In the not-so-distant past, the world plummets into war as the nation's greatest leaders conspire to betray their homeland.
Following years of conflict, Alice from the Ninja clan appears, and vows to bring down the leaders in her Goal to restore lif...
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Alice and Julie continued their travel past the rugged terrain of the mountains, which ended up plateauing much more than they expected. From the exterior, it appeared as though peaks rose high into the sky but it was only an illusion. However, farther off in the distance, the peaks sat taller and the paths less clear. It was lucky that the easiest route was the less dangerous one.
However, in any case, Alice didn't sense the presence of any enemy forces which led her to believe the base she had just emerged from was their only outpost nearby. As the girls continued towards the mystical elf village Julie spoke of previously, they shared more stories about their homelands, their youth, and the occasional tease from Julie about Alice's body. Alice did stand tall at around 5 feet, 10 inches while Julie remained a much smaller 5 feet 5 inches, so the difference would have been quite noticeable to an elf girl.
As the sun began to set behind the horizon and the girls approached the end of the mountain trail, Alice started getting antsy and asked Julie how much farther it would be until they reached her village.
Pointing to the sky she mentioned, "I know it's really unlikely for there to be any enemies out here, but I really don't like traveling in the dark. Didn't you say we were gonna reach it before the sunset?"
"You're so impatient Alice! Look over there, it's just underneath these trees." Julie snapped.
Still high on the plateau, their bodies only appearing as shadows in the fading daylight, Julie pointed down the mountain paths that descended into a forest canopy. They appeared so dark to Alice, that she made another point about the visibility.
Sarcastically she remarked, "We're literally walking into a darker part of the landscape. Gee, why don't we just make loud noises and let them know we're here!"
"Ughh, do you always get this cranky at night? Just follow my lead, I know where we're going."
Alice wasn't sure if it was the result of another long day with insufficient sleep or the constant fear of another enemy attack - which Julie seemed somewhat oblivious to - but she desperately wanted to feel the comfort of reaching a point of safety.
The girls proceeded down the mountain and into the forest. Alice noticed that the descending path of the mountain path appeared to have been carved into a staircase intentionally. Entering into the forest, the thick greenery that had grown there provided a dark cover over their heads. These trees were even more magnificent compared to the ones Alice had spotted previously when traveling with Mashiro.
Despite how overgrown the entire formation of the forest appeared, there wasn't a single sound that could be heard other than the bushes and leaves that were being shuffled beneath their feet. For a moment, Alice even broke from her fear and realized the nature she was feeling under her toes as she had previously. She looked down at the ground, which gave her some sense of safety. However, this was quickly broken with a thud as she bumped into Julie from behind who had suddenly stopped in her tracks. The two couldn't have been traveling for more than a couple of minutes.
