Lyra had spent the entire day holding other people's fears and lives in her hands.

By the time her shift in the emergency department finally ended, her shoulders felt heavy with a kind of exhaustion sleep alone could not fix. She changed in the staff room, taking off her white coat and blue scrubs. She let out a deep sigh as she carefully placed her name badge back inside her locker along with her personal belongings. 

Another long day had ended.

She put on her jeans, a comfortable white tank top, and her long brown jacket. By now, the motions had become a habit, a small daily ritual that separated the hospital from the rest of her life. She grabbed her bag, said goodbye to two colleagues who were starting their night shift, and stepped outside.

At the far entrance, she saw two ambulances that had just arrived. Doctors and nurses had rushed out. They had a long night ahead.

The air was cold. She shivered and wrapped her coat tighter around her shoulders. It was early spring, but winter had not completely left yet. The wind carried that thin chill that gently stung her cheeks as she walked toward the bus stop.

The city lights had a tired orange glow that made the apartment buildings look emptier than they really were. Her shift had dragged on. Again.

There had been two last-minute admissions. An elderly woman who wouldn't stop holding her hand and asking if she was going to die tonight, and a young man who had fallen off his motorcycle and kept trying to make jokes while he trembled.

Even now, the annoying and bitter smell of disinfectant and coffee clung to her clothes.

She reached the crowded bus stop a little early, and while she waited for her bus, she took her phone out of her bag to check her messages.

An advertisement from her phone carrier about some new plan, notifications from a social app she downloaded but never really used. Her colleagues referred to it as a "must-have" for communication, but from her point of view, it was just a hassle.

Who has the time and energy to take photos just to post them? She never quite understood the logic.

And then came the notifications from her favorite game. A reminder for the daily login rewards and a new event starting soon brought a small smile to her lips.

Of course. Even after days like this, she always logged in for a bit.

She played some music through her earphones and slipped the phone back into her bag before getting on the bus that had just arrived.

The ride had its usual noise. Some people were talking and laughing. Others, with tired faces, had their eyes closed, while some stared out the windows or down at their phones. It was the end of another day and the journey home for most of them, the beginning of a night out for some others.

Lyra looked out the window. Cars and motorcycles rushed past. The world, she thought, never calms down. Always busy, always complicated.

She lifted her gaze to the sky. The moon was clearly visible tonight. A strange glow was forming a triple halo around it. She remembered hearing at work that there would be a lunar eclipse tonight, along with some rare planetary alignment everyone seemed unusually excited about. As always, many people would probably head to higher places again to watch it. 

Not her.

For a moment, her hypnotized gaze lingered on it from her seat. The world around her fell silent for a brief second, and her body lost its balance.

She straightened her back, deciding she was just too tired today and could not wait to get home.

Lyra reached her door a little after ten o'clock. She opened it slowly, stepped inside, turned on the light, and immediately took off her shoes by the entrance. She left her keys and bag on the kitchen table as she passed it by, and stood still in the living room for a few seconds. The quiet ambience of the apartment, interrupted only by the low hum of her fridge, eased the weight of the day from her shoulders.

Finally home... She let the air slip slowly from her lips.

"One hour. Just one hour," she whispered to herself.

She took a quick shower, changed into a long, loose T-shirt and gray shorts, and gathered her almost-dry hair into a messy bun. Lyra had already eaten at the hospital's cafeteria, so she settled for a cold bottle of water from her refrigerator. The comfortable gaming chair let out a little whine as she sat in front of her computer.

The screen lit up her face, pale and tired in its glow. The bright login screen was familiar, almost comforting.

Echoes of Aether.

Her game. Her happy place. A world she could escape to. 

Windstadt was waiting for her on the screen, just as always, clean and bright, with the great windmills turning in sync on the digital horizon. A beautiful late medieval-like region with vast vales, lush forests, deep lakes, and snow-cursed mountains. 

Lyra found comfort in their heroes and epic dialogue. She traveled in places that took her breath away and carried her far into adventures and stories that sometimes moved her and other times filled her with awe.

She completed the daily quests with the speed of a person quite used to them, did a little exploration, played a few of the mini-games from the current event, and then headed toward the square. She loved standing there. The view of the city always relaxed her. Cream-colored houses with exposed wooden beams lined the lower square, their walls softened by trails of bougainvillea and green ivy beneath warm red-tiled roofs.

She stood with her favorite character under the enormous statue of an angel that rose proudly in the center of the Cathedral's square on the town's upper level. Lyra let the familiar sight calm her, the way it always did when she needed her mind to fall silent. 

And then her gaze lingered a little longer on a thought she always tried not to hold on to for too long.

Why couldn't he be real? The Lord of the Northern Wind. The Grand Master of the Knights of Ventus.

Valir.

A name that had carved itself into her heart from the first moment he was released. He was a man forged in the flames of battle, with his twin swords, mastering the wind and fire. His enemies had no hope against him.

The strongest man in their world. 

But he had another side, too. The side that cared, that would do anything for the city and its people. The side that made everyone see him as part of their family. Father, uncle, brother, loyal friend. To everyone, he meant something different. And yet, despite all that, he always stood alone.

Alone, he carried all that responsibility on his shoulders.

Lyra had spent hours looking at his figure, etching every detail in her memory. Blond hair fell messily around his face and down to his shoulders. Tall, with broad shoulders and sturdy muscles. It was clear he had been designed to show the weight of the world he carried.

She half-smiled at the comfort that somewhere, someone so steady and strong existed, even if it was only inside a game.

"Why can't you be real?" she murmured.

It wasn't admiration. It was longing, silent and stubborn, like a wish she never said out loud because then it would sound foolish.

A wish that something impossible could become real. That someone strong and steady could exist outside the screen. For her.

"Gosh... What am I thinking?" She sighed, running a hand over her face, sweeping the dark strands of hair out of the way.

She glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight.

Time had passed too quickly again, and she had to go to sleep to manage her shift tomorrow at work.

She quietly shut down the computer, plugged her phone in to charge beside the nightstand, and lay down in bed, staring at the ceiling until her eyelids grew heavy.

"Here we go again," she thought, just before surrendering to the world of dreams.

What she did not know was that the next day would bring her a different beginning.

An entirely different one, for some wishes are meant to be heard.

Writer's Note:

Thank you for reading the first chapter of Rookie of the Wind. See you in the next chapter.

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