Alitia: Crown of Ash

XXX: Spiraling Towards Ascension

It had been far too long since Pepper first came into River's room to ask them about everything involving their new Moonlight Blessing, and neither one of them had any answers. River had taken to pacing on a nearly daily basis, unable to sit still for longer than a few minutes when push came to shove. Pepper's research truly was starting to stress them out, but it wasn't for the reasons that one might expect. 

The instant River had been born, expectations and weight had been shoved down their throat. Their father was a member of the Alight Five, and they were told to follow in his footsteps from day one. River hadn't been fond of the idea, and according to their father, they weren't strong enough to fill the position. The training they had undergone at his command had been nothing short of torturous, and River still had nightmares about the way their life had changed from seemingly to normal to hellish overnight. 

In fact, it was for this reason that River's magic was as unstable as it was. There wasn't a way for them to control it after spending so much time pushing for power rather than dominion over their magic. River didn't know how to reel in their own magic after being told to simply let it go for so many years. They wanted nothing more than to know what they were doing, but the information they needed was still desperate to escape them for far too long, and it was most certainly frustrating. 

The constant expectations coming from Pepper, who was just as desperate to solve this mystery as River was, were stressing them out more than they could ever hope to describe. Even if they knew Pepper's anger was directed at the Keeper of Moonlight rather than themselves, River couldn't keep themselves from thinking about it all until they had worked themselves up into another pacing spree. 

Speaking of Pepper, she walked in as River was frantically throwing themselves from one side of the room to the other with hurried steps. River wasn't being forcefully kept in their room or anything similar, but they were too afraid to leave. They didn't want to see the way that others looked at them for all that they had done. River was fully aware that they deserved it, but their piercing gazes would be too much, and they knew it. Not even December or Cerise had been able to get in since they betrayed Igni themselves, as River was too nervous to reach out to even those she had known well before the incidents began. 

"Did you learn anything new?" River found themselves asking mindlessly. They stopped pacing slowly, and their body moved itself robotically over to their bed before they sat down. Their legs were burning from exertion, and River couldn't help but wonder how long they had been pacing for. Had they really lost track of that much time while they were panicking over the Blessing?

"I've got a theory," Pepper replied. River couldn't decide if they were more reassured or terrified by her sudden show of confidence, but they didn't come to a conclusion quite yet, instead allowing her to continue. "You say that the Blessing was gifted from afar, but we haven't heard of anything like that happening in the past. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps we're dealing with a particularly powerful Moonlight Keeper this time around."

It certainly wouldn't surprise River. After all, they had no way of knowing for sure how strong the current Keeper of Moonlight was. They had been locked away by the Church of Moonlight their entire life, and there was no way for anyone to break through the barriers constructed by the church's archbishop. If the new Keeper of Moonlight had figured out a way to gift Blessings from afar, then who could say for sure how powerful they were? 

Pepper kept talking, rattling off more words without even realizing that River had suffered from a moment of uncertainty. "I believe that the Keeper of Moonlight has unlocked some kind of unforeseen power. Since this hasn't ever happened, we can only assume that this new power is on the level of a magical prodigy," she continued. "In other words, we've got to find out a way to break through the barriers put up by the Church of Moonlight to talk to the Keeper of Moonlight, because this Keeper is a really powerful one that we can't allow to roam at large."