, but brushed it off; it was the answer I had been expecting. I sat in the tree and watched them for about another half hour before Avi decided it was time to call it quits and we headed back to my house.

I slid down from the tree and hadn't taken more than two steps before I suddenly got an uneasy feeling that I was being watched. I spun around, only to face a tall, red-haired woman standing several feet from me. It was Nephele, the friend I shared quite the loving-one-second-but-hating-the-next relationship with, but she seemed... Different.

"Can I help you?" I called to her, rather annoyed and brushing off my apprehension, but she said nothing. She just glared at me angrily, almost hungrily, as if I was suddenly fascinating her... It made the foreboding sensation in my stomach grow. I turned from her and started to walk back to camp. As soon as I had started to move, she suddenly appeared right in front of me and I saw that she had aged considerably. She must have seen I was nervous, for she sneered as me and said,

"Something bothering you, Insurgo? Cat got your tongue?"

"What are you talking about?" I snapped. She merely smirked at me. "Whatever you're carrying on about, knock it off. You're just being a fool."