Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia, #9)

by Michael Chatfield

“I just hope the cold exchangers do as well,” Steve said. The soul gem construct that weaved through this massive structure both underground and above it grew faster and faster, strengthening its ties to the different parts of the citadel and connecting to more and more of the supports. The more supports they attached themselves to, the faster power was pulled into the citadel as it wasn’t lost in transferring it through the supports’ runes. The metal supports were good with the runes but the soul gem construct was many times more powerful. Because they gathered power faster, they were also a better material to code. As they seeped into the metal runes, they had the effect of making them much more powerful, making the temperature around the citadel drop faster and faster. “Welcome to a winter wilderness.” Dave sensed that the ground around the citadel was actually freezing over. “Readying the cold exchanger,” Steve said. The ground temperature around the citadel reached minus five centigrade before the power they were getting was diminishing returns. “Switch,” Dave said. “Cold exchangers are active,” Steve said. This was one of the projects that had been giving the three of them and the other coders a headache for a while. Turning heat into power was pretty easy, and spells could be made from Mana to create something cold. So if there were runes that could convert heat into Mana, then there had to be runes that could convert cold into Mana. At least, that was their running...

It could never work — even with magic it could never work. "Cold" is simply the absence of "heat," otherwise known as "thermal energy;" so there is no form of energy to be harvested from a cold object or atmosphere.