Hale put on his jean jacket and peered out the window, daring to raise the blinds just enough to see outside. As he’d suspected from the endless singing sound, it was raining heavily and the few Humans daring to venture in that weather passed by the house running like frightening rabbits, in search of shelter.

“Today is your day, Halius. But it has to be today. There won’t be another,” he recalled Farran’s voice when he’d called him that morning and stepped away from the window with a grunt. “Of all of us, you’re the one with the biggest tolerance to sunlight. You’re the strongest. The one more in control. It’s important that you’re the first one to arrive.”

“I know already!” he grunted to himself taking out his phone to check the time. Half past five. It was time. And yet, if that was the case, if this was something he’d decided to do of his own accord, why did his legs kept stubbornly hesitating to move?

“Treason is such an ambiguous word … Betray who? Betray what? The way I see it, the biggest betrayal of all is acting against your own nature. Against your own desires. Why is it a betrayal when we don’t follow someone else’s wishes while, on the other hand, everyone expects us to abandon ours?”

Hale growled and stuck the phone in his pocket, closing the door behind him as he stepped outside. The fact that he could remember Farran’s voice in such detail annoyed him more than words could tell. Above all, it annoyed him thinking that he was right! Because Farran was the enemy. Because Farran wasn’t trustworthy.

“Halius, enemies will stop being enemies the moment they find a common ground, a common purpose. History is filled with such cases. The same way friends will become enemies as they walk different paths.”

“Friend, enemy, I don’t care either way! I do what I do for my sake alone! Not for yours! Not for Alexis'!”

“Today is your day, Halius. Will you chose to remain a mere shield? Or will you rise to become the bright sword you were born to be? The decision is yours. It all depends on you.”

“Today I’ll become a sword! But I won’t be a sword at your service. Nor at anyone’s service!” he claimed leaving his building, lowering his head as the cold rain quickly soaked his hair and clothes.