ANISE

If there was one single researcher, who could be held responsible for the past two decades of technological advancement in Rossmaria, it was Anise. Her work, inventions, and discoveries, were the foundations of the kingdom’s growth and development as a whole, leading to many other derivative works from other researchers. The chain reaction produced by these new inventions leading to others, made the past twenty years be considered almost a miracle for the kingdom. A true technological revolution that could be traced back to a brilliant woman.

In its most basic form, her contribution was to develop a method to rearrange the fundamental structure of salt, so that it could both store and transfer energy. In that sense, this basic material could now be used as a battery and a wire at the same time. Even though the overall concept was simple, it took her many years of hard work, resilience, and defending her vision with grit, in order to achieve this breakthrough. This method was named Chrysalis Treatment.

For a normal city in the main land, this wouldn’t mean much. However, for Rossmaria - a kingdom built both inside and above the sea, made up of thousands of towers constructed out of a mixture of salt and sea bed minerals - it could completely change the way of life of its people.

After developing the theoretical and practical foundations of the Chrysalis Treatment, Anise was provided a research team by the newly crowned King Lenno. With this team, she managed to make three further advancements in the following years: First, they developed a way to store sunlight energy inside the treated salt; Second, they developed a way to apply this method in a large scale; Third, they developed an energy control system, so that excess energy would be released in the form of light.

Not even half a year passed, for all of Rossmaria to become a massive energy system. The walls, floors and roofs of the white salt towers where citizens regularly lived their lives, became their supply of energy. Towers would absorb light during the day, and release it back into the sky at night if they were overcharged. On the other hand, the bridges that connected the countless towers, became the wires of a vast circuit, where energy could be rapidly transferred from tower to tower, making it be easily distributed according to the needs of the many different places.

With the whole kingdom now treated with the Chrysalis Treatment, the stage was set for technology to flourish over the following decade. Trains that could travel inside the bridges were developed, by making use of the energy contained in the very railways they crossed. Controlling the temperature inside homes became simple and inexpensive, as well as having many appliances to make daily lives easier, without worrying about energy consumption. Simple magnetic fields right above the surface of the salt could be also used to make hover boards to simplify personal transport, as well as carrying heavy objects.

The possibilities seemed endless, and Rossmaria started a brand-new era of prosperity and comfort, with new inventions and advancements surfacing periodically.

Anise, on the other hand, as she declared her project as concluded, decided to take a break from research, and became a mother of a single son named Fennel. She still spent most of her time inside the royal palace, where her breakthroughs first saw light, being treated as a hero of the kingdom. Everyone seemed to love her, in part for her contribution and title, but also for her caring, simple, and overall heartwarming personality.

During that time, as she raised her child during the early years, she also wandered around the palace helping other researchers with their projects, and showed particular interest with the youngest guardian at the time, Aelia, whom was born nearly at the same time as her son. Aelia was the guardian assigned to researcher Elia, one of the old members of Anise’s team, whom managed to climb up in the ranks, to the point of being assigned the huge responsibility of raising a guardian.

Anise felt a deep connection with Aelia, in part for her energetic and mischievous attitude, and helped Elia by caring for her as a tutor and a teacher. Their relationship was so good that they both became inseparable.

However, as Aelia grew older, her attitude became much more lighthearted and relaxed than what was expected of her. Even though she made great progress with Anise as a teacher, when it came to training as a guardian with Elia, she completely lacked any drive, and the basic manners expected of her. For this reason, after debating the issue during an audience with King Lenno, Anise was declared to be a bad influence towards Aelia, and was requested to maintain distance.

Anise accepted, but as a consequence, she decided to dedicate her full time to pursue her own creative interests from home, as well as raise her own son.

When the time came for Anise and Aelia to say farewell, Anise took Fennel with her, and for the first time, Aelia and Fennel met each other, and made a brief friendly connection, that lasted until Anise had to break the news for Aelia, that they wouldn’t be seeing each other anymore. The young guardian sobbed, and even though Anise tried to comfort her pupil, it was still a very hard moment for both of them. In a desperate attempt to stop the scandal inside the palace, Elia grabbed Aelia's hand, and forced her back into her room as she cried in despair. Since that day, Anise and Aelia lost all forms of contact.

Anise tried to explain to Fennel what had happened, and about the great responsibilities of a guardian such as Aelia, and how she would someday be the protector of Rossmaria. On the other hand, she also declared that from then on, the two of them, mother and son, would spend many happy times together.

The following years of Aelia’s training were hell for everyone inside the palace. She became rebellious and chaotic, causing trouble for the royalty, the researchers and the military that inhabited the palace, pulling off pranks and avoiding her responsibilities. It was thanks to severe punishments and basic rewards, that Elia and the other palace members managed to control the troublesome kid by the time she started her teens.

As of Anise, her achievements as a researcher and as a hero of the kingdom, gave her and her son sustain for life, so she could now spend the rest of her days doing whatever she wanted. For the following years, she dedicated herself to making music, art and other personal projects, as well as educate Fennel to become a proper human being.