Jaune exhaled slowly as the wind shifted again, carrying a bite of cold across the plateau. The frost along the edges of the clearing glittered faintly in the muted light. He turned away from the Branwen siblings and walked toward the edge of the training ground where his pack rested on a weathered tree stump.
The stump hadn't been there originally.
None of this had.
The clearing itself had once been uneven forest floor cluttered with roots and stone. Jaune had leveled it into what it currently was using his rune. What had once been a natural depression in the woods was now a smooth plateau of compacted earth and stone, ringed by trees that stood like silent observers.
The simulation rooms within LUCID were great in the fact that they could replicate environments down to the density of air and angle of sunlight, but Jaune needed a change of scenery into something more real, rather than a controlled environment.
His backyard had once sufficed, but it had started to feel more and more cramped these days. Especially since Nora and Ren had started living with him. Not tat he found them annoying or anything, he just needed a bit of space. And he had been finding himself with more and more time nowadays to practice, he figured, why not?
So he had come here instead.
He reached into his bag and pulled out a towel, pressing the fabric against his face and neck. The sweat cooled instantly in the Valean air, sending a faint chill down his spine.
Behind him, Raven stood without moving.
Jaune glanced back at her.
"So," he asked. "What exactly is the shadow realm?"
From the name alone, it did not require much imagination. Shadow realm. It was difficult to separate that phrase from shadow runes. And if anyone in the world had the authority to speak on such matters, it was the woman standing across from him.
Raven Branwen's Shadow rune was at Mastery.
He had seen enough of it to understand that her rune didn't merely manipulate shadows but it could also reshape spatial relationships within shadow. It allowed her to traverse unseen corridors beneath the visible world—combined with her Raven rune and her third rune, the one she never fully elaborated upon but which operated on a distinctly meta-type power, the synchronicity was something Jaune could not fully quantify.
Raven blinked once, then yawned.
She was simply bored, now that there was no fighting involved.
She glanced at Qrow.
"You explain it."
Jaune and Qrow both stared at her in identical deadpan silence.
Raven lifted one hand lazily. Shadow pooled beneath her palm, thickening like liquid ink. It rose, folding into itself with quiet obedience, forming the outline of a high backed chair. The construct solidified with crisp edges and subtle detail, dark but not reflective, as though carved from condensed dusk.
She sat.
One leg crossed over the other with effortless grace. Her posture radiated complete indifference.
Jaune slowly lowered the towel.
Qrow rubbed a hand down his face.
"You could at least pretend to care," he muttered.
Raven closed her eyes.
Qrow sighed.
"Kid," he said, turning back to Jaune, "this world's a bit more complicated than you think."
Jaune folded the towel and set it back into his bag before straightening.
"Complicated how?"
"Realms," Qrow replied. "That's where we have to start."
Jaune nodded faintly. That much he already understood to some degree.
"There's the real world," Qrow continued. "And there's the Dream Realm."
Jaune knew that place well enough. All awakened did. Considering that they were drawn into it when they slept, it wasn't optional. Vast landscapes shaped by ancient intent and territories born from ruin. A world that mirrored and distorted reality in equal measure.
"You already know how that one works. It's the living dream of a Sleeping god," Qrow said. "Born from Salem's subconscious. A world shaped by her unconscious desire to see all life end."
Jaune nodded.
Technically speaking, the Dream Realm, though immense, was not infinite in size. It was slightly larger than the physical planet they were on, itself. Its structure was built atop the foundation of the real world. Mountains corresponded to mountains. Oceans to oceans. Cities left impressions.
"The Dream can be considered as a layer above reality. A higher plane that rested upon the real one like a translucent veil. Other realms work the same way," Qrow went on. "They're layered and built off the same foundation. Connected to the same core structure."
Jaune listened intently.
"The shadow realm," Qrow said, voice lowering slightly, "isn't like the dream realm above reality. It's beneath it."
Jaune's brow furrowed.
"Beneath?"
"Yeah. Think of it like a substructure. If the Dream Realm is a reflection rising upward, the shadow realm is the foundation stretching downward."
Jaune considered that.
"And how big is it?"
Qrow's expression shifted.
"Vast."
Raven's eyes opened lazily at that single word, though she did not speak.
"It's bigger than our world and the Dream Realm combined." Qrow said. "By a lot. And it goes much deeper than it probably should."
Jaune felt something tighten subtly in his chest.
The Dream Realm itself was already dangerous. To describe something as vastlylarger, carried implications he did not yet fully grasp.
"Why haven't I heard people talk about it? Is this common LUCID knowledge?" Jaune asked quietly.
"Not exactly. The top brass know about it, but they've chosen to ignore it. The Dream realm already has most of our attention and we can't shift away too much resources to explore this other plane. Besides... most people can't reach it, and it doesn't hold as much of a threat as the dream realm as it currently is." Qrow answered.
That made sense.
All awakened were drawn into the Dream Realm when unconscious. It was involuntary and a nightly descent whether they wished it or not.
The shadow realm was different.
"You don't fall into it when you sleep," Qrow continued. "You don't drift into it by accident and accessing it takes something very specific."
Jaune's mind was already running through possibilities.
That narrowed it immediately.
Jaune's gaze flicked toward Raven. She remained seated in her shadow chair, looking faintly amused at his thought process.
"Not many runes can pierce that layer," Qrow said. "And even fewer can do it safely."
Jaune absorbed that.
The Dream Realm was a shared inevitability. The shadow realm was selective.
A deeper layer beneath reality. Vast. Hard to reach. Rune dependent.
Qrow watched him carefully.
"You can probably guess what kind of rune lets someone access it?"
Jaune did not answer immediately.
His gaze lifted.
"Shadow runes?" he asked.
Qrow's lips curved faintly.
"Bingo."
Raven gave a small nod from her seat of living darkness. The wind moved across the plateau again, colder this time.
.
.
Jaune regarded the two of them for a long moment, the wind tugging lightly at his jacket.
"So," he said slowly, "does that mean anyone with a shadow rune can just walk into this shadow realm?"
Qrow scratched the back of his head.
"Not quite. Shadow runes as classifications are broad," Qrow continued. "Just because a rune interacts with shadows doesn't mean it can pierce dimensional substructure."
Jaune tilted his head faintly. That made sense. Not all fire burned the same way. Not all enhancement runes granted identical amplification. The only ones which he knew of that could pierce dimensional substructure was Arias, the displacement rune user. Though, apparently he had somehow cheated? Jaune still wasn't sure of the specifics regarding that situation.
In any case, Jaune didn't really want to think about Belmont anymore.
"So which ones can?" he asked.
Qrow ticked them off on his fingers.
"The ones that LUCID has recorded with that capability are Shadow, Overshadow, Shade, Umbra, Penumbra and and lastly Darkness."
Jaune blinked.
"Darkness?"
Raven opened one eye.
"That one is not technically a shadow rune," she said calmly. "It is an elemental darkness rune which is also a meta rune."
Qrow nodded.
"Elemental darkness isn't just an absence of light or a shadow cast by obstruction. It is actual conceptual darkness that devours light entirely. A completely different beast."
Jaune absorbed that quietly.
Meta runes operated on a higher layer. Weakness. Plunder. They did not simply manipulate elements. They interacted with structure itself. With rules.
"And someone has that rune?" Jaune asked.
Qrow's expression shifted slightly.
"Two people in all of history had it. The first one to make it is now dead and the second one is the Current Rank 3 Monarch of Menagerie."
"A rank 3 Monarch? Wait is that the guy that is publicly considered as the strongest Rank 3 alive right now?"
"Oh, you know about him? Yes, he's quite strong."
Raven's voice was indifferent.
"In any case, lets get back on topic. The first person that made it—he never returned."
Jaune's brow furrowed.
"He entered the shadow realm?"
Qrow nodded once.
"Went in alone, said he could handle it. Said he wanted to map it and explore it. Understand it."
"And?"
"And he didn't come back."
The wind swept across the plateau again, colder now.
Jaune's jaw tightened slightly.
"He was also powerful," Qrow continued. "Very powerful, actually. He was a peak Rank 2 at the time. Some of us thought he might even break through into Rank 3 one day."
Raven's fingers tapped lightly against the armrest of her shadow chair.
"He had the capacity," she said. "If he had survived."
Jaune exhaled slowly.
The implication settled. The shadow realm was not simply vast but also lethal.
He nodded once.
"Are there monsters there too?"
This time Raven answered without deferring.
"Yes."
Her tone was flat.
"They have been designated as Stalkers."
Jaune repeated the name silently.
Stalkers.
"Are they like Grimm?" he asked.
Raven tilted her head slightly.
"In some ways."
Qrow stepped in to elaborate.
"They're similar to amalgamation Grimm in that they don't have fixed forms. They can shift adapt and combine traits."
Raven continued.
"However Stalkers are more amorphous by nature. Less defined and stable."
Jaune's eyes narrowed faintly.
"Meaning?"
"They do not adhere to biological consistency, and they also do not possess fixed anatomy. They do not require symmetry. They are closer to living distortions."
Jaune felt a faint ripple of anticipation stir in his chest despite himself.
"And how are they ranked?" he asked. "Do they follow LUCID's system?"
Raven shook her head slowly.
"Not exactly."
"Not exactly how?"
She regarded him evenly.
"The concepts of Rank 0 through Rank 3 do not exist there in the same way they do here. Nor does strength manifest identically."
Jaune frowned.
"That's vague."
Raven shrugged.
Qrow chuckled faintly.
"She means it's complicated."
Jaune opened his mouth to press further, but Raven raised a single finger.
"If you decide to join us," she said, "I will explain the mechanics in full."
"Join you?"
Qrow's grin returned.
"Yeah. Expedition."
Jaune looked between them.
"What expedition?"
Raven dismissed the shadow chair with a flick of her fingers. It dissolved soundlessly into the air as she stood.
"There is to be an expedition into the shadow realm," she said.
"Ozpin approved it," Qrow added.
Jaune's posture straightened slightly at that.
"Ozpin?"
Qrow nodded.
"Official operation with limited clearance."
Jaune felt the weight of that settle.
"And the objective?" he asked.
Raven's gaze sharpened.
"To find a weapon."
Jaune blinked.
"A weapon?"
"Weapon, power, ability. Whatever it is. So long as its a sustained advantage against Sleepless," Qrow clarified.
The name tightened the air.
Jaune's expression grew more serious.
Sleepless had not been idle.
Reports had filtered through LUCID's internal channels for months now. Increased amalgamation attacks. Coordinated attacks in the Dream Realm. Operatives encountering Sleepless agents more frequently.
It had been escalating.
"They're making moves," Qrow said quietly. "Really big ones."
Jaune nodded.
He had seen the aftermath of more than one amalgamation attack now as well as sleepless operations. Many territories in the dream realm were compromised.
"And we can't pin them down," Qrow continued. "That Perpetuity rune of theirs which they controlled."
Jaune's jaw tightened.
Perpetuity.
The rune that could make imbued runes permanent.
"They've been using it to its full extent," Qrow said. "Every agent encountered recently has had access to a teleportation rune. The moment capture becomes likely, they vanish."
Jaune's mind ran through the implications.
Sustained presence and escape mechanisms.
It was maddeningly efficient.
"So Ozpin wants a different angle?" Jaune said slowly.
Raven nodded.
"If Sleepless dominates the Dream Realm through persistence," she said, "then perhaps a power forged from beneath reality may disrupt that advantage."
Jaune absorbed that in silence.
A weapon or consistent power source from the shadow realm. Something Sleepless might not expect.
Something beyond the Dream's layered dominance.
He nodded once.
"That makes sense."
It did.
A war could not be fought on one front alone.
But then his gaze sharpened again.
"But... why me?"
Qrow raised a brow.
Jaune continued.
"Strictly speaking, I'm Rank 1. You two are Rank 2. There's a qualitative difference there. You're infinitely more powerful than I am in every measurable metric."
He did not say it with bitterness. It was simple fact.
"How exactly am I supposed to help you in a realm where even a Rank 2 with a meta rune didn't make it back?"
Qrow's grin widened slightly.
"Kid," he said, "are you already forgetting something?"
Jaune frowned faintly.
"Forgetting what?"
"You fought a Rank 2 as a Rank 1. And you didn't die."
"That was circumstantial," he said immediately. "Specific conditions that probably can't be replicated. It's not really a repeatable benchmark."
He knew exactly what that fight had cost and what it had required.
What it had nearly taken.
"A feat like that can't be replicated unless very specific variables align," he finished.
Silence lingered for a moment.
Then Raven spoke.
"Stalkers," she said calmly, "do not possess Aura."
Jaune stilled.
"What?"
"They don't have Aura in the way Grimm or awakened do," Raven clarified. "While they do have a metaphysical defense of sorts. It isn't the same. Your runes will work."
Qrow watched Jaune carefully.
"In the shadow realm," he added, "Laws are a bit different. However... you should be able to operate on the level of a Rank 2. Sort of."
Jaune's mind began connecting threads at alarming speed.
A slow, creeping grin began to form despite himself.
In the real world, Aura complicated everything. Even if he attached weakness or Plunder to someone, their aura acted as a defense against it. It blurred the line between lethality and non-lethal power.
But if Stalkers lacked that system entirely…
They'd just collapse. Exactly like how Centurions did.
The grin widened before he could stop it.
This was an opportunity.
.
.
AN: Advanced chapters are available on patreon