"Ughh, what? where am I?"
Rosalind found herself being held captive inside a dark room, she didnt know where she was, and her hands were tied behind her back.
The last thing she remembered was a group of men brake into her home, for a moment she tried to fight back; screaming, kicking and throwing anything that was nearby at her assailants, but it was all for nothing. One of the men cornered her, grabbed her by the throat and pushed her hard againts the wall hitting the back of her head, now feeling dazed by the shock, her vision grew blurry and shortly after lost conciousness.
"Dad?, are you there?"-She quietly whispered, fearing that an unwanted person would notice she was awake, but there was no response.
After a short while, her vision started to adapt to the darkness in the room; the only light came from under the door, it was a small empty room, probably 9 square meters. Well, the room was not completely empty, besides her there were 2 buckets, one was empty, and the other one was full with water, the water smelled fresh so it was probably drinking water.
'Hmm, my throat hurts and is very dry, should I really drink this? it does not have a strange smell, but what if there is something else in it, is this some kind of trick?'
As she thought to herself, Rosalind heard steps approaching, before she could even react someone opened the door.
"Oh, I see you are already awake little girl" - The unknown man spoke in a deep voice and a mocking tone.
Rosalind could not identify his facial features, as the light from the other room was hitting the man from the back, all she could distinguish from his front, was darkness.
"A-, are you the one who kidnapped me? where is my father?" - Rosalind asked in a timid voice.
"Hehe, who knows, by now he is probably running around like a headless chicken, dont ask any more questions little girl, I just came here to tell you the rules, do what you are told and you will see your Dad again, understood?"
"Yes, what are the rules?"
"Didnt I just tell you not to ask questions?" The man yelled raising his voice and stomping his foot on the ground.
"I, I am sorry" - Rosalind replied in a trembling voice.
"Seriously, pay attention little girl, I will only say it once. First rule- Dont ask questions; Second rule- Always do as you are told; Third rule, if you try to escape you will be severely punished, most of the men in this place are very on edge, you want to give them an excuse to let off some steam?, I will leave it to your imagination; and Fourth, If you try to kill yourself, your father will die too, pretty simple rules right?, Now answer, do you onderstand?"
"Yes."
"Good, follow these rules if you want to leave this place in one piece, you can drink water from that bucket over there and you can relieve yourself using the other empty bucket, your father should be here to pay your ransom in 2 more days, do not cause us any trouble."
After the brief explanation, the man turned around, closing the door behind him and left, Rosalind, afraid of asking more questions, could not even ask if she was going to be given food, the answer was likely not in her favor anyways.
'I am hungry, Dad, you will come get me right?'
After pondering for a while,, Rosalind decided to take the risk and drank the water from the bucket, some minutes passed and there did not seem to be any aftereffects, so the water was not likely tainted, there was not much to be done in a dark empty room except for sleeping and thinking. Rosalind tried to position herself in the most confortable way to try to get some sleep, but her hands were still tied behind her back and she was still too startled to actually sleep, as a last resort, Rosalind started humming a tune to herself.
"Hmmm, hmm, mhh, sniff, sniff, ugh, Dad, I miss you."
After repeating the tune a couple times Rosalinds feelings reached a boiling point and she started crying; despite being in a desperate and overwhelming situation, she had enough composure to make sure to sobb quietly, so that no one outside the room would hear her cry, as she did not want to upset anyone, after sobbing for what seemed an hour, she finally fell asleep from exhaustion and started dreaming about her past.
Rosalind was born to Franklin and his wife Rose, as Rose tragically passed away shortly after Rosalind was born due to complications after the delivery, she did not have any real memories of her mother, but she was left with something to remember her by, a melody inside a music box. Franklin told her that her mother Rose used to humm this melody to her while she was still pregnant, and would place the music box next to her belly while playing the melody over and over, because of this, whenever Rosalind felt lonely or sad, she would play this melody to herself.
Rosalind loved her father deeply, she knew he was very busy and that he could not spend too much time with her, often leaving here under the care of a neighbor lady, but when he came back from a hard day of work, he would still make time to talk to her and teach her many useful things. Franklin would share with her his ideas and crafting techniques every night, and after a while, Rosalind became capable of understanding the principles and workings of gadgets and artifacts.
One day, Franklin was scouted by the local lord to work for him creating novelty items, this meant that their lives would be secure if things went properly, but Baron Callid was a very arrogant man, and outright denied and mocked all of his ideas thinking that they would never appeal to the other nobles, seeing as her father was becoming desperate to produce an invention that would satisfy the Baron, Rosalind took it upon herself to find an answer.
Rosalind now being a teenager, and having some more freedom and money of her own, visited the local market in look of something that could help, after browsing the market for several hours, she found a local peddler who was selling books; among them, Rosalind found one that caught her attention, a book named "The principles of Runes". This book was clearly in not the best condition and was missing a few pages, but it was good enough. Rosalind purchased the book and returned home; In just a couple of weeks, Rosalind had red the book several times and was able to achieve a decent understanding of its contents.
In simple terms, Runes are patterns and symbols that when inscribed onto something and mana would pass through them, they would produce certain effects. At this point, Runecraft was still underdeveloped, not many mages decided to dedicate themselves to their study, as they would usually spend their time developing combat spells and participating in wars, there was a lot of money and fame to be made by working for nobles and fighting on the frontlines; high level mages were treated as celebrities and even had the chance to be granted nobility if they were talented enough.
Rosalind started tinkering and carving runes onto all kinds of surfaces and artifacts, this required a very precise mana control.
Everyone in the world is born with the ability to accumulate mana inside their bodies, those who are talented in manipulating the mana within their own bodies are capable of strenghtening themselves to the point that they are able to showcase superhuman feats of speed and strength; these people are known as warriors.
On the other hand, people who are talented in releasing the mana within their bodies and controling it, are capable of creating miraculous magical effects known as spells, these people are known as mages; Rosalind was a mage.
However, most people living in poverty, despite having the potential to harness this power are too busy living day by day; and to develop these talents it is necessary to dedicate time, effort, and resources.
Luckily, Rosalind despite being a commoner, had a workshop full of materials at her disposal, and a lot of free time to practice; after a few weeks of inscribing runes, she was ready for the next step, her first ever invention.
"Lets see, this time, I will combine the movement rune and the timer rune, set the timer to infinity and... finally, it is done!" Rosalind raised her voice in excitement.
After a few setbacks and smaller accidents, she had succeeded. Rosalind modified the music box so that it could play it's song indefinitely; of course, as long as the rune array was being fed mana, this could be achieved by a mage infusing mana into the device, or by attaching a magic crystal to it, this meant that even people without magic talent could enjoy them.
That night, as Franklin came back from work, he was welcomed home by Rosalind and her cheerfull smile.
"Dad, I have something to show you"
"Oh really?, what is it?"
"Hehe, I saw you have been tired lately, so I made something to help you, this is my first invention."- Rosalind showed Franklin her modified music box with a prideful expression in her face.
"You really made this? isn't this your mother's music box?"
"Yes, I didnt want to ruin it, so I made sure to change it once I was sure it would work"
"Hahahaha, I cant believe your created something like this, this is clearly the first of it's kind, any noble would go crazy for something like this."
"I know right? now you can show it to your boss, I'm sure he will be happy."- Hearing this, Franklin's expression became serious.
"No, I don't think so."
"Uhh? what do you mean, why not?"- Rosalind replied with a puzzled face.
"Rosalind, this is yours, this is your unique invention, no one in the world deserves to have this but you, I dont want someone else to become rich and famous using your invention, this belongs to you, I think your discovery has the power to change the world."
"You really think so?"
"Of course, this will be your brand, but it will need an image that represents you."
"Something that represents me?"
"Yes, it can be something simple,for example, what is your favorite animal?"
"Hmm, lets see, I want something cute, like a rabbit or a deer."
"Well, it can be something cute, but it also has to be elegant, something that nobles would want to show off, how about a white deer?"
"Yes, I like it."- The young lady replied with the biggest grin possible.
Rosalind having received such praise from the person she loved must was full with confidence; shortly after, Franklin quit his job and opened the White deer company. A few years later, Rosalind was now a 15 year old young lady, and the White deer company had flourished into a renowned brand locally and in the nearby territories, as she reminisced of the good times, Rosalind woke up, and was brought back to reality.