A Medicine (Dust)

I woke up the day that school started with an equal mixture of anxiety and thrill to go to school.

In my previous life, I never had a reason for the latter, and mostly felt dread instead of anxiety, but this time I had something to look forward to, and that very something may not even happen.

However, before I could even get to the school, I had one problem I had to hurdle first.

“Mother, do you think there’s a magic that you could use on me that would let me walk outside in this heat without passing out?”

“Well, I do suppose that I can give you my best heat shield, but since those are directed more towards fire, I’m not sure how well it would work for alleviating your symptoms… If only Luna was still here, you two could walk together and she could use her magic to cool you off on the way…”

“Can’t you put a long term freezing spell on me?”

“I could, but if I want it to last long enough to get you to school and back, I’d have to use up most of my mana pool, and it’d probably freeze your blood in your veins, causing pressure to build up and you’d die.”

I shivered through my heat exhaustion. It didn’t really sound like much fun to die like that.

“It’s too hot… I’ll just wait until fall to go to school…” I muttered, walking back to my room.

“Come on, Dust, you can’t just skip school!” My mother complained, but I could see that she wasn’t too averse as I walked towards her.

“It’s almost 43 Hewah out there! Yesterday it barely hit 38 and I was affected! How do you expect me to walk across town in this weather if I can’t even spend twenty minutes outside in a lower temperature?!” I argued.

(Hewah is another name for Celsius. For the Americans, multiply by 1.8 then add 32.)

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Luna had left long ago, not even saying goodbye before heading out. I could try and use a spell every now and then to chill the air around me, but I don’t have nearly enough mana for that, nor will it recover fast enough for me to use it properly in that fashion.

It was unbearable.

Even the castle was hot, although that was bearable.

People in this world seemed to either have the skill to work through the heat or have some sort of resistance to the heat, but I was an exception. I was born with nothing I could use to cool myself off, and instead of being able to work through the heat I pass out once I reach breaking point and end up delirious, many of my restraints losing effect.

If nothing else, the second part of that is something I need to avoid as much as possible. If I’m unable to restrain myself in this world, then I may just end up dying. After all, the world of nobles and royalty is one in which you can die for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

And, believe me when I say I excel at doing both of those.

“The best heat shield my mother has only amounts to this much? How long has it been… Maybe forty minutes? So I guess It’s not really all that bad, considering that it’s so much hotter than yesterday, and I’m still alive after being outside this long…”

I glanced up at the sun. It was just before noon. Or maybe it was just after. Who knows.

Either way, I was dead center in the middle of the city, with about 2 hours to get to the teleporter before the Intro to the school began. Of course, if I dawdled here for too long, I’d miss my chance to go to the school and/or try to meet my other parts.

That thought aside, I powered on, keeping on lookout for anything I could use to lower my temperature.

Ten minutes passed, and the world began to spin. Recognizing the feeling that stirred my brain like a blender, I cursed at myself silently.

Guess I’ll have to refresh my timer… 50 minutes is all I can last for?

Mana, Rampage.

My mana rushed out of me, and swirled through the air. It spiked out in thousands of tiny tendrils, seeming to snake through the very molecules to find the easiest path.

Like light, hitting eachother and then continuing through to the easiest path, every other path having canceled out. However, mine combined, and continued through those paths.

I ended up sitting in the middle of a web of glowing light blue mana, in a pattern like branches and trees, making thousands of geometric shapes that seemed natural in an unnatural way.

Now absorb.

The energy of the air, the water vapor in it, and the heat that purveyed it with that energy. They all froze at once, my mana absorbing it and increasing in size.

And for a moment, I was chilled down to the core as an icy barrier formed around me, the air filling with a light foggy frost that pierced my clothes and skin.

I breathed out a steamy breath, and opened my eyes against the chill. My timer had been reset.

Now, to run.