The silence in the Dream Realm felt fragile, like thin glass.
Jaune turned toward Pyrrha first.
The Eye had not simply been powerful. It had been aware in a way that defied anything Jaune had ever experienced.
He studied Pyrrha carefully. "You alright?"
She nodded almost immediately, but the motion lacked its usual certainty. "I'm fine," she said, though her voice carried a faint tremor she could not fully hide. "Just… a little shaken."
Jaune didn't respond right away. He could feel it.
Her emotions were fraying at the edges. Fear, tightly contained. Panic, pressing against restraint and a quiet, creeping sense of despair that hadn't yet taken form but threatened to.
It made sense.
Pyrrha had stood in the presence of the Sleeper before. That alone would have shattered most people.
But this was different.
Jaune exhaled slowly. "That thing…" he said, his voice low. "It wasn't like the Sleeper."
Pyrrha glanced at him, her expression tightening slightly. "No," she agreed.
The Sleeper—also known as Salem, when Jaune had first felt her presence, it was terrifying. But it was also distant. Like he had been brushing up against something unconscious. Something that existed, but wasn't really paying attention.
He clenched his jaw slightly.
"That Eye. It was awake."
The word lingered and the implication didn't fly over their heads.
It wasn't just there.
It was looking at them.
Through them.
Through their thoughts. Past, present and possibly even forward, future thoughts. His fingers curled slightly at his side as the fresh memory pressed in again.
Jaune stepped closer and placed a hand gently on Pyrrha's shoulder.
"Hey," he said quietly. "Take a breath."
She hesitated for only a second before doing as he said. A slow inhale, then a controlled exhale. Her shoulders steadied, the sharp edge of her emotions dulling just enough for her to regain control.
After a moment, she gave him a small nod. "Thank you."
Behind them, Qrow rolled his shoulders, exhaling as well, as if trying to physically shake off the lingering tension. Raven stood nearby, silent as always, though even she could not fully hide the faint unease that clung to her presence.
Qrow flexed his hand, then suddenly threw a punch into the open air.
The strike cracked outward with a loud rushing sound, a burst of force rippling through the space in front of him. He paused for a moment, then nodded to himself.
"Well," he muttered, "looks like I've got my full strength back."
He gave a short, almost disbelieving chuckle. "Might be the first time I'm actually glad to be in the Dream Realm. Can you believe that?"
Jaune nodded slightly.
He could feel it too.
The difference was overwhelming. In the Shadow Realm, his Aura had been suffocated, reduced to only a fraction of its normal capacity. Every action had required careful conservation.
Now, it was full.
A hundred percent capacity.
Energy flowed through him again, steady and abundant, filling the hollow that had been carved out by prolonged strain. He had grown far more efficient over the past months, refining his aura usage to minimize waste, but efficiency didn't erase cost.
This… this reset mattered.
Even Raven seemed steadier now. The pallor that had marked her face earlier had faded slightly, though traces of it still lingered, whether from exhaustion or from what they had witnessed above.
Jaune glanced at her. "That Eye," he said. "Should we be worried about it?"
Raven shook her head slowly. "It likely doesn't matter now."
Her gaze lifted briefly toward the sky, though the Eye was no longer there. "That was the Source the Asura Stalker spoke of."
She paused, then continued, "It noticed us because an entire region of the Shadow Realm was forcibly consumed by the Dream Realm. Something like that… doesn't go unnoticed."
She gestured outward.
Jaune and Pyrrha followed her motion, taking in their surroundings more carefully.
The streets of Mistral's Dream iteration were no longer purely, apocalyptically urban. Blackened shadow lava had spilled through the city, pooling and hardening as it cooled in the absence of the Shadow Realm's constant heat. Jagged formations of dark stone jutted through broken pavement.
Even more unsettling were the pieces of mountain terrain that had been grafted into the city itself. Massive chunks of rock were embedded into buildings, entire structures warped and fused with foreign geology.
It was superimposition.
Two realities forced into the same space, overlapping imperfectly.
Jaune frowned slightly. "How is this even possible?" he asked. "Shadow Realm terrain… just existing here?"
He looked down at himself, flexing his hand. "Actually… how are we even here? Are we still in our shadow bodies?"
Raven crossed her arms, her expression thoughtful. "I don't know for certain," she admitted. "But it's likely that the governing principles of that region were overwritten when it was absorbed."
She closed her eyes for a second before opening them.
She glanced at him. "I can access my nightmare system here. Which means that the laws of the Dream Realm has taken precedence."
Jaune considered that and tried it himself.
.
[Jaune Arc]
[Rank: 1]
.
Aura: 10
Umbra: 30
Will: 10
Body: 17
.
Runes: 0
Rune Skills: [Weakness], [Plunder]
.
Jaune stared at the display, his mind immediately catching on to his stats... and something that hadn't existed before.
The fact that his body stat was at 17 wasn't surprising. Earlier in the Shadow Realm, after being suppressed by that powerful meta rune he had already theorized that this was the level he was operating on.
What was surprising was the addition of a new stat.
Umbra.
There were several implications to this. Firstly, the fact that the Nightmare System was able to even classify it in accordance to human classification was that it was in some sense very much aware of all awakened.
Umbra had never been a concept within the Dream Realm. It wasn't part of the human system of power. But it was human made. Studied, when contact with the Stalkers had occurred.
What was also interesting was the way it was classifying Jaune's stats and Rank.
Gula, while he might have still been in hibernation, was a Rank 2 entity. At the very bare minimum of Rank 2, but Rank 2, nonetheless.
And Jaune being merged with him should have also been considered as such.
However, Jaune's own Rank had not changed to reflect that. Instead, the new stat Umbra had appeared, and with it, an incredibly high number, 30 was shown.
This Umbra was Gula's power, but for some reason, the system deemed it to be Jaune's. Which meant that, according to the system, Jaune and Gula were already the same entity, just… not fully aligned yet.
In the back of his mind, Jaune wondered if this was what Rank 2 beginning stats looked like when reflected on a Rank 1 status. It was... somewhat interesting.
Jaune let out a slow breath, closing the interface with a thought.
He glanced back at Raven.
"You're right," he said. "The system's active."
His tone was steady, but there was a slight edge beneath it now. "And it appears to be adapting as well."
Raven watched him carefully. "What did you see?"
Jaune hesitated for only a moment before answering. "A new stat," he said. "Umbra."
Qrow raised an eyebrow slightly. "Stalker energy? It's reflected there?"
"Yeah," Jaune replied. "Except it's not being treated like something external. It's being treated like it's mine."
That drew a brief silence.
Raven's eyes narrowed slightly, not in surprise, but in confirmation of a suspicion. "That's... not something I have experience with. I can't help you." she said quietly.
Jaune gave a faint, humorless smile. "Yeah. I figured."
His gaze drifted briefly toward the horizon, where the fractured remains of two realities were bleeding into each other.
"It's fine. In any case, the system didn't raise my Rank," he continued. "Even with Gula inside me."
Qrow frowned slightly. "So it's ignoring it?"
"No," Jaune said, shaking his head. "I think it's just accounting for it." He tapped lightly against his arm. "Just… separately."
"But, its still kind of an odd circumstance. All of us... we should still be in our shadow forms, but for some reason we are operating under Dream Realm rules?"
"Something like that," Raven replied.
Her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer. "How do you feel? Are there any changes?"
Jaune understood the question immediately. He looked down at his body again, sensing inward.
"I feel… fine," he said after a moment. "Gula's fusion is still there. But my Body stat's still being restricted."
He frowned slightly as he focused on the sensation. "That meta rune that's suppressing me—it's still active."
A strange, persistent energy threaded through him, looping endlessly. It did not fluctuate or weaken. It simply existed, constant and unyielding.
"The power of Perpetuity," he muttered. "It's anchored into me as well."
He exhaled quietly. "I don't think it's going away anytime soon."
After a brief pause, he added, "It'll probably only get stripped when I return to my real body. That's how it usually works, right? With the Nightmare System resetting all damage and phenomena when we wake up?"
Qrow hummed thoughtfully at that, then straightened slightly.
"Yeah. You'll be fine. In any case, there is going to be a ton of research to be done once we get back safely."
Qrow clapped his hands together once. "Alright, that's enough standing around and theorizing. We have much more pressing matters to deal with."
His tone shifted, more focused now. "We need to get to the Mistral Dream Base."
Jaune looked at him. "To check if they're compromised?"
"Exactly," Qrow said. "If there are any patrol teams nearby, they should be heading toward this mess already. Something this big doesn't stay hidden."
He gestured vaguely behind them. "If we run into them, talk first and figure out where they stand."
Jaune frowned slightly. "What about you and Raven?"
The question had barely left his mouth when instinct flared. Jaune's head snapped forward.
Perched atop a fractured building, where shadow rock and ruined architecture had fused together into something jagged and unnatural, stood a figure.
The Sleepless leader.
His body was still and his posture was relaxed, but his presence pressed against the air with quiet authority. His face was hidden beneath a smooth layer of flesh, featureless and blank.
Watching and waiting.
Qrow exhaled slowly, his gaze hardening. "Sorry kid. This is gonna have to be a you and Pyrrha thing. Because," he said, "he's not going to let us."
Raven stepped slightly forward, her stance shifting almost imperceptibly.
"If we leave," Qrow continued, "he goes on a rampage. And right now, we can't afford that."
He tilted his head slightly, eyes never leaving Carnis. "Besides… someone's gotta keep an eye on the Stalker, and Lionheart. Who knows what happened after the fusion?"
Jaune's grip tightened slightly on his swords.
"They're still out there," Qrow said. "And I guarantee they're not far."
He paused to let the words settle in.
"Now. Go!"