Chapter 14: Useless trait

Chapter 14: Useless trait

Uriel felt the power traversing his veins, every fiber on his body, even his hair and nails, was immersed in the empowering aura that came out of the rabbit. It lasted no more than a few seconds, but he felt it as if everything was moving on slow motion.

He moved his head from left to right, the world around him was seemingly frozen. His mind raced, but his head moved slowly, too slow to keep up with the speed of his thoughts.

He saw Luna and the cute girl struggling to kill the cryptid they had caught, he also took notice of Shaker's bitter reaction when he realized that Uriel had received his trait. Shaker's face distorted, but it was too late, There was nothing he could do now to impede him from acquiring a trait.

The light that came from the corpse of the horned rabbit fizzled out, the power surge ended and Uriel was... disappointed.

He didn't feel any stronger or faster, in fact, after tasting the slow motion effect everything seemed to happen too fast for his liking. He was left in a daze while horned rabbits took the chance to attack him from all sides bruising him up.

He had heard that once someone gets their trait they would instinctively know how to use it or feel the change, but Uriel couldn't figure out the nature of his trait. If anything, the only positive effect he could feel was that he wasn't so tired anymore and the damage he suffered from the crytpid's onslaught was minimal. This was nice, but not nearly as good as he expected.

Thanks to their team effort, the girls took down three horned rabbits and both of them were able to to get their traits.

After experiencing something quite similar to what Uriel had just gone through, their bodies changed in a noticeable way. Uriel could see how Luna's usually droopy eyes were now wide open, her hair that was of a dark color was now ashen white. The pretty girl's change was even more astounding, she became a bit taller and her eyes turned red and bright.

"Is it over?" The pretty girl asked.

Luna was still trying to make sense of her trait, but there was a faint smile on her face hinting that she was quite satisfied with the result, at that moment the first light of day hit her, complimenting her soothing face.

Now the group was finally safe, during day time cryptids weren't as big of a threat as they were during the night. This allowed Uriel to scan his surroundings, he was finally able to see the small creek nearby.

It was the first time for him to see a natural source of water, he was deeply amazed at the sound it made and the small pebbles on its bottom. He was born and raised within city walls and never had the chance to venture out in the wilderness, a fate that most people born after the arrival of the cryptids shared, including the rest of their group.

"I'm trying to activate my trait."

"It doesn't work like that. You either know how to or you simply don't have a trait." The cute girl explained. "For instance, I somehow know what I can do now. My eyes, they feel different, it's like they're burning hot but it's not painful or bothersome and, judging by how Shaker reacted, I'm willing to bet that it makes people scared." She whispered the last part to keep Shaker from hearing her.

"Can you try it on me?" Luna asked curiously.

"Are you sure?" She glanced at Shaker, who was still affected by her trait. He was at a distance brooding in silence. "I don't think it'll be pleasant"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Luna was so relaxed all the time, even in the face of danger it was almost as if nothing worried her. She somewhat reminded him of Cassandra, the girl who always came last during Captain Silvermane's lessons.

When the cute girl stared at Luna she didn't seem to be affected. Instead of fear, her curiosity was piqued.

"This is interesting. Have you heard about the uncanny valley theory?" She dragged her words as always. Despite knowing that it was likely that she would start explaining in her annoying manner of speech, both Uriel and the cute girl shook their heads prompting her to speak.

"Have you noticed how whenever you look at something that resembles a human but it's not human, you get this eerie feeling? It gets to a point where it's so unsettling that people's heart begin to race just by looking at pictures. People with deformities, animals behaving like humans, things like that.

"A fear so primal could only be explained if at some point in human history all of humanity was hunted by something similar to humans, but not quite human. It's the same fear that prey animals experience when facing predators, it's so strong that some of those prey animals can't withstand it and their heart just gives up. When you used your trait on me, I felt something of the sorts, I can't really explain it any better."

Uriel didn't know about that girl's trait because he didn't experience it himself, but he had to admit that Luna's theory actually made sense. There was a lot of archaeological evidence that could back it up, like the therianthropes in ancient Egypt and many other cultures where they worshiped creatures that were similar to humans but also to animals.

He would have loved to talk about that with Luna and he was starting to actually believe that cryptozoology may as well be considered true science now, but this wasn't the time for that.

"That can't be it, I must have a trait, you all saw the light surrounding me!"

"We can't be sure until they measure your power. I've heard the army has a device that allows them to measure the exact amount of energy a person has, that's an indicator of how strong they are. But of course, some traits are more useful or powerful than others by themselves." The pretty girl said. "Anyway, if it wasn't for you we would have been dead already. I've been practicing martial arts since I was a child, but when those things came at us I froze. Even if you don't have a trait, you have a good head over your shoulders and I think that's even better."