By the time the next phase began, Team 1 had already established a temporary foothold within the gigantic crater that Formless Stalker had so casually referred to as a sanctuary.
The word still felt absurd in Jaune's mind.
A sanctuary, at the heart of an alien shadow forest, beneath an inverted tree that pierced space itself, under the watch of a Rank 3 entity that could unravel them with a thought.
And yet, for the moment, it held true.
The team had worked quickly. Beacon anchors were set, a minimal perimeter established, and communication relays calibrated. The researchers had wasted no time transmitting their findings back to reality, along with a detailed report to Team 2.
The response had come swiftly.
Maintain contact, establish cooperation and do not antagonize. In simpler terms, make friends with the monster.
Jaune had not known whether to laugh or feel concerned when he heard that.
Still, orders were orders.
Now, the entire team stood watching as the Formless Stalker drifted closer to the colossal inverted pillar at the center of the crater. Its amorphous body expanded outward, shadow thickening and stretching as if it were inhaling something unseen.
Then its tendrils unfurled from its mass. They extended toward the pillar's massive trunk and roots, embedding themselves into the surface like needles slipping into flesh.
The moment contact was made, the air changed.
A subtle vibration ran through the space around them, like a low frequency hum resonating beneath reality itself. The pillar's vast structure seemed to respond, its shadowy bark rippling faintly as if something immense had stirred within it.
"It's communicating," one of the researchers whispered, unable to hide the awe in her voice.
Jaune did not need confirmation.
Something vast was moving through those connections, something distant yet present, like voices traveling along invisible threads stretched across the entire Shadow Realm.
The Formless Stalker remained still for several moments, its body anchored to the pillar as if it had become part of it. Then, slowly, the tendrils retracted, slipping free from the tree's surface and dissolving back into its shifting mass.
The creature turned.
Its single white eye settled upon them.
"I have found your wayward human."
The words slid into their minds with calm certainty.
A ripple of tension passed through the group. Qrow gave a short nod, his posture sharpening immediately. "Alright. You heard it."
Around him, the team shifted into motion. Weapons were checked, stances adjusted, and the quiet readiness of experienced fighters settled over them like a second skin.
Then the Stalker spoke again. "I have also located your other half."
That drew immediate attention. The eye flicked slightly, as though indicating direction beyond their perception.
"They are nearby. Would it be efficient for you to converge before proceeding?"
Clover stepped forward, expression thoughtful.
"Yes. Thank you." he said. "No point splitting our forces if we don't have to. We regroup first, then move together."
There were murmurs of agreement.
The senior researcher was already moving, pulling up her tablet and beginning rapid recalibrations. "I'll notify them," she said. "It's probably going to do the same to them like it did to us before."
Her fingers moved quickly across the glowing interface, sending the message through the anchored beacon network.
"Alright, its done. We're meeting before proceeding to the location," she confirmed after a moment.
With that done, all eyes returned to the Formless Stalker. Its mass shifted slightly, as though preparing.
"Brace yourselves."
The warning came without urgency, but it carried weight. Jaune barely had time to tense before the shadows moved.
Tendrils surged outward from the Stalker's body, faster than the eye could track. They wrapped around each member of the expedition, binding them in coils of cool, dense darkness.
Then the world tilted. The tendrils dragged them toward the inverted roots of the pillar.
The roots loomed closer, their immense forms twisting through the air like the limbs of some cosmic organism. At their tips, the ripples in space shimmered more clearly now, distorting everything around them like heat haze made solid.
Then, they entered.
For a single instant, everything collapsed. There was no ground, no sky and no direction.
Only motion.
Jaune felt himself stretched and compressed at the same time, as though he were being threaded through a needle made of space itself. Sensation blurred, replaced by a cold, distant pressure that pressed against his mind more than his body.
He had felt similar sensations before. Not exactly the same, but similar. His teleport rune, back when he had possessed it, had carried echoes of this sensation. Cruder and vastly smaller in scale, yet similar nonetheless. Like comparing a ripple in a pond to the pull of an ocean current.
This was something far greater.
Then, just as suddenly, it ended and the world snapped back into place.
They emerged into a different landscape.
The ground beneath them was soft and wet, a marsh of grey water and shadow-soil that shifted slightly with every step. The air felt heavier here, thick with moisture and something else Jaune could not immediately name.
The pillar stood before them.
Another one.
Identical to the first in structure, its inverted form rising from the marsh, roots spiraling upward into the distorted sky. It even had signature "fruits" shooting away from it. The only difference was its base, partially submerged in the pale grey water that stretched out into a vast swamp.
The Shadow Realm continued to defy reason.
Jaune took a slow breath, steadying himself, when he felt it again. That strange, liquid sensation in the air that wasn't water.
But this time, it was different.
Two domains.
He could feel them now, overlapping like invisible tides. They pressed against each other, neither yielding nor fully overtaking the other. It was not violent, but it carried an underlying tension, like two vast entities quietly asserting their existence in the same space.
His gaze lifted and he saw it.
Another Formless Stalker. Yet, this one was different.
Where their companion was more spherical, fluid and balanced in its shifting mass, this one held a more angular form. Its body leaned toward a triangular structure, though it constantly warped and reformed at the edges, never fully settling.
It floated in the air near the pillar, its single white eye fixed on them.
Then the tendrils emerged.
Long, thin extensions of shadow slipped from its form, each one tipped with a pale eye that opened and blinked as they drifted closer. They moved with slow deliberation, circling the group, observing from multiple angles at once.
One lingered near Jaune and the eye narrowed slightly, focusing on him and his body. On the shadow form that marked him as something not entirely human.
Jaune held still but the creature said nothing.
However, he understood.
The exchange between the two Stalkers unfolded without sound, a stream of meaning carried through the same alien language he had just begun to grasp.
Their companion was explaining and thanking.
It acknowledged the other's assistance in locating the second team, then conveyed its intent to retrieve them.
The triangular Stalker accepted. There was no hostility. Only observation. Then, without further delay, their companion vanished.
One moment it was there and the next, it was simply gone, leaving behind a faint distortion in the air.
Silence settled briefly over the swamp and then the space beside them twisted again.
The Formless Stalker returned.
And with it came Team 2.
They were held in the same shadow tendrils, suspended securely but unmistakably tense. The moment their feet touched the ground, their reactions were immediate.
Weapons were half-raised and eyes sharp.
Emotions flaring with fear, distrust and anxiety. A deep, instinctive rejection of the being that had just transported them across an unknowable distance. It didn't matter that they had been given a warning.
Jaune could not blame them. Team 1 had looked the same not long ago. His gaze moved across the group, taking in familiar faces, until it landed on one in particular.
Rajah.
Jaune frowned slightly.
Something felt off.
Through his weakness sense, the emotional signature coming from Rajah didn't match the others. Where the rest carried sharp edges of fear and wariness, Rajah's emotions were… muted.
But not in a way that felt natural.
It was as if something external was pressing down on those emotions, smoothing them out into something dull and distant.
Jaune's eyes narrowed slightly.
Rajah met his gaze and for a brief moment, the two of them simply looked at each other. Then, Rajah gave a small nod.
Jaune hesitated, then returned it.
His mind turned quickly.
Distance.
Rajah's meta rune.
That had to be it.
Some application of it, perhaps, something that allowed him to separate himself from his own emotional state. It made sense.
Jaune let the thought settle and moved on.
The Formless Stalker's presence expanded slightly, drawing the attention of both teams.
Its single eye moved across the gathered group, taking in their combined numbers. Then it spoke.
"Are you ready?"
The question settled into their minds with quiet weight. This time, there was no hesitation. One by one, heads nodded and agreement passed through the expedition.
In the next instant, the creature moved. Shadows surged outward once more, tendrils snapping into existence with terrifying speed. They coiled around every member of the expedition, binding them in that same cool, dense darkness that felt less like a restraint and more like being held inside a living current.
Then the world bent again.
The Stalker dragged them toward the pillar's inverted roots, toward those rippling distortions in space that shimmered like liquid glass. Jaune barely had time to steady his breathing before they were pulled into it.
This time, the transition was not as smooth. The instant they crossed the threshold, Jaune felt it.
Pressure.
Not just physical, but something deeper. It pressed against his body, his Aura and even his thoughts. It was like being submerged beneath an ocean that did not exist, a crushing, omnipresent force that sought to grind him down from every direction at once.
A grunt escaped him before he could stop it. His muscles tensed instinctively, his mind snapping into focus as he fought to stabilize himself.
Domain.
But this was nothing like the pressure they had felt before. It was suffocatingly strong. The only thing that Jaune could think was stronger was the power of the Sleeper's presence descending into the world.
Fortunately, something pushed back.
Their Stalker.
A second presence surged outward from the creature holding them, expanding like a dark tide to meet the crushing force head on. The pressure shifted as the two domains collided.
It was like watching two oceans crash into each other. Even without understanding the mechanics fully, Jaune could tell something important.
Their Stalker was struggling.
The opposing domain was heavier and denser. It carried a weight that made their ally's resistance feel like it was being forced back inch by inch.
But it held.
Barely.
The pressure lessened just enough that the expedition members were no longer at risk of being crushed under it. Jaune could breathe again, though the air still felt thick and hostile, like it did not belong to him.
Then, abruptly, the world snapped back into place and they emerged from the tree pillar.
Heat struck them first.
It rolled over the group in waves, dry and suffocating, so different from the breezy forest and the dampness of the swamp that it almost felt like stepping into another world entirely.
Jaune's shoes hit solid ground, though even that felt strange. The surface beneath him was rough and uneven, like cooled stone, yet faint heat still pulsed through it.
He lifted his head.
And froze.
Mountains.
An entire horizon of them stretched out in every direction, jagged and immense, their black forms cutting into a sky that seemed darker than before. They rose like the spines of some colossal beast buried beneath the land, endless and suffocating in their scale.
From their sides, rivers of magma flowed.
It was lava, but glowed with a deep, shadowed red, as if the color itself had been dragged through darkness and corrupted. It spilled down the mountains in slow, viscous streams, pooling into vast rivers that cut through the land like veins.
The ground below reflected that same unnatural hue, patches of dim crimson flickering beneath the black terrain.
Jaune's eyes narrowed slightly.
Red.
Actual red.
In the Shadow Realm.
It was subtle and muted, but unmistakable. After everything they had seen, the near total absence of true color, the presence of it here felt… significant.
Behind them, the pillar loomed.
Another inverted giant, identical in structure to the others, its roots spiraling upward into distorted space. Its base was embedded deep within a massive lake of that same shadow-lava, the red glow casting faint, eerie illumination across its surface.
And just like the others, it bore fruit.
Black spheres detached from its upper reaches, shooting outward into the distance like silent comets, vanishing beyond the mountains.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Qrow's voice cut through the silence.
"There."
Jaune followed his gaze.
Far in the distance, standing within a river of that crimson-black lava, was a figure.
Small.
Absurdly small compared to the scale of the world around it, yet it was impossible to ignore.
It moved slowly, each step deliberate, as though it carried a weight far greater than its size suggested. The lava around it did not behave normally.
Streams of molten shadow lifted into the air around the figure, twisting into spirals that defied gravity. They circled it like orbiting satellites, drawn in by an unseen force.
Then Jaune saw the air around it.
Black lightning.
It cracked silently through the air, jagged streaks tearing across the space around the figure. The air itself looked unstable, like it was being stretched too thin.
Jaune's breath slowed.
He understood.
That wasn't a display of power in the conventional sense.
It was presence.
Pure, overwhelming presence of the man's domain.
Velik.
Or rather… what remained of him.
Jaune felt it clearly now. The crushing force they had encountered mid-transport wasn't random. It had a source.
This was it.
The domain radiating from that distant figure was so dense, so absolute, that it was distorting everything around it. The lava rose. The air fractured. Even the space itself seemed to resist, bending under the pressure of something that should not have been contained.
And this was only a fragment. A severed piece of a Rank 3. Jaune's chest tightened slightly at the realization.
This wasn't even Velik in full.
This was just the part that had been cut away.
And it was still… this.
His gaze flicked briefly toward their Stalker. Even now, he could feel the strain in its domain as it held back the oppressive force pressing against them.
Then his eyes returned to the figure in the distance.
To the spiraling lava, the black lightning clawing through the air and the sheer, suffocating weight of existence that radiated from it.
Jaune exhaled slowly.
"So that's him… the strongest Rank 3."