The Plane of Fire burned eternally, bright enough that the carbon dioxide skies reflected red and orange throughout the smog and smoke that rose from it all.

Heat was the purest nature of the dimension, eternally roiling and igniting the terrain across it's surface. The ground was largely made of rising and falling embers and coals that shifted like sand as their edges turned enough to let new burning material rise to take their places, and everywhere superheated gases and ignited chemicals settled like fog. Smoldering mountains and hills would break up the terrain, but as quickly as they rose they would shift and fall, borne on the back of magma under the surface that flowed like rivers. There were even lakes and oceans, although they were admittedly formed of molten metals or flames that never ceased blazing in endless waves. Rain of ash and embers occasionally burst from the sky, pattering across the ground.

There were very few spots that could be called cold, since even that was relative here, but one of those was the Kingdom of Ash. Blackened like a sunspot, it was leagues upon leagues of dark ash that twisted into spires and lines like fencing across it, roads and homes picked out that were still and silent. Gloom hung over it like a pall, a land like a candle wick that had grown too small to burn anymore. Metals had frozen like flowers and moss across the ground where they had cooled to their final shapes, and it was deserted in the same way a ghost town would be. Despite the size of the landscape there were barely any spots of flame across it, the few remaining Fire Elementals that called it home clinging to the harsh existence they'd ended up in. In the midst of what had been a lake of lava that had dried up to mere threads, the molten palace squatted like an old oven. Formed of black flowing obsidian flecked with minerals and glass, it had once been the seat of power in the kingdom before now, when it was dead. Where before it had been filled with soldiers and courtiers and states people dedicated to this realm, now it was empty and a place that thermals grumbled like ghosts of what had been. The throne room was the one bright spot, where the copper state of seat still glowed along it's edges due to the heat of the person sitting on it.

The ruler of a dead kingdom, Sunny held no illusions on her position as a last flickering flame. A creature of sunlight rather than fire, the clouds that formed her clothing were white instead than the dingy grey or black of the rest of the smog that wreathed the plane, and despite the dimness and gloom of the Kingdom of Ash she was still able to smile small. She had to, since otherwise she'd give in to the creeping despair that had already claimed everything else she'd cared for. As long as she lived she would never stop trying to reignite what had been, but the Kingdom of Ash was dead and cold, and it had happened on her watch... She had been a princess once, and could have called herself a queen, but until she deserved the title she wouldn't take it.

War, economics, and time had led to the current state of things, and the nature of the Plane itself had hastened the decline. Sunny hadn't lost hope that she could restore things to what they had once been, but she'd taken many blows over the time since she'd ascended the throne, and her confidence was at a low point. It helped to finally have some other people around. Elementals kept to themselves as a rule, their natures and their homes across different realms keeping them apart from one another. Just like the parts of nature they represented, most had been at a constant war that was implicit; It was one of her joys that she'd managed to bring some together under the force of her personality. They weren't her servants or allies, but friends she'd made along the way.

While the pillared throne room felt chilly to her, just cold enough that organic beings wouldn't have been killed instantly by the heat, half of her visitors were more uncomfortable than the other half. The woman made of ice and the one made of water were close together, both of them a little frayed just from being in the Plane of Fire. Snow had created a block of ice that she was slumped on before she remembered herself and sat up straight while Rain had formed a small cloud over them that would storm every now and again, after so many downpours the rain no longer hissing and steaming when it touched the cracked floor. In a reflection of the water cycle the runoff would once again turn to vapor and then rejoin Rain herself before she'd siphon it off and back into the cloud, Snow meeting Cinder's smile with a flat, noble look while Rain smiled back, shy and wet.

Her other two guests weren't as bothered by the environment, although their differing temperaments were obvious at a glance. While Tornado leaned against one of the pillars with her arms crossed, looking unimpressed and occasionally flipping her windy hair, Thunder hadn't stopped walking around with her hands on her hips or making excitable noises since they'd arrived. Her eyes were wide and practically crackling in contrast to Tornado's half lidded expression or sighs of boredom, and when Sunny looked to her she returned her gaze with detachment. Thunder on the other hand lit up and made her way over like a puppy that couldn't contain itself.

"Thank you all for accepting my invitation, and welcome to the Kingdom of Ash. I thought it would be best to show you my home and my circumstances instead of tell you when words could never paint the full picture." Sunny started, getting up and walking down the plinth to meet them all. "For all of our different reasons of coming together, you can see mine are just as real. How was the trip here?"

"Arduous." Snow replied, Sunny's smile faltering a little in the face of her chilly tone. Seeing this, she amended "It was interesting, as well. When we first arrived on the Plane of Fire it was like nothing I'd seen before, or ever imagined. To know and to experience are two different things... It's beautiful, in a deadly way." in a gentler voice.

"This will sound a little odd, but it reminds me of home. Even though the Plane of Water and here are opposites, they're very similar in some ways. I could grow to like it over time. Our journey wasn't difficult, only, finding a place the gateway could be used in the Plane of Water was a little of a hassle. But thank you for inviting us, Sunny. We're happy to be here." Rain added softly.

Tornado hadn't approached, staying in her lean while Thunder took her side. "...turns out the Breeze already had a pathway here from old explorations. What luck, huh? It was fine on the approach, I've been through worse." She shrugged. "I'd like to see more of the Plane while we're visiting, this is my first time."

"Oh, yeah, it was no problem for us to get here! Downright easy, we just slipped our way on through and there we were in the sky! I was like "Whoa, it's all on fire!" and then we flew right on down. It's weird, I thought this would just be like the surface of the sun or something, but it's like a whole place where everything is flame related instead." Thunder said, raising her eyebrows and grinning.

"I'm glad to hear that all that! Now, I know all of you, and you all know me, but we don't know each other. Would you all mind introducing yourselves so we each can have some idea of one another?" Sunny asked. "I'll go last, to finish us off."

"Certainly. Hello, everyone. My name is Snow." She said, getting off her ice block to flourish her hands. "I'm the duchess of a small island of ice in the Plane of Water that floats across the surface of the waves. It has a small population of elementals and creatures, but it itself is constantly cracking and breaking apart. I've fixed it as best I can, but maintaining it and ruling over the inhabitants takes up much of my time."

"It's wonderful to meet you all." Rain said when Snow sat back down, glancing at them and then back to the woman made of ice. "I'm Rain, a one time noble from the depths of the Plane of Water. I left that position to help my friend Snow with her kingdom, and I'd love to be your friend as well eventually. Let's all do our best together, okay?"

"...You can call me Tornado. Alright, go ahead." The woman made of wind said to Thunder, who shook her head and made encouraging gestures at her. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine... I'm part of an adventuring group from the Plane of Air called the Breeze. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I'd like to gain some prestige from being one of the first to visit the Prime universe."

"Okay, now my turn! HEY EVERYBODY, it's ME, THUNDER! I'm an adventurer too! I came from the Plane of Air to visit strange new worlds and meet weird new people, and Tornado's my best buddy!" She said quickly. "I'm gonna be her guard, but mostly, I'm just in it for the thrills! I'm part of the Breeze, too, and I can't wait to be in a whole new plane of reality!"

"...I'm so glad you all could be here. I'm Sunny, princess of no one and ruler of a kingdom that has passed on already. I've tried so many things to stall it's decline, and then to bring it back, but ultimately it slipped from my grasp. It was only by leaving on journeys of my own that I met each of you and could host you like this. To summarize, Snow and Rain, you're here to find a solution to your own untenable state, and Tornado and Thunder, you've come for the opportunities that travel to the Earth would bear." She gestured at them as she spoke while they listened. "Luckily for me, I've already been to the Prime Universe. Returning there is a simple matter of retracing my steps and opening a gateway to a world I'd walked once before. I'm sure it's changed quite a bit since I'd visited, but it shouldn't be much of a problem to go there again."

"You've already been there?" Rain said, startled. "What brought that on?"

"You could call it family business. It was mostly desperation, but it served as the start of my taking power here. I didn't choose it, it was thrust upon me." Sunny answered, her outside not matching the regret she felt. She was too practiced at hiding it. "I had to go there to settle something that never should have gone as far as it did. But what matters is, if I can return, I don't see any reason I wouldn't be able to bring you all with me."

"And what will we do once we're there?" Tornado asked, Thunder perking up.

"That's exactly what I'd hoped to discuss further, and if we can, come up with a plan of action between us. We're so much better off working together and pooling our efforts than any one of us would be alone." Sunny replied, turning back and retaking her seat on the throne. Even though they'd just started the process and had nothing concrete yet, it was hard not to have hope in the future for once.