It was a quiet, still night in the badlands. Far from civilization and out in the wilderness, the darkness was unbroken by lights and the chirps of crickets were an irregular constant. A low wind threaded through the scrub brush and the hillsides, and stars shined down in a carpet from the sky. It was solitary and peaceful, the heat of the day replaced by a slight chill.

When the fireball winked into life above the ground, at first it just rotated and blazed before it expanded and widened into something like a screen, the sudden rush of heat roaring like an incinerator door that had been opened. The temperature difference between Ulimaroa and the Plane of Fire was intense enough that sandy soil turned to glass and nearby plants ignited almost immediately just from the flow and force of heat, at least, until Sunny stepped through and raised her hands to extinguish them with a cutting burst of light from her person. Even after it had faded she lit the darkness up almost incidentally as a light all her own, and as she took a long look around at Earth, she raised her eyebrows at the sight. The others followed behind her, the portal closing once they'd passed through with a snap.

It was cold here, and Sunny had to burn a little brighter still to compensate so she wouldn't feel it. That was the first thing she'd noticed, while all the rest sort of crept up with a little familiarity from another long ago time she'd been to the Prime universe... Memories of things she tried to not to look at too closely were reasserting themselves, the differences between then and now subtle but much of the picture the same. The very air felt different here, more oxygen and possibility than back home. Snow had knelt down after crossing over, getting her land legs; Even the Plane of Fire had had a little motion to it's surface, so the complete stability of Ulimaroa was unfamiliar enough to her she immediately noticed the difference. Rain wasn't as bothered but still knelt down with her, scooping some soil into her hand. She let some of it comingle with her palm to form a layer of mud, but sifted it around and watched the dust fall.

"Oh, look... It's deert." She said, amazed. She'd never seen it when it was dry before, only the murky layer at the bottom of a sea the size of a universe. Snow nodded, widening her eyes at the sight. Thunder had joined them, looking over their shoulders. "Yup! Real high quality deert, right here."

"It's called dirt." Tornado supplied, Thunder nodding quickly and crossing her arms. "That's what I said! Dirt. I knew that."

"Sure you did. This whole planet is made of dirt, believe it or not. That's what I've heard." Tornado said.

"Woooow... What, just, sitting all clumped together?" Thunder asked, taking a look around.

"Yeah, on an incredible scale."

"Where is the water?" Snow asked, Tornado turning to her. "Here and there, in pockets. I think most of the surface is covered in it, actually, but under that it's dirt all the way down to the middle."

"Imagine that! Oh, that's so weird." Rain said, giggling like a drizzle. Sunny looked over her shoulder at them as they came together, smiling a little as they oohed and awed. Tornado met her gaze and smiled back for once, before a clump of dirt hit her jacket and she whirled around. "Hey!"

"Ehehehehe~" Thunder snickered, as the woman made of wind narrowed her eyes at her. "Oh, you think that's funny? Have some of this, then." She held her hand out as air swirled along the ground, catching pieces of the dirt and pulling them to her palm before she fired off a clump at Thunder, who spluttered. "Hey! I'll get you back for that!" while wiping the soil off her front. Snow sighed and shook her head at their antics before turning to Rain, who had made a mudball in her palm. "Don't you even think about it." Rain giggled again before she flicked a little at Snow, who made a sound like an irritated cat. "Staaawp! Cease at once!"

"Before we get down to business, there's one thing I need to take care of first. Tornado, could you accompany me? It won't be a very long trip."  Sunny said, Tornado pausing and then dropping the rest of the dirt in her hands. She drifted over, curious, as Thunder followed. "Don't worry, she won't be in any danger."

"Well... okay, if you say so." Thunder said unsurely as they took off, both leaving the earth and then streaking away through the air. She watched them and hesitated before going back to Snow and Rain with her hands in her pockets.

"So, where are we going?" Tornado asked after a few seconds, as comfortable in flight as she was anywhere else. It was more natural for her than for Sunny, who had to concentrate on it to remain airborne. "It's close by. The terrain has changed and shifted over time, but I should still be able to find it easily enough."

"No, I mean... where exactly are we going? Or why?" She asked, Sunny not responding immediately before she said "It'll be easier for me to explain afterward. It isn't entirely my story to tell."

Because the landscape had changed and shifted over time, it took Sunny ascending higher and higher like a comet in reverse for her to see more of Ulimaroa and roughly figure out where to go, based on where the Elementals had arrived and the coastline. That let her triangulate the place, a run of mountains that had once been a hillside shaped in a sort of crescent. Tornado trailing after her, they descended down and down. The wind elemental had also noticed the difference in air quality, that it was thinner than the atmosphere of the Plane of Air. Idly she wondered how much faster she could fly here than there... Stopping in front of a cave, the two paused to gaze at some of the machines and tools near the entrance.

"Humans must frequent this place. It seems as though they've dug it out and taken pieces of the earth with them." Sunny said, a little worried over that. She hadn't thought that would be the case. "I hadn't expected their race to come so far so fast, last I knew they were still using those four legged animals and wooden carts for the same purpose."

"Horses? The things with hooves and manes?"

"Is that what they're called? Yes, those." She nodded, before gathering herself and walking toward the mineshaft. "I suppose I shouldn't be shocked, from what I remember humans have short lives but a collective drive that advances them further and further. It was only a matter of time until their methods grew more effective at this sort of thing."

"...What's down here?" Tornado asked, not liking the path they were taking. Being in a confined space was unfamiliar enough that it felt like the walls were closer together than they really were. Sunny didn't answer at first, once again the only light source they needed, and as they walked she ran her hand along a vein of copper that shined flatly from her presence.

"Have you ever heard of the Empress of Flame?"

"Once or twice a long time ago. Some fire elemental that was taking power and bringing others under her banners, I remember there were rumblings of a great war coming and the possibility she was going to invade the other elemental planes. Then all that stopped, she just vanished entirely. Last I knew she- wait..." Tornado trailed off and then looked at Sunny sharply, putting it together.

"Yes, that's right. She just vanished because of me. I and my loyalists brought her here and fought her, before I banished her under the ground for as long as her chains would hold. It was necessary, I had no other choice." Sunny said like she was trying to convince herself. Tornado let them walk in silence for a little while longer before asking "Why banish her? Why not..."

"Extinguish her? Because she was my sister and I still loved her, no matter what she'd become." Sunny said quietly. "Power changes things, and the more power someone has, the more things have to change. But before she was an empress she was my closest friend and dear to me. That's how I choose to remember her."

"Are you sure freeing her is a good idea?" Tornado asked, eyes trailing on the stone around them.

"I won't lie and say I have no misgivings, but I'd never meant for this to be an eternal prison. This is a fresh start for all of us, and each of us are going to have to try our best in this new world. This is part of mine. If things go wrong, or she's not open to forgiveness, then-" Sunny stopped when they reached the end of the shaft, the burnished doors standing open just like her mouth before she took a few more steps forward. "...Oh."

"It looks like the humans let her out first." Tornado said.

"It would seem so. I- I'd wanted to be the one to do it, but fate had other plans." Sunny said, letting the length of one of the silvery chains that had bound the doors run through her hand. "I'll have to find her. I don't know how long she's been gone, or where she could have gotten to, but if she's found herself out there in the wilderness as well then I can only hope she's made her way alright."

"Is this going to be a problem, do you think?" Tornado asked frankly, putting her hands on her hips. Sunny sighed in reply. "I'll hope for the best, but expect the worst. Let's go back, there's nothing for us here. When we return, before we separate to start our individual plans I'll tell the others about this so they aren't caught unawares. I doubt she'd bother any of you, but there's no chance she hasn't imagined revenge on me over the long years down here in the dark..."

Far, far away, Cinder looked from the open expanse of the night sky back to the infrastructure and the road into the mountain. After being freed by miners months ago she'd spent time just travelling, going all over the land she'd found herself in and trying to get accustomed to it. At first she'd stuck to open countryside and isolated wilderness, but it hadn't been long before she'd found more people either travelling like her or in small cities and towns across the map. They had all been a mix, some afraid of her, some welcoming, some suspicious, and some kind. Enough of them had told her about Argo and Erenvale that she'd made her way to the one as a matter of course.

Things had changed over her long years of dreaming under the earth, and she'd changed with them. All that time had worn on her, taking away her pretensions and delusions of grandeur until she was close to who she'd been once long ago... except now she had nothing, no place to call her home or even possessions to her name. Just a tall, thin lady that burned like a bonfire, she'd come back to herself and that was all she could claim. It was a little sad but a little hopeful at the same time, and she suspected that meant it really was a new beginning for her.

The sight of the entrance to Argo brought back memories that were never far from the surface, of her sister made of sunlight and co-conspirators tricking her to this place and then fighting desperately to contain her, to force her to submit. At first imperious and then desperate, their numbers had told on her before they'd sealed her in the dark and left her to gutter in her prison. The betrayal was an old wound she'd kept open by thinking it over and over, and even now the hurt of it made her clench her fists and burn a little brighter in the night. But that was then, and in the here and now, she had to move on with herself.

The only trouble was, going back underground voluntarily was proving harder than she'd thought it would be.

Alone on the road, Cinder stared at the mountain in the quiet of the night before she straightened herself, swallowed, and made herself walk forward. There was no going back, because there was nothing to go back to; If she meant to make the most of her second chance, she had to start it herself. Even though she tensed and had to force herself to keep going when she'd reached the threshold, she continued on into the darkness.