This the energy of heat, in every form. Unlike fire or other types of heat energy, thermal rules over both hot and cold, though most will use the heat aspects of it rather than the cold. This is due to the fact that heating things up takes little to no effort on the part of the Thermal Energy user, but cooling them down takes massive concentration and lots of will power. One in every one hundred will use this energy for cooling. The rest either won’t bother or cant.
Due to the nature of this ability, the body of the user, over time, will begin to reshape in defense the shocks that are happening when the energy is used. Unlike most energies where the subject simply dies off or has to find some spell to keep them alive, Thermal Energy will actually alter the DNA of the person until they have gained enough evolution to withstand this energy. Over time, the user will actually become fire-proof, or cold proof if that is the route they chose to go. Virtually no user has ever used both sides of the scale for this energy because, over time, it will kill the user. However, there have been a select few that have mastered both and are able to use one out of one hand and the other out of the other hand. Oddly, everyone that has ever done this, though, has gone mad, or died shortly before they could.
The very nature of the energy makes the user able to withstand great amount of heat, or cold, and allows them to raise the temperature of anything they can touch, see or hear simply by willing the energies to start moving. (if they use cold, it is the same, but they will the energies to slow.) Due to this, the user doesn’t have to worry about using their hands, feet, mouth, etc. to use their energies. They simply have to have the will power left to use it.
Each will have a different ability, just like most all the other energies that are out there. There are five different abilities that a Thermal Energy user can master, or they can try to master them all.
1. Thermal Blast – Allows the user to fire short burst of energy from their hands, feet, etc. using just the molecules between them and the victim. This can not be more than ten feet and will deal only minimal damage if fired without build up. It can, however, be built up over as long as the user wishes to build it and then released for devastating attacks. If this is with fire, the attack will come out like a ball of flame and will deal the force of the damage, plus energy, plus the fire that will follow. If it is Ice, then it will be the force of the spear, and if penetrated or hit direct to armor, then the force of the attack, the cold energy and if it does pierce, it can continue to deal cold damage every round until removed. These blasts can be fired up to 3000 feet per second and don’t show signs of being charged, save for the user sweating or beginning to frost over. When released, the blast will deal damage in a direct path but will also explode outward if it hits anything that it can not go through. Making this attack like a small grenade.
2. Fire/Ice Shards – Allows the user to fire shards of either out of their hands. These shards are concentrated Thermal Energy and will heat anything they hit up to the same heat that they are being fired out at. Thus the first thing they hit will be dealt damage and be reduced by the same amount of temperature as that of the shard. If the user lowers the temperature of the shard to -30 degree before firing it and it hits the shield you are holding, the shield will freeze solid to your hand, or worse, your hand will freeze with it. If the temperature of the shard is 2000 degrees (which is the highest these shards can get, the lowest the ice can get to is just above absolute 0, both of these temperatures would take a long time to reach, but are reachable with the right amount of will and concentration.) then the shield would become so hot that it melts your arm off. The user must be very careful using this due to the fact that it can backfire. If they fire off the shard and it somehow hits them, then they too will become as hot or cold as the shard. They will have a natural immunity to fire or cold, but they will not be able to take the shock of altering their temperature that quickly and their immunity will not go as high as the above numbers.
3. Combustion – Allows the user to alter the temperature of an item within seconds. This bypasses the focus issue and allows the user to simply combust any item they are looking at when they use this. However, should they be looking at an item and then something gets in the way, that something is what will combust. Also, this ability only works about ten feet from the user. Though, some have found ways around this ten foot barrier, it is rare. (If the user is using cold, then the combust ability will freeze things in a matter of seconds. The internal temperature of the item will suddenly alter to that of the energy surrounding it. This energy is so powerful that it will actually turn fireball into a snowball in less than a minute, however, the shock of this will probably explode the fire-snowball outward like a grenade. Remember that anything that goes through that type of a change in such a short period will react violently.)
4. Thermal Manipulation – Allows the user to use each of the above abilities and manipulate cold and heat in other ways that are much more powerful. This user is the only type that can use cold and heat together, but they will, as said earlier, always lean toward one and get powerful with it while neglecting the other. The manipulation ability allows the user to use these skills in other ways as well. Such as traps (both fire and ice), illusions (such as a flame dancing, or a crystal showing cool images from within), and even the control of ice so powerful as to build bridges, or fire so powerful it can burn mountains. A Master of this style can do virtually anything they choose with either fire or ice, depending on which one they chose.
The greatest master of this ability of all time was a fire user that took on a Gen, whose home world is of fire. Malachie Volthornos was able to defeat the Gen and nearly destroyed him. He then forced the Gen to grant him a wish, which turned out to be more of a curse than a wish, but that is a different story. (See Gen, Malichie Volthornos.)
Note: These users are not affected by their choice of element. The fire user will not be affected by the desert heat. The ice users could stand in a blizzard and not notice the cold. They will, however, be doubly affected by their opposite of their choice. Anyone that has both, will take no ill effects from either.
Note 2: These users will be able to use their abilities regardless of sight, sound, etc. but they have to be able to target their abilities onto something. Without the ability to target, they will hit things at random. This can be very detrimental to themselves and those they are firing at.
Note 3: All attacks from one of these users can be thwarted by an opposite user as long as they are of the same scale. Most will not even bother fighting to a stand still and will use other abilities to defeat an opponent that has their opposite energy.