How to survive being burned alive? [closed]

Question

I live in a village where magic is considered as a sin. Those who have magic in their blood must be burned alive. This is because in the past many people abuse magic. And somehow society believe that magic is the root of all evil while in reality it isn't. It's the user not the magic.

I have known Camilia since I was very little. I'm a year older than her. She is an orphan and she's not very good at making friends. I guess I'm the only friend she has. But when she is with me, she always looks so cheerful.

One day, when I was 12, Camilia said something that I was never expecting. She said that she just discovered that she can use magic. It happened accidentally when she was practicing theatre, suddenly some sparks of light come out off her finger. Fortunately she was alone at the time. Then she showed me how she does it. I immediately told her to stop. I asked her who else knew about this she said she has not told anyone. I told her not to do that ever again.

One week later, it was my birthday. Camilia said she had a special present for me. She asked me to close my eyes when we were in the park. So I closed my eyes. Then when she said I could open my eyes again, I could see some flowers moving and dancing around me. I was happy but at the same time also angry. I screamed at her, "Stop that! I've told you Camilia, don't ever do that again. Do you know how dangerous it is? If anyone ever find it, the entire village will burn you to death!"

A few days later, the village hall is very crowded. I'm curious what is it in there that so many people would come. When I take a peek inside, I can't believe my own eyes. It's Camilia! Somehow someone discovered about her being able to use magic. They had already started the fire. From here I can see her body tied to a pillar and burning. Everyone seemed mad, screaming that she is the descendant of evil. I could hear her screaming my name but there is nothing I can do. Even my parents told me not to save her. Why did this have to happen? When she stops screaming, I could see her skin melting.

About one hour later, suddenly there is an explosion of ice happening right where Camilia is. Everyone was surprised by what just happened. The fog from that explosion lasted long enough that by the time it has completely disappeared, Camilia had already gone. Her body was not there anymore. Many people believed she was trying to escape. They believed she was still alive and someday will comeback to the village. And she was labeled as a rank SSS Criminal with a reward of 1 million gold for whoever could bring back her head.

Years have passed. Now I'm a treasure hunter. One day, when I'm exploring some caves, suddenly I met Camilia again. She is still alive. I'm so happy, but how did she survive?

• Medieval era
• Ressurection magic does not exist
• Healing magic does exist, but cannot heal wounds instanly. It needs time depending on how bad the wound is.
• If the person is already dead, healing magic wouldn't work.
• There could be another user of magic, but it is a mostly underground society.
• It could be that when the exploison happened, it was someone trying to save Camilia, but it's not relevant. The question is about how to survive the fire when the protagonist saw her skin melting. (Also remember she is not good at making friends.)
• Any trick that would make other people see her skin melting while actually leaving her alive is allowed.
• Don't forget her age, she is only 11. So it should be something that can be done by a 11 year old girl or maybe an 11 year old with other people help. But again, she is not good at making friends.

Answer 1

Since she hadn't yet learned to fully control her magic, the magic was driven by her wishes. When she was about to be burned, her greatest wish was, of course, to be elsewhere. In particular, she thought of a place in the forest only she knew about, and which nobody else had come to as long as she could remember, and quite understandably she wished she were there instead of on that stake which was about to be set on fire.

Now it was not in her magic abilities to just teleport herself to that place. However, unnoticed even by herself, just as with the dancing flowers you had seen a few days before, her magic began to act at the place she was thinking about, rearranging matter. In particular, as she imagined herself to be at that place, a full copy of her body formed through her magic forces. That body was not yet alive, but it was complete before the fire had killed her.

Now at the moment at which her original body was harmed enough that her soul detached from it, it didn't go to wherever dead souls go in your world, but given that there was a perfectly suitable, unharmed body that was hers nearby, it was inevitably drawn to it.

If the soul had left her the normal way, it would have left behind all information about her current life in her dead body, where in this case it would have burnt away. However since the soul was not leaving for another world, but was actually trying to "return" to its body (the replacement body that had formed in the forest), it took all the information with it. This caused a sudden drop of entropy in her old body, which was the cause of the ice explosion you described: Carrying away information requires carrying away energy; this made her old body freeze instantly.

The soul, along with the information and energy it had taken from the remains of her old body, then wend directly into her newly formed body in the forest. As a result, that body came to life and now really was her: Her soul and her memories were living in that new body formed by her magic.