[Flashback] Unnatural Warming (Solo)

[Eridanus]

Day 10, Winter of 507 AV
Late Morning
Single Room

Eridanus stretched his arms, having washed up and generally fully awoke. The coldness of Winter, especially the colder-than-normal winter in Avanthal, made him more lethargic than usual. He usually woke up early in the morning, but he found himself waking up only in the late mornings since lodging in the guest accommodations.

Though he was a vantha, he was only one in his mortal seeming, for his race's real allegiance lay with Leth more than with Morwen. She was responsible for his previous life, that was all. Still, he envied Morwen's mark on the natural born vantha throughout Avanthal, allowing them to wear light clothing in the chilling winter due to the ridiculously freezing weather.

Even with his winter wear he still felt cold, and though the shelter of the Savintar Warrens insulated some of this cold somewhat, he only truly felt comfortable under the fluffy and heat-trapping blankets on his bed.

Heat-trapping blankets...

An idea began to sprout in his head.

Why the hell not?

[Eridanus]

He returned to his bed, sitting in a cross-legged position on the soft quilts for he had not put on his footwear yet. The warmth of the blankets called to him temptingly, but he knew that he could not spend the day lazing away unproductively or Wysar would knock his head in for being a lazy bum.

He closed his eyes, bringing his breathing to a slow and calm pace. It was pretty easy for he was already calm to begin with, and the lethargy from the chill helped. Yet, there was a difference between sleeping and meditation, and he had to keep an active but clear mind.

Focusing on his astral body, he began pulling on the astral energies within his body. The essence of the outer part of his soul core, the djed that made up the astral manifestation of himself. These were intangible concepts brought to life with magic, and it with with these concepts that he focused on.

Slowly but surely, a light blue substance began floating out of his body, gently floating in front of him. He did not open his eyes to see it, but he knew from feeling, and from his mental connection to the djed that he expressed, that it was there in front of him hovering.

[Eridanus]

He thought of Coren's lessons, and sought to expand on them. He continued leaking djed out, feeling a gentle chill in his body as he produced more djed until he felt that a suitable mass was created. He usually spread the djed over his hands or a smaller area for practice, but this time he needed enough to cover the parts of the body more exposed to the cold. The shield could be thin, but he needed that minimal mass.

Opening his eyes, he nodded in satisfaction at the floating orb of djed in front of him. Taking a handful of it as if he were taking cream from a box, he slapped the substance around his face and neck. He treated it as if it were sunblock lotion, spreading and rubbing the djed to cover his head and neck and his hands. These were the areas that were most uncovered by winter clothing and thus more susceptible to cold.

He focused more on his head and neck, spreading the djed throughout his face and ears. It strangely felt like he was putting on a facial mask in an expensive spa, and he inwardly chuckled at this comparison.

[Eridanus]

When the shaping was done, he made sure that the texture was as smooth and consistent as possible, though he paid more attention to the neck area. The neck was the part of the body easiest to lose heat, and he wanted the shield to last the longest on this area.

Now that the shaping was settled, he closed his eyes again, mentally drawing on his connection with the djed that was now smothered throughout the various parts of his body. Calling on the djed, he began tasking them to work on temperature.

More specifically, he mentally worked through a series of instructions for the tasking, precisely ordering the shield to allow heat in but not out, and to prevent the cold from coming in but to allow the cold out. In essence he wanted to trap the heat within the shield.

Scientifically speaking, this meant keeping the energy within the shield. His mind weaved through the pattern in the shield required for this instruction, and for the tapestry to artificially impose a negative gradient at the shield's surface. This would cause energy to always seep in but never to go out due to the artificial gradient.

[Eridanus]

Putting the final touches to his instructions, he completed the shields, yet felt no real difference. It took awhile for the difference to be felt after all, though he no longer felt the mild chills that came from the cooler room temperature. It would take some time for more heat to transfer into the shield, and he realized that there was a flaw in his instructions.

He did not want to accidentally cook himself!

Mentally reaching out to his shield again, he began picking apart the djed strands that formed the pattern for the tasking against temperature. Using the djed strands themselves as material, he glyphed a conditional trigger onto the shields such that the negative energy gradient would only hold at a comfortable temperature.

He adjusted the scale of temperature such that it equaled to normal spring temperatures in the day - a cooling sensation. Finishing the sigils that he wove straight from the djed strands, he patted the tapestry back into the shields, allowing the magical construct to finalize its formation.

[Eridanus]

He returned his attention now to the actual djed streams in his body.

Time for a little warm-up.

Spreading his limbs out, he breathed slowly - still with his eyes closed - as he stretched the flexibility of his body calmly but steadily. It was a firm but gradual movement to ensure stretching but to avoid muscle tearing from sudden rigorous movement.

At the same time, he began mobilizing the djed streams throughout his body, calling on his understanding of the Flux to grasp the latent energies available. As he stretched his physical body, he also 'stretched' his astral body, using the djed streams to travel throughout his body.

It was a mental exercise as well as a physical one, with his mind fighting to focus amidst the slow but challenging physical exertions. The djed streams flowed from his legs to hands, from his chest to groin. The various djed streams took a tour throughout his body, with Eridanus constantly directing them around his limbs.

[Eridanus]

The flow of the 'djed tour' in his body began slowly, for he did not dare to risk 'astral muscle tear' in the same way muscle tears can occur if one did particularly rigorous physical activities without warming up. The djed streams began as a jog, using the muscle layout of his body as a track, and he slowly accelerated the flow of the streams as it went.

He increased the speed, then paused until he was sure of its stability before further increasing again. His ultimate goal was to have full mastery over the jumping of the djed streams, but he knew that nothing came over night; he had to slowly increase his control over the speed day by day.

Finally, it was increasing at a pace that he could barely control, and he struggled to maintain control before finally forcing the streams to slow down, then dissipating them back to their original positions throughout his body.

By now, beads of sweat were already beginning to form, and the heat generated from this physical and mental exercise was mostly kept in his body thanks to the shields that he threw up.

[Eridanus]

Giving a grunt of satisfaction to himself, he recovered from his position on the bed, taking his overcoat from the hangar and putting on his boots. Pulling the scarf over his neck for that extra protection against the cold should the shield wear out before he returned to the comfortable abode of his rented room, he opened the door, walking out into the chilling cold.

Though strangely, the chill was not as cold as the last time.

Eridanus smiled.

[Warden]

-Eridanus- Skill Points: Meditation 2 Shielding 2 Glyphing 1 Flux 2 Lore: Location: Savintar Warrens The Connection of Magic Disciplines Notes: I enjoyed how in depth and detailed you were about the various amounts of magic you practiced, hence the other lore. You weaved together different disciplines, and I wanted to give you something for that. Keep it up!