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CHAPTER III - STARS IN THE WIND, PART I

"Your mind can be your greatest ally or your worst enemy."

CONTRADITION is the only curse that subjects all living beings. Humans relentlessly seek for control, for power, in a futile attempt to escape the mortality of which they are submitted. To the gods, eternity is guaranteed. The price, however, is a perpetual prison where there is nothing but the emptiness that remains when the rest vanishes.

It is a condition of existence. Children want to grow up while adults miss their childhood. Silence is a delight, until it stops being a choice and becomes a consequence. The smile shared with friends is the truest, just as the tears caused by them are the most painful.

To desire, to receive, to regret. Contradiction knows no limits, a perfect manifestation of the chaos that rules the Universe, be it the immeasurable vastness of space or the tiny fragment of infinity that is called soul.

Rebecca knows. She knows that contradiction is inevitable. That is why she had decided from an early age that she would embrace the paradoxes of life. Without complaining, without hesitating. Just accepting and moving on because no matter what happens, time waits for no one.

For two months, Rebecca stayed in Teyvat, the continent of her favourite game. Of course, it was fun at first. A new world, full of unimaginable adventures and with newly discovered powers to make things more interesting. By her side, a handsome Traveller, a gluttonous pixie and a proud slime. The combination promised a tiring journey and some good laughs along the way.

Still, it was nothing but a dream and dreams are bound to end with the rising of the Sun. Rebecca knows that too. Don't get used to it, she told herself. One hour or another, she would wake up. She preferred to wake up. There were too many things she needed to do in her reality rather than feeding useless fantasies.

But then Aether called her name and suddenly everything changed.

Rebecca begged the stars not to take her away. One day, one minute, one second. There is no need to wake up anymore if she can continue with Aether, with Paimon and with Loki on that hidden beach. It was a refuge, a safe place, yet she did not value it the way she should have and now she is about to lose that little piece of paradise.

Darkness swallowed Rebecca, but soon the light appeared once more and drove away the shadows. A familiar ceiling stared down at her from above. White, too white. She couldn't remember it being that white. Her eyes burned with the clarity.

She touched the material on which her body rested. The grass did not tickled her skin. Her fingers slid across soft sheets. Her bed, her ceiling, her room. Her world.

Rebecca took a deep breath. She had just woken from a long sleep, but she felt exhausted. Ah, the contradiction.

The alarm rang.

....

It is so easy for Rebecca to return to her old routine that it is almost as if the last few months never happened in the first place. The frustration, however, was forgotten as she came across her parents. Her mother was preparing breakfast in the kitchen while her father was resting on the couch, reading some random book. Neither of them was doing anything special and neither needed to. Their simple presence was enough to comfort her.

Hence, Rebecca made a point of greeting them with an extra dose of affection.

"Good morning!" she said, throwing herself on her father's lap and hugging him by the neck. Immediately, he held her with one arm and raised his other hand to avoid crushing the book.

"Good morning, princess! Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, but I wanted to sleep more."

"Me too. Wanna skip school today?" Paulo answered, his calm tone inviting Rebecca for a nap. She blinked to wipe away the laziness, denying with a growl. "How about we go somewhere nice to eat tonight? A pizzaria or a restaurant?"