The Witch, with her immense magic, could still force it to function, but it took a heavy toll on her power something she could not afford while leading an assault on Blizzard Fortress.
So, she cast Alice into the Lost Maze instead.
When Alice arrived in the past, she was alone, disoriented, and vulnerable.
She was immediately captured by the Scarlet Troupe and, in a cruel twist, was forced into servitude as a scriptwriter.
William finally understood why Black Swan had said they arrived "late."
By the time he and his group entered the town, the Scarlet Theater had already been performing for four days.
Alice had been trapped here first, locked away and coerced into writing tragic plays.
The reason?
She had a natural talent for the "Writer" path, a power that playwrights used to shape reality through stories.
But Alice hated tragedy.
The darkest story she could tolerate was the Little Mermaid dissolving into seafoam.