Amphitrite

River is a young woman hailing from Ali'ikai, a peninsula in the southeast region of Samadurai. Among her people, the ali'kians, she is the only one born with blue eyes, said to be a trait that marks a sacred person meant to spend their lives as a priest or priestess to their god, Leviathan, until they are called to their inevitable sacrifice to him.

Concept and Creation
River had originally begun as a Sonic the Hedgehog fancharacter, of all things, under the same name. She was a cyan echidna, a race thought to be extinct, as well as the only one of her kind with that fur color, much like how the current version is from a rare race, and the only one with blue eyes. One of the first concepts for this "human version" were based off of various characters that share physical traits with her current design, such as the dark skin with light hair and eyes. However the full idea for the physical appearance didn't come quite together until I found myself brainstorming while watching Lord of the Rings, and because of the movie, I imagined her in a fantasy-like setting. The decision to fully transform her into a human character independent of fandoms after being offered by SigmaAlphaThree to "leave" the Sonic fandom and create an original story.

Traits not pertaining to River's appearence came into development shortly after, and while the personality remains around the same as it was before, the backstory has been immensely changed, which is actually based off of a "what-if?" scenario I had for her story when she was a fancharacter. While she is still in development, this section may be added to later.

Personality
River is generally very calm and gentle to just about everyone she meets, being very polite to strangers, acquaintances, and friends alike. She treats them with as much kindness as she can possibly manage, and goes out of her way to understand and talk with her companions. However, if someone she knows ignores her efforts to show affection, or even outright rejects them and returns with harsh feelings, her confidence and certainty can very easily be crushed. However, depending on how close the person is, she may range from being slightly offended to horribly shocked, which would lead her to be depressed for some time. However, instead of blaming the other person for misunderstanding her intentions or just being rude, she chooses to blame herself instead.

This leads into her own inferiority complex. Despite her background, heritage, and the majority of her upbringing, she truly feels very inadequate around most people she knows, whether they're wealthier, more respected, stronger, or just about any factor important to her. In hopes of compensating for this, she tries hard to appease them and be accepted, especially through her attempts to appear useful and helpful in situations she has no experience with.

Although she strives to please everyone, River is aware of people that she can't be allied with. If a person directly insults and/or threatens her friends, family, or race, then she's most likely to lash out in anger and possibly even violence. Whether she is intimidated or not, she can never step down if it risks the safety or dignity of her companions. However, this is the exact opposite when someone insults, threatens, or even harms her. She recedes into fearful submission when she is alone and is in this kind of danger.

Birth and Early Life
River was born on one of the smaller islands surrounding the peninsula of Ali'ikai, shortly after the death of the previous blue-eyed Ali'kian, and thus was reincarnated from his soul as according to tradition. Her parents, Ana and Zayl, knew that because of this, her destiny was only to be sacrificed to Leviathan while still young, as how the other reincarnations before her had died. Initially, they had attempted to keep her a secret, and hide her away from the rest of their people for about a month or two. However, it wasn't so easy to hide a newborn baby, as they were quickly discovered. The new family was taken away from their home island, and relocated to the main peninsula, to live in the temple where the Shaman who had mentored previous blue-eyed Ali'kians had resided as well. For the short year that followed, River lived relatively normally for an infant, other than the fact that she was being raised in a sacred temple.

However, it was during the passing of this year that Ana and Zayl had both come to a decision of their own. They knew that their only child at the time had the unfortunate fate of dying young, and that this would leave them grieving for years to come. However, they figured that if they had a second child without such a destiny, they could still live on as a family, despite the sorrow. So only a year after River's birth, another child was born, her sister, named Bree. Unlike what their parents had hoped, Bree was born with misfortune as well. Ana had gone into labor prematurely, and not being entirely developed, the girl was born with a crippled leg. Without any knowledge of medicine or procedures that could have helped this, it was thought that Bree would have to live the rest of her life without learning how to walk, as her legs would be far too weak.

So for the first handful of years of her life, River had lived as close to normal as one could be, considering the circumstances that her family were in, as well as being slightly dissappointed over the fact that her only sibling could never run around and play with her. However, for these years of her childhood, she was completely unaware of her fate as a sacrifice to Leviathan, as it had been purposely been kept a secret for this time.

Childhood
In her childhood, like most other children her age, River grew into a girl bursting with energy and always seeking excitement and adventure. Aside from being mentored by the Shaman, River spent her free time wandering- or "exploring" as she called it- around the meadows and light forest outside of the town. She would have adventures as minuscule as simply watching grasshoppers leap through the fields, to slightly bigger adventures, ones that seemed epic from her young perspective such as exploring a part of unfamiliar forest and attempting to climb trees.

It was around this same time that River's little sister, Bree, had grown somewhat stronger and healthier than when she was an infant, in fact her non-crippled leg seemed strong enough to support her, however their parents still prohibited her from attempting to walk, as they believed it would prove fruitless and painful for the child. River on the other hand, saw this as an opportunity to have her sister finally walk by her side with practice. Although she didn't realize it at her age, River saw her little sister to be somewhat of a disappointment and an embarrassment as a disabled sibling didn't prove to be to amazing of an exploring companion.

Despite their parents wishes, River would occasionally sneak Bree out of the temple, and using her shoulder to support the girl, she would take her outside in the meadows for a breath of fresh air. It wasn't until the girl took note of the staff that her mentor, the shaman carried, that she had come up with the idea to have a similar stick support Bree instead of using all her strength to carry her. So after spending time finding a perfectly sized sturdy stick, she had begun teaching Bree how to walk on her own, and once she had learned the necessary skill, their parents approved of it.

Meeting More Companions
At around the age of five or six years old, River had finally begun attending school aside from private lessons in spiritualism from the shaman. While not necessary for an Ali'kian to attend school, it was strongly recommended by her parents so that she would be able to do basic skills much more fluently than she would if she hadn't attended. In a small class of only twelve or so children including her sister, River had met three others, a girl named Yein her age, a boy named Byrune older by two years, and a boy named Andok, older than her by four years. Initially, they all got along swimmingly, for with Yein she had a strong and close friendly relation, Byrune a mutual respect and casual kindness to each other, while Andok had a strange fascination with the girl, one that she didn't seem to mind, and often enjoyed being able to tell him about living as the only blue-eyed Ali'kian, and everything that comes along with it.

However, there was one more friend that she had met outside of her school, one that lived on the outskirts of the peninsula, in the dark forest that very few entered. It was a day that River, Bree, as well as the other three they had befriended earlier, were venturing around the meadows just outside the village. Yein, being the much more daring and adventurous of the group, had convinced the other four to follow her closer to the outskirts, towards the dark forest, where it was said that only beastly animals and unknown spirits lurked. As they explored this unknown territory, it seemed relatively harmless at first. Nothing had ambushed them, or roared at them, or played any tricks on them. Then only moments later, out of nowhere, a creature emerged from the darkness, revealing themselves to the five. It wore a wooden mask, looking amateurly carved, and although it was somewhat scrawny, it still seemed strong enough to last a fight with Byrune.

Before the group could run away, the creature lifted its mask, and revealed itself to just simply be a boy, around the age of the others, who was another Ali'kian himself. He finally introduced himself, and they learned his name was Mogil. Mogil was essentially a child of the forest, having lived there his whole life with his mother, in isolation of the other villages for reasons that he himself did not know. After clearing that misunderstanding, the group had befriended him as well, River and Bree taking a bit more of a liking to him than the others.

First Encounter With Spirits
After meeting Mogil, River had begun visiting the forest more often, rather than play in the safe fields outside the village. More often than not, she visited him alone, as the others would usually be off doing something else, or she may end up ditching them all together. When they were together, River enjoyed it whenever the boy showed her around the forest, feeling such a sense of mystery and adventure when she was out there with him. But where mystery tends to be, spirits would be there as well.

Mogil had shown her a grove, one of many in those woods, where he often watched such strange beings from afar. Although he was a child of the forest, and had lived there all his life, not even he understood them. Spirits would flee at the sight of him, or any human for that matter. But even then, he enjoyed looking at all of them, with their mysterious elegance, their strong elemental connections, and their otherworldly presence. However, when River saw them, she felt some strange pulling force to them. When the approached the spirits, none of them fled, and in fact, some of the smaller ones even flocked to her.

The both of them were awestruck, having never seen such a sight take place, nor ever hearing of it. So, after the day was done, River had returned to her home in the temple, and met with the Shaman about this encounter. While she was used to him seeming so calm and stoic, this was one of the few times where surprise had crossed his face. It was common for the blue-eyed Ali'kian to have such a strong connection with spirits, but it was rare for that connection to be discovered so early in life. This also led to a rare moment that she saw from him: Pride. He had never seen him so eager before, and thus started her spiritual training.

This was the largest step into turning her, essentially, into a priestess. She was encouraged to spend more time around spirits, learning their ways of being and of life, and to take it into note of her own role, for the god that she served, Leviathan, was a massive and powerful spirit himself. Outside of that, she was assigned some other duties, small ones, that would Have been handled by the shaman before she began this training. These would include leading the prayers for the dead at funerals, checking various parts of the peninsula for signs of spiritual corruption, and of course making sure that the balance of power between humans and spirits in the land remained equal.

The Sacrifice
River had reached the age of ten at this point, only beginning to enter the period of several years where a girl would turn into a woman. Her life had moved on relatively peacefully, as she found small enjoyment in her daily tasks, as well as finding time to spend with her friends and little sister, although she had grown slightly distant from all her spiritual training. It was this year that the Shaman finally revealed the coming of Leviathan for her lifetime. The God of all water only appeared before the blue-eyed Ali'kian once in their lifetime, as River was told by her mentor, and during this time a ceremony of the utmost importance was to be held. Her eager little heart couldn't wait, overpowering the inner nervousness she felt at the chance of ruining the ceremony. She had practiced for months all the motions, eagerly checking on the people setting up decorations, and sometimes would even stare longingly at the dress she was to wear for the coming of Leviathan. The most important part, however, was music. She was given a crystal lyre, an artifact owned by her previous reincarnations, whose strings and elegant songs were used to summon the god. She practiced for hours every day, treating it as the most important part of her life, getting every part perfect.

After these months, it had finally come, the night before the ceremony. While everyone else was asleep, River of course, was so excited that she couldn't bear to rest, even though she knew she needed it for the following day. So, hoping to use up the energy built up inside of her, the girl wandered around the temple at night, only to stumble upon her father, Zayl, who was just outside. To her surprise, he was crying, tears flowing down his eyes so much harder than she had ever seen anyone cry, which was such a shock, she had never even seen him be so devastated like this. The moment he noticed her presence, he suddenly stopped, only able to stare at her. When she slowly approached him, all she could do was kneel down by his side, and let him pull her into a strong, warm hug. She didn't even need to ask before he explained. He regretted everything, having to lie to her for so long about the real purpose of the ceremony. Her whole life, she had never been told that this ceremony would lead to her death, so that she wouldn't be terrified and run away, or try to retaliate. She was to be sacrificed, killed by Leviathan himself, and have her soul be reincarnated into another child who would follow the same fate, all in turn so that Leviathan would gift the rest of her people with more prosperous life and food. Despite how this all had to be kept a secret, Zayl revealed all of this to her, knowing that he couldn't bear to lose his dear daughter. He only wanted her to be saved, no matter the consequences. River couldn't sleep that night after learning this.

When the sun rose the next day, all of River's joy and anticipation for the ceremony was killed. She didn't smile, nor did she move with joyousness, she only felt fear frozen inside her. When the moment finally came, the girl stood at the shoreline, and with trembling hands she played her song on her lyre of crystal, as almost hundreds of others, some even from the other islands who have traveled to witness this, watch the ceremony take place. When her song was finished, the ocean began to rise steadily, and with small splashes, the god of all water had emerged in his beastly form, much larger than any whale, with fins and skin like one too, but with a strange flat head, and terrifying sharp teeth, reminding River of her fate. Leviathan had stopped swimming, with no words from his mouth, acting as a normal creature would, began to open his jaws just slightly, and then...

River ran. She turned around, sprinting away in a panic from the god she had dedicated so much of her life to serving, leaving everyone else behind her. She didn't care in this moment, not about the god, not about her people, only her own life. This obviously angered Leviathan, and only moments after she had made it to the edge of the village, did he lash out at the rest of the people as punishment. First, dark clouds filled the sky, and began pouring down crashing and intense rains and winds as if a hurricane was passing through. At this point, everyone had started to run just like River, when suddenly he rose the ocean, and brought it down upon all the Ali'kians in tsunamis. The girl was at the entrance of the forest now after so much running, and it wasn't until she heard the screams of her people that she realized what she had done to all of them.

From the hundreds that were there to witness the sacrifice, only a handful escaped the waters still breathing. While many who she knew survived, even more had drowned by the time that all of the survivors caught up with her. Her mother, father, and sister, thankfully were safe. But she knew that it was her fault for this. She caused the deaths of hundreds, of all her people that once looked up to her. And now, because of her actions, she had ended up banishing the survivors and herself from their only home, now inhospitable from the floods. River's childhood and innocence were gone forever.

Fleeing Ali'ikai
When the other Ali'kians had caught up with River, there were no words between them. Everyone knew that this disaster was her fault, but in their shock, they didn't mention a single word of it, even though the girl knew what they thought. The people were pushed to the edge of Ali'ikai, past the dark forest, and out to the Fog Field, the farthest any of their people had gone. It was on the way there that River learned that several people she knew had drowned, including Mogil, her aunt Kaiyo on her father's side, and several family members of her own friends. She could only pray that every other survivor would make it, and not have to suffer anymore.

The Fog Field was a strange place, and had been there for as long as their people could remember. It was said that Leviathan had turned the waters there into mists that stretched for miles, said to protect Ali'ikai from outside invaders who would be lost in the fields until they died of thirst or starvation. However, it also worked like a cage of sorts, as every Ali'kian who had entered the fog had never returned, without any word of them making it through to the other side. Only in recent decades however, was there a new threat that lay hidden in the fields. It was said to be a monster, nothing like a spirit, named Heartless Mana. It was said long ago that he was a man, a previous reincarnation of River's soul, who defied Leviathan, and was cursed to have his body corrupted and his heart removed and shattered. But despite all these threats of imminent death, the people had no hope anymore, as it would be just as large a problem if they tried to remain within their flooded homelands.

The journey through the fields was long and difficult, and lasted around two days. They only moved forward, no attempt at making shortcuts as they knew it would make them even more lost than they already were. On the second day, the people had accidentally come across Heartless Mana, who attacked them on sight without warning. River, despite being the only one who had magical capabilites, could not fight him off. She had never learned how to use her magic for violent purposes, and in result, the weak ones among the survivors had to be left behind and slaughtered by Heartless Mana.

On the third day, there were only very few survivors left. There were over one-hundred, but less than two-hundred in total. Emerging through the Fog Field, they had eventually discovered and settled in what would have to be their new home, for now at least. It was a tropical area, much more isolated by the humid rainforests, but nevertheless it still felt exposed to the rest of the world, a world that they didn't know. They were unsafe, in an unfamiliar land, with only the Shaman being able to lead them from here on. Supplies were gathered from where they could find, and homes were being built within the first week of arrival. River didn't help, as she felt making an attempt to rebuild would only ruin everything more than she already had. For this short period of time, she only distanced herself away from the others, trying to remain out of sight as much as she could. The guilt of killing so many, including her own family and the boy she was infatuated with was so much to bear, and she tried to avoid as many reminders of it as possible by avoiding the people.

After most of the homes had been built, it was decided that now would be the best time to honor the ones who had fallen. At the edge of the Fog Field, closest to Ali'ikai as they could get, a collection of boulders were erected, and onto the faces of stone were the names of the dead carved, memoralizing them for all eternity. River did not attend the ceremony of prayer for them, even if before the tsunami she had led several funeral prayers before. It wasn't until all the people had left to their rest that she knelt down by the stones, intimidated by their massive height, as she read every name out loud and apologized to all of them through her words and tears. She then vowed that somehow, some way, she would find a way to "make up" for her mistakes and bring peace to all the death which she had wrought.

Abuse
The following years were some of the worst that she had ever experienced. It wasn't long until several individuals had moved past their initial shock, and began to see River as the culprit of all their pain and suffering. For the first year, it only started out with harsh words. Many insults were thrown at her, from her former friends (whom she still spent time with as they were the only ones she knew), from the people she used to see every day so friendly, and even her own uncle, whose wife had drowned in the floods. A traitor, she was called, as well as a heretic, a shamless display, a degenerate and killer. These were only the first handful. Before she knew it, River and her family began receiving death threats, whether it be through notes pinned on to their houses, threatening to slit the throats of her and all she loved, or warnings painted on a wall threatening to beat her and burn her at the stake. River didn't argue when these threats were directed towards her, she knew that it was what she deserved, but when it was towards her innocent family, she lashed out and let rage flow through her as she thought of the ones who would say such things.

Then in the following year, at approximately the age of twelve or thirteen, much of this pain had begun to grow physical. River was struggling trying to not let any depression get to her, despite how easy it was given her circumstances. But one day, a certain event had snapped the thin barrier protecting her from collapsing into depression. It was kept secret from all her family, except for Bree, who could do nothing about it. Whenever River had left her home, whether to visit the stones marking the dead, or to spend time away from the village, she was exposed and vulnerable. Although difficult to find her, she had no means of defense, and wouldn't have the courage to fight back either. It was during these intervals of time that her uncle, Elyan, had begun to seek her. The first time, it was a surprise, River had never expected someone to want to find her while she was gone. But to take her home was not his objective. So broken and damaged from losing his wife, Elyan had decided to seek his own slow, painful form of revenge upon his niece, away from where the eyes of his daughters and his brother's family could see. On his first visit to her, he balled his hands into fists, and with such blunt force, punched her in the side of the face, with her neck giving a satisfying jerk to the side with his attack. Initially she screamed, and tried to shove Elyan away and run back to the village, but he pulled her back by her long hair, and proceeded with his beating, finally releasing all this pent up stress and fury and loathing onto her young skin in the form of bruises. Once his round of physical abuse was over, he warned that telling this to anyone else would result in more beatings in the future. But it didn't matter, either way, for subsequent days he would return to beat her again as she refused to fight back, and only moan in agony. As the months passed on since this event, he grew at least a little bit more gentle, leaving smaller bruises, and more likely to resort to slaps and light punches, as his form of unhealthy stress relief.

River was barely hanging onto her personality now, feeling less like a human and more of a punching doll for both her uncle as well as some of her former friends, including Yein and Baron. She could at least still fake a smile, and she still performed duties similar to the ones she had before the tsunami, despite how hopeless everything seemed for her, and how there were no spirits in the area for her to find solace with. This all had finally settled into routine and daily life for her now; to go through each day reading threats, visiting the stones to pray, and return with bruises from her uncle. Of course, it is said things become worse before they get better, and this was not yet the worst she had experienced, not until the age of fifteen.

Unrequited Lust
At this age, it had become a bit more easy to see what the trasition from being a girl to becoming a woman had done to her appearence. Even with some obvious scars and recovering bruises around her body, she had still blossomed into a rather lovely young woman. Shallow as it was, it was around this age that threats and insults towards her had been lightened up a bit, and she wasn't abused on a daily basis by her uncle. Even after all she had done, the villagers must have believed that it would be a waste to let a girl with an appearence such as hers be too tormented; after all, she was finally easy on the eyes. Still, no one had really approached her, or bothered to make conversation with her as she retained such a stained reputation... at least, all but one avoided her.

Andok, for the first year or two after the tsunami, had avoided River as well, simply remaining with his family at home and living through their new daily lives. Though at the age of nineteen, seeing how she had grown into this beautiful young lady was enough to provoke him to interact with her once more. He appeared to be fine, initially. He would make small conversation with her, and occasionally even attempt to flirt with her, although she never caught on to what he was doing. She didn't grow suspicious of him until she began finding evidence of someone stalking her. Sometimes she would see subtle clues as she walked on the outskirts of the village, or outside of her own home. The most disturbing times was when she would see the evidence around after taking a bath (which was out in the open, as they had no method of plumbing and there was a pond nearby), suggesting that someone was spying on her for their own pleasure. It was at this same time Andok had grown a little more forceful and obvious with his flirting. He had a tendency to sneak up on River, and grab her while she was unaware of his presence. He had a habit of putting his arms around her waist and hips, as well as attempting to brush his fingers through her hair, and even going so far as to take in her scent when she was close enough to him. River was already very disturbed, but that was not the worst of it.

It was late at night, and Andok had lured her away from the village, to the outskirts. With reluctance, River followed, trying to prepare herself and how to counter whatever harassment he was going to put on her. First, he began to go on with his usual painful flirtatiousness, and River only ignored him, which made the young man a bit frustrated. Then, when he grabbed her, trying to embrace her, she pushed away, furthering his disdain. It wasn't until he had the audacity to grope her breast that she fully retaliated and slapped him across the cheek, covering her chest. This was the final straw for Andok, after months of trying to get with her. Suddenly, he pulled out a glass vial containing purple liquid, and rammed into her, leaving her stunned for a second as he opened the vial and poured its contents down her throat.

Only a matter of minutes later, River attempted to get up, and punch Andok in the face for this ridiculous harassment, only to find that her body wouldn't respond to her commands, she couldn't even talk. Yet, when Andok demanded her to rise to her feet, her body obeyed despite her true wishes. Only then she had realized that he had used some potion or elixir of hypnosis, which he must have learned from someone else with the knowledge to make such a thing. Her mind was disconnected from her body, and Andok used it to his advantage.

First, he began to kiss her passionately, forcefully stealing away her first kiss, which wasn't even of love, but only of lust and only from his end. Now, he was finally able to wrap his arms all over her, grabbing her waist and hips, caressing her, and groping her chest and nether regions as she screamed inside her mind. But out here in the open wouldn't be the proper place to continue with his work, so he led his hypnotized victim back to his home. His parents weren't around that night, and he led her into his own room, where even more horror lay before her.

In his room were, surprisingly, things that once belonged to her. Some old clothes that were thought to be lost, a few pieces of jewelry, and a handful of miscellaneous objects that she once owned was now hoarded in his room; only then did she see his true obsession of her.

Still under the effects of the potion, Andok commanded her to wear a certain outfit, a little red dress, that likely belonged to his own mother. His mother was a small woman, so as she was forced to put it on, it felt tight, and it barely covered most of her body, exposing almost her entire two legs, and with a lack of straps revealed her shoulders. The low cut collar, added onto the tightness of the dress, revealed definitive cleavage which only turned on the sick man even more. At this point, River was crying, bawling on the inside as she knew what was going to happen to her.

He started to molest her, lifting up her short skirt, while pulling down her top to touch her with erratic passion. She screamed in her head, praying that it would all be over soon, having given up on the idea of her breaking free at the moment. Then, as he touched the forbidden areas of her body, out of nowhere, he suddenly hit her with a slap. Then, with a punch, and despite his weak muscle it still brought pain to the girl. It was at this moment she realized he was a sadist, one who takes pleasure in the pain of others. He commanded her to cry, but to moan in fake pleasure whenever she was hit; she was simply grateful that she could release her tears. This proceeded for an hour, of him molesting her and dampening his fingers and beating her at the same time when he finally couldn't take it anymore.

He forcefully shoved her onto his bed, and held her legs apart, turned on even more as he could see the bruises forming, and even some scrapes that were beginning to bleed. Only then, he finally forced his full self into her, and brutally raped her. She wanted this to end, and he commanded her to cry harder and whimper more and squirm under him as he thrust painfully into her body. She wanted to die right there, right then, just so that it would be over. But it didn't end for another hour, as he forced her into various uncomfortable positions, continuously beating her as he did his work as well. Near the end of it, her nether regions were already numb and bleeding, and Andok finally finished. Exhausted, he collapsed on the bed, right next to her, and wrapped his arms around her as he fell asleep.

River didn't rest, she couldn't sleep after suffering such awful torture. She didn't want to sleep, she didn't want to be in here, but she didn't want to leave either. She wanted to simply die, so she wouldn't have to live with this any longer. The next morning, the effects of the potion had worn off, and Andok was still sound asleep. Quietly, River had arisen from the bed, her legs shaking from the violent rape, and tried to get dressed. But she could barely bring herself to look at her naked body, she wasn't comfortable in her own skin. So she dressed quickly, glad that she didn't have to look at herself for more than a minute. And with that, she left, praying that this would all leave her memory when she got back home.

Shortly After
River didn't even make it back home before she was found by someone walking the same path. It was her uncle, Elyan. While she usually would have expected him to do some harm on her, after that night of torture she simply didn't have any fight left in her to defend herself. But unlike her prediction, he didn't attack her, nor did he even lay a small hit upon her skin. He noticed every sign on her of what happened the night before; the bruises, the bleeding, her shaking legs, and her exhausted eyes all were subtle evidence that he recognized.

With a strange new mercy forming in him from seeing her like this, Elyan guided River to the hospital, which wasn't very large but thankfully didn't have many people occupying it at the time. He let her be examined by the doctors, and to her relief, they were able to confirm that she wouldn't suffer any permanent effects of her rape. But nevertheless, she was treated and taken care for by a young doctor for the next several days, and it was during this time that Elyan had informed his brother's family of what had happened to her.

They, as well as the doctor taking care of her, heard her retelling of what happened to her that night, and sadly were the only ones who believed her. It was during this same time that Andok began sharing his own twisted version of the story, bending it to his favor. He had spread the rumor around that River had begged for him to do what he did, and as she had such a poor reputation among the people already, just about every other Ali'kian believed it.

So shortly after she had recovered, all those death threats she had received in earlier years were traded out for jokes and insults, claiming her to be a lying whore based on what they knew of Andok's side of the story. It reminded River of everything that had happened within the past five years, as if it was starting all over again, and she barely was able to handle it as she endured this kind of torment for the next two years or so. She was so close to the deep end, every day contemplating thoughts of finally ending herself once and for all so this wouldn't go on any longer. Even as she still did her daily rituals of visiting the stones of the fallen to pray, all she could think of to fix everything was to simply let herself die. After all, it would end her own pain, and it seemed like it would avenge the victims of the tsunami.

Yet it wasn't until one fateful day that this all took a strange turn. River had been praying at the rocks once more, only to hear a voice come out from the mists. It did not belong to her uncle, nor did it belong to her rapist, but someone who she hadn't seen for nearly seven whole years. It was Mogil's mother, who had finally approached her and revealed herself after so long. River had assumed she either died or ran away from the place, and seeing her was such a shock that she couldn't move. At first, River knelt down and began apologizing profusely, begging for forgiveness as the weight of Mogil's death still hung on her shoulders. But the woman waved her hand, and said that there was nothing she was guilty of. The woman began to explain that she had simply hidden herself away from the village, and had recently heard of all the events in the girl's life ever since the tsunami.

River was shocked to see her so calm, and kind in contrast of what many others had done to her. The woman then came to assure her that none of this was her fault. She told her that the tsunami and the floods were not deliberately caused by her, or by her magic, so she was not to blame. She was not the murderer of Mogil, or of Kaiyo, or of the hundreds of others who drowned. In a sudden turn of words, the woman spoke of Leviathan, for it was his fault for killing all those innocents, and he was guilty of taking their homeland away from their people. This came as an even greater shock to River, as it had been forbidden to speak of Leviathan for so many years, it was as if the people secretly did know who the true culprit was.

Shortly after this fateful encounter, River began formulating a plan in her mind of what she had to do. To avenge the deaths, to bring her people back to their home, to regain her honorable title of priestess, and to show Leviathan that he must pay for his own actions. But how would she defeat the God of the ocean himself?

Then suddenly, she remembered the beast of the Fog Field: Heartless Mana. He was near invincible, and could fight with the force of a thousand men. She knew that he would resent Leviathan as well, for turning him into such a beast, so they could team up against their common enemy. But without his heart, he had no sentience, no memories, and no personality. So it was decided that first, she must set out, away from where any Ali'kian has ever been, to find the four shards of his heart and unite them, to restore Mana. So the night before, she packed what she believed would be necessary: food, water, a change of clothes, and of all things, the crystal lyre which she had used to summon Leviathan so many years ago as a child.

The following morning, River had gathered the courage to stand in the center of the village, and call the attention of all the Ali'kians there. Before they could even start to say anything to her, she explained her plan to take back their home and defeat their god, to which all of them either ignored or rolled their eyes in disdain. But she ignored them as well, she knew she couldn't linger on their words for long. So finally, she set out, abandoning all she had known for her seventeen years of life, to the rest of the world, and to find the shards of Mana's heart.

Arrival in an Unknown World
When River had finally left the village, past the rainforests overflowing with foliage, she was shocked to find herself in a landscape she had never seen before in her life. Further inland, away from the tropics, she found herself among vast plains with long grass, inhabited by such new and unusual creatures and spirits alike. This gave her a sense of adventure, almost as if she were a little girl again, exploring outside the confines of her own home.

It wasn't long until River had come across human inhabitants of this new land, who she was just as shocked looking at as they had her. While their skin was relatively the same shade, everything else was much different. Most, if not all had eyes the tones of earth, and hair that was black and curly, as well as short. But she didn't linger with these people for long, as she set out further south.

It was during these several weeks of traveling when she had come across other wanderers and nomads, who were surprisingly more common than she thought. She had never met so many people, let alone an individual, whose life was having no home, or just trying to find one. Although she was so far from her roots, this was the first time in many years when she had felt sincerely happy. Exploring this new world, with kind strangers, with whom she was learning more and more about every day.

Several months had passed, and while she greatly enjoyed her time under these new blue skies, she was aware that she hadn't come across a single shard of Mana's heart. So she needed to get back to work on it before she forgot. It was fortunately, that she had overhead some traveling merchants and their families talking about a city called Sihrasul. As they described it and told their stories, she was fascinated to hear that there was a place where there would be so many homes and buildings clustered together, and built up so high, with people coming and going at a constant rate. It was then decided that with so many people there, there was bound to be excessive amounts of knowledge, which could give her a lead on finding the shards.

So with these merchants, she travelled to another new landscape in the south, vast deserts, dry and barren with water, and instead their oceans were filled with sand. It was the furthest River had ever felt from her home, and yet she enjoyed it so much. But it was along the way that they had stopped at one town for the night, only a day or two's travel from Sihrasul. However, it was on this night, that River had encountered two other travelers such as herself. The first was a woman, clearly older than her, but still in her youth. She was tall, and while attractive, had such a fierceness in her voice and in her eyes. She learned that this woman's name was Inxie, and then she was introduced to another woman, still older than River, but certainly looked rather young. She was gentle and soft from the inside out, but clearly intelligent and wise, and it was learned her name was Lumi.

These two women were headed to Sihrasul together, to start a new life, as so they told. They were strongly in love, and were planning to be married when they settled in the city. Although this was a slight surprise for River (having never met two lovers of the same gender) she accepted it and befriended this couple anyways. However, an even bigger surprise came when they offered to have her move in with them once they reached the city. At first, River had no clue why, but as they explained, it made more sense for her. They knew that she was new and naive to this big open world, and she would barely make it on the streets of Sihrasul alone. So she accepted their kind offer, and continued her journey to the city with them.

Currently, a few months had passed since then, and Lumi and Inxie have married, while River lives with them in their small home in Sihrasul. She talks with newcomers every day, and visits libraries often, to constantly check for any information on the shards of Mana's heart.

Trivia

 * River has never cut her hair since her birth. This is because among Ali'kians it is seen as sinful and disrespectful to Leviathan to cut hair.
 * The beads around her neck, waist, and ankle are all made of turquoise which is a surprisingly common ornamental stone in Ali'ikai. Her necklace covers several scars around her neck and chest that she recieved at an earlier age.
 * River's current clothes are not Ali'kian, and instead actually originate in Sihrasul. This is because several months after leaving her homeland, her original clothes were dirty and torn beyond repair. So when she was taken in by Lumi and Inxie, she was given an old outfit from the latter that was too small for her, but a perfect size for River.