**
The night before the portal opening the harbor was buzzing with discussion. Money, rum, and ale exchanged hands as the sailors placed bets and traded stories of past portal openings. Pria was no fan of the gambling but it was impossible to resist speculating about the portal. When the doorway opened to the Plane of Rage five years ago Pria had just been promoted to Lieutenant.
She witnessed the flood of the Rage Fiends from the deck of her ship. They looked to her like red ants from the safety of the harbor. The Brothers, with the help of the marines and the magi defended the island until it could be fully evacuated. Many lives were lost, but the bravery shown that day saved countless more.
For ninety days the Pelagic fleet laid waste to the infested island. Their numbers were endless, but their blinding and ceaseless anger made them easy targets from afar. The creatures could swim, but poorly. The terrain of Pelagos gave the fleet an impossibly good advantage.
Pria could still see the gnashing, howling creatures swimming towards her ship in her mind. She could never sleep before the portal opening since then. It didn’t matter; the noise from below decks and on shore would have kept her up anyway. No one slept the night before.
The portal would open at noon. There was no way to know where it would lead. The sun marched resolutely to its pinnacle. A tiny black speck appeared. A crackle, a pop, and the speck spun into a small disc. The wind swirled and lightning sparked as the black disc widened and widened. The spectacle crescendoed with a brilliant burst of prismatic energy. The portal was open.
This was the height of the suspense – if an attack was coming, it would happen now. The marines gripped their rapiers tightly and their bucklers tighter. The Brothers white knuckled their tridents. The portal was silent. Its rippling opaque black surface offered no clues. After a minute much of the tension was gone.
“Prepare the envoy,” ordered Qin. Twenty of his best marines formed ranks behind him. Qin and Lin would cross through first. The pair walked to the portal to examine its surface. Neither light nor sound could pass through the doorway; only stepping through could reveal its destination.
The Brothers made the crossing as they had done for hundreds of years, year after year. The terrain they stood upon was foreign to them. Lin was highly knowledgeable of the known planes – this was not one of them. “A new plane, I think,” he said to his Brother.
Qin scanned the land around them, “All the more reason to be cautious.” Qin turned to the single marine who stood halfway through the portal awaiting orders. The marine saluted and the first wave of men crossed into the unknown world. Portable barricades were brought through the portal into the empty flat of the new plane.
“Sir, the barricades are in place,” reported the senior marine.
Qin bent over to match the height of the marine, “Good, inform the dispatch that the doorway has opened to a new plane – you may bring the regiment in to fortify the perimeter; when the defensive line is strong you may bring the magi in to begin studying this place.” The marine saluted and left.
“Brother, this place is odd,” said Lin as black sand poured from his hand.
“It feels… hollow,” replied Qin. Before them was a desolate expanse of black sand – flat and endless. Oddly shaped, leafless trees dotted the landscape and in the distance was a small hill of the same sand.
Lin walked to the nearest tree to snap off a branch. “Lifeless, hollow, and black sand everywhere,” stated Lin aloud. The branch melted into the same black sand Lin stood on, the rest of the tree followed suit, dissolving into the ground.
Qin looked at his surprised brother, “Black sand everywhere.”