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Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: The Fenris Melody

The journey to the Fenris sector was anything but smooth jazz. Lightyears unspooled with the shudder of hyperspace, engines keening like haunted violins. Even the bots kept hush—rare in a ship where someone always, somehow, set off a random sound effect.

Dad drilled the crew, preparing for everything from cosmic storms to surprise visits from rival clans. I watched, perched in my booster-seat (custom-fitted with a snazzy safety harness—credit to Aunt Rinya). My hands fidgeted with a broken tuning fork, a relic from home…and maybe, if you squinted, a makeshift magic wand.

T'Lara focused everyone with her calm. "Discipline brings clarity. Remember: the galaxy's song is one of chaos and opportunity. Stay tuned." Leave it to Mom to turn even a disaster warning into a meditation mantra.

Across the bridge, Lys went over schematics, whispering idly to his starmetal arm like it was an old friend. Pim packed his emergency satchels, muttering about "astral basil" and "soundproof moss"—one for health, one for sanity.

As we dropped out of warp, Fenris filled the viewscreens. The sector was a homeland of broken things: abandoned wrecks, shattered moons, clouded nebulae glittering with danger and promise. The signals we'd tracked pulsed now through the ship's speakers—a song, eerie and impossibly old. Not exactly chart-topping, but it got stuck in your brain all the same.

We deployed—a cautious orbit, sensors wide. Jax piloted with feather-light touch, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble, Vara's warnings echoing in his head. Within the ruins, spectral lights flashed: possible rival ships, maybe pirate scavengers, maybe just ghosts with a good sense of drama.

An away team suited up. Even tiny me got fitted with a baby-sized exosuit (the crew insisted; "We won't leave our good-luck charm behind"). The landing craft touched down amidst echoing dust and silent song.

The ruins loomed—cyclopean arches crusted in symbols, relics humming with hidden power. Dad led, T'Lara mapped our path, Lys and Pim kept guard. I watched, wide-eyed, as family and friends edged into the unknown, every footstep another note in the Fenris melody.

And then—the market shimmered into view. Just beyond an arch, impossibly unreal, hung a portal of shifting runes: the entrance to the legendary Ruin Market, pulse matching the ancient signal. My old instincts tingled, my infant heart raced.

This was it. Where fate, family, and the promise of encore collided.

I grinned—time to step on stage and let the cosmic music play.

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