Thermodynamics of the waste land

The frost was really bad. It did not just hurt it was like it was eating away at Rowan Vance. He looked at his hands. Saw the pale blue energy of the ice qi going into his skin. His knuckles were turning white and brittle. The pain was gone,. Now he felt a scary empty feeling. This was what happened when you got bad hypothermia.. As people in this world said, it was when the "chill poison" got to your bones. "Get up master " a voice said. "If you die sitting down the ice rifts will take your soul before your body even hits the ground." The voice was Orin Clays. He was a guard from the north. His face looked like it was carved out of the cliffs around the Frostbound Expanse. He stood at the door of the stone house and his breath was coming out in big cloudy puffs. His armor was old and worn. It did not look like it would keep him warm. Rowan Vance did not answer away. He could not. His mind was a mess. It was like two different lives were crashing into each other. A few hours ago Rowan Vance was a chemical engineer. He worked on machines that kept things warm. He remembered an accident in the lab and then nothing. Until he woke up here freezing, in a body that was not his own. This body belonged to the son of the Vance family. They were a deal in the capital city.. This son was born with a problem. He had a "trash" fire aptitude, which meant he was not good at arts like his family. So his father, Julian Vance did not want him anymore. He sent Rowan to the north to die. "Young master Rowan!" Orin said, stepping forward. He shook Rowans shoulder. "Look at me. Keep your eyes open. If you sleep now you will not wake up." Rowan made himself look at Orin. He saw the room they were in. It was not really a room it was like a big empty space. The roof was. Snow was piling up. In the middle of the room there was an old plate that was supposed to keep the place warm.. It was not working. "The heating thing " Rowan said, his voice rough. "Why is it not working?" Orin spat on the floor. He looked angry and sad. "The capital city stopped sending us supplies. We do not have any stones to make the heating thing work. Lord Julian wants us to freeze." Rowan felt a surge of anger. He remembered his father looking down at him like he was nothing. He remembered the pain of being abandoned. *They want me to freeze?* Rowan thought. *They think cold is a thing.* Rowan knew better. Cold was the absence of heat. Ice magic was just taking heat away from things. "How many people are left here?" Rowan asked Orin. Orin looked surprised. "Forty-two " he said. " Old servants and some broken soldiers. We have food for three days. It is getting colder fast. A big storm is. If we do not find a way to keep warm we will all die." Rowan stood up. His legs were shaking,. He looked at Orin with a fierce gaze. "We do not need stones " Rowan said. "We need to use physics." Orin looked at him like he was crazy. Then a young woman walked into the room. She was wearing leather armor. Had two daggers at her waist. This was Cora Blackwood, the captain of the estates defense force. She looked scared. "Orin! Rowan!" she said. "The ice rift is getting worse. The temperature is dropping fast. Some monsters are coming. We need to get out of here." Orin cursed. "We cannot fight those monsters. We need to run." Rowan did not want to run. He wanted to fix the heating thing. He walked over to the plate and looked at it. He saw the lines on the plate. He thought about how they could be used to make heat. " master this is not the time, for dreams " Cora said. "We need to go to the caves. It is the place that can keep us warm." Rowan did not want to go to the caves. He wanted to stay and fix the heating thing. "The caves will be a trap " Rowan said. "The monsters will catch us. We need to make heat." Cora looked at him like he was crazy. "How do you plan to do that?" she asked. Rowan thought for a moment. "We can use the temperature difference to make heat " he said. "We can make a machine that uses the air to make warm air." Orin and Cora looked at each other. They did not understand what Rowan was talking about. Rowan did not care. He was sure he could make it work. He started giving orders. "Orin I need all the copper pipes and iron sheets you can find. Cora take your men. Get the metal rods from the beds. Bring them here." Cora looked at him like he was crazy. "But Rowan the monsters are coming—" she said. "If we do not have heat the monsters will not need to kill us " Rowan said. "The cold will do it for them." Cora looked at him. For a moment she saw something in his eyes. She saw a leader who was not afraid of death. She saw a man who could solve problems. She did what he said. Rowan said, "I need two hours. Give me two hours. I will make a fire that never goes out." His voice was low and intense. Cora looked at him for a time before she nodded. "Okay young master. You have two hours. If your plan does not work I will take you to the caves myself." The next hour and a half was a time. Rowan told the servants. Guards what to do. They worked hard. They did not know what they were making. They wanted to survive. Rowan used his special fire to weld iron sheets together. He made a machine with two parts. He put pipes from the window to the machine. The cold wind outside helped to cool the part. The bottom part was near a plate on the floor. He did not use the plate for magic. He used it to keep the house warm. He sealed the machine with a mix of animal fat and special plants. Rowan said to himself "This is a machine that makes heat. It uses the wind outside and the warm air inside to make the machine work." He connected the machine to the air vents in the house. He explained, "The cold wind will cool the part. The warm air inside will warm the part. The difference in temperature will make the machine work. It will make heat. Blow it through the vents." then a guard shouted, "The Frost-Stalkers are here! They are in the courtyard!" The sound of the wind and the roar of the beasts was scary. The beasts were big and made of ice. They had crystal on their bodies and their eyes glowed. Cora got her daggers ready. "We do not have time. The machine is not working, Rowan!" Rowan looked at the machine. It was not moving. It needed a push to start. He shouted, "Orin, Cora stop the beasts! Do not let them in!" Cora fought the beast. Her daggers flashed in the light. Orin hit another beast with his sword.. More beasts were coming. The cold air was making the room colder. It was going to stop the machine from working. Rowan went to the machine. He put his hands on it. He closed his eyes. Used his special fire to make the machine warm. He said, "Work, machine. Work!" The machine started to move. The piston went down. The friction plates made heat. A blast of air came out of the vents. It hit the beast that was attacking Rowan. The beast broke into pieces. The hot air kept coming. It made the room warm. The beasts outside stopped attacking. Orin and Cora looked at Rowan with surprise and respect. Rowan stood up. His hands were hurt,. He was calm. He looked at the machine. Then outside. He saw the ice rifts, in the sky. He realized that the rifts were not natural. They were made by someone. They were targeting him. The machine was still working. Rowan had survived the night.. He knew that he had to be careful. The rifts were not going to stop. He had to find a way to stop them.. They would hurt him and the people he cared about. Rowan was thinking about what to do. He was thinking about how to survive. He was thinking about the machine and the rifts. He was thinking about his fire and how to use it. Rowan was ready to face whatever came next. He was ready to fight.