CHAPTER 31: CHAPTER 31 – A BLADE IN THE DREAM MARKET

The stars bent, then vanished.

As the Jade Vulture exited hyperfold, its reinforced hull groaned against the pressure of the psionic field surrounding Dream Market Theta-7. Outside the viewport, reality fractured—shards of broken moonlight, ripples of dark matter, and the faint shimmer of floating megastructures made from crystallized thought.

Kairos stood on the command deck, staring out at the impossible sight.

The Dream Market wasn’t a location. It was a state of mind. Literally. Built in a neutral zone between corporate jurisdictions, it existed half in space, half in memory, accessed only by those with the right neural keys—and the strength to endure its shifting rules.

This was where broken minds, banned technologies, and outlawed truths came to be sold.

And it was where Kairos would find Vael Sarn, the most dangerous weapon he could recruit for the mission to Aetherion.

Descent into Madness

As he approached in the shuttle, the orbital station loomed like a haunted crown. Ringed by pulsing fog and dotted with gravity-warped buildings, Theta-7 was held together not by engineering—but by belief. The station’s architecture changed based on the perceptions of its visitors. What Kairos saw might not be what someone else did.

For him, it resembled a cathedral built from shattered steel and bone-colored glass, suspended over a gas giant whose storms had raged for a million years.

The moment he stepped onto the station’s surface, the air shifted.

Memories whispered.

Not his own.

A child’s laughter. Screams from a mining riot. A lullaby sung in a language no one remembered.

Kairos pushed forward, tuning out the echoes. His neural firewall flickered as something brushed against his thoughts, but his system held firm. He didn’t come here to be distracted. He came for a warrior.

Market of Broken Minds

The main plaza rippled like water beneath his boots.

Vendors floated on anti-grav platforms, offering goods that defied classification: bottled nightmares, artificial dreams, identity shells, even fragments of extinct civilizations encoded in DNA.

A tall woman with silver eyes and six hands waved him over, holding out a cube that whispered with voices.

"Do you want to forget something, merchant?" she asked. "Or perhaps remember something you never knew?"

He didn’t answer.

A whisper tugged at his mind.

Vael Sarn... Sector D-3... above the Mirror Lake.

He followed the pulse, his Sovereign Key vibrating slightly in his coat. Even here, where the GEA dared not reach, the weight of the Key was felt.

The Lake of Forgotten Thought

Mirror Lake wasn’t a body of water. It was a suspended mind-field—a horizontal sheet of compressed psi-matter reflecting the deepest fears of those who looked down upon it.

Kairos hovered over it on a platform of magnetic light.

There, in the center of the lake, rose a dojo. Not an illusion. Not a simulation. Real. Or real enough.

The dojo shimmered, suspended by thought and anchored by will. It looked ancient—wood and stone, aged under phantom suns—but it radiated lethal calm. Wards of psionic energy curled around it like serpents.

He landed on the platform. The air grew heavy.

Then she appeared.

The Blade Stirs

Vael Sarn was not a woman easily mistaken.

Six feet tall, lean and cut like a blade forged in void-fire. Her skin bore the pale hue of someone who had drifted too long in the deep between. Her armor was voidplate—black, silent, bearing etchings from a dozen battlefronts and a hundred victories. A single curved blade floated at her side, humming with restrained malice.

She was meditating on the edge of the platform, her back turned to him. But the moment he stepped closer, she spoke.

"You are either very lost," she said without turning, "or very foolish."

"I’m here with purpose," Kairos replied.

She stood, slowly.

"Then say it."

"I’m going to Aetherion," he said, simply. "And I want you at my side."

Her expression didn’t change.

"Aetherion kills minds. Rips thoughts from bone. You can’t brute force your way through it. You can’t shoot it. You can’t negotiate with madness."

"I don’t plan to," Kairos said. "That’s why I need someone who understands it."

"And what makes you think I’d follow you?"

He took out the obsidian shard.

Her eyes flicked to the Sovereign Key.

A long pause.

Then she raised her sword—and pointed it at him.

A Trial of the Self

"You want a void-knight?" she said. "Then face the void."

The world twisted.

In an instant, the dojo vanished. Kairos was standing in a field of flickering shadows. The sky above was a swirl of emotion—regret, shame, pain—coalesced into clouds.

This wasn’t a place.

It was a memory storm.

He knew what was coming.

A Mind Unraveled

He saw the day he abandoned the crew of the Falconette, leaving them to die on a failing station. He saw the little girl from Aurinox—Miri—who he’d promised to save, only to choose the contract payout instead.

He saw every decision that brought him power.

And the people he crushed beneath it.

The illusions clawed at him, screamed accusations.

"Monster."

"Traitor."

"Greedy coward."

He dropped to one knee.

But he refused to break.

"I know who I am!" he shouted. "And I’ll use that truth to change this galaxy! Even if it damns me."

The shadows hissed.

Then vanished.

A Warrior’s Oath

When the light returned, Vael was standing before him again. Her blade now sheathed.

"You passed," she said, voice even.

He stood. Shaking. But proud.

"You broke my fear trial," she said. "That means one thing."

"I’m ready?"

"No. It means I’ll follow you

. Into hell. Or worse."

Contract Signed

[New Crew Member Acquired: Vael Sarn]Class: Psionic VanguardTraits: Dream-Resistant | Blade Proficiency | Moral Code: SteelLoyalty: Pragmatic, Earned, Honor-Bound

Leaving the Dream

They walked back toward the docks.

Around them, the Dream Market reacted—whispers followed them. Traders turned away. Even the memory ghosts bowed slightly as they passed.

A Sovereign Trader had recruited a nightmare killer.

And word would spread.

Before boarding, Vael turned to him.

"You know the risks," she said. "Aetherion won’t just hurt your body. It’ll try to rewrite who you are."

Kairos met her eyes.

"That’s why I need you. And others like you."

"Who’s next?"

"Raya Quill. Tech-caster. Memory thief. A woman who once argued with an AI for three days and won."

Vael raised an eyebrow.

"Then let’s go find her. Before Aetherion finds us first."

Status Panel:

Cosmic Units (C.U.): 10,600Star Credits: 63,500Sovereign Keys: 1 / 7Crew Acquired:

Vael Sarn (Psionic Vanguard)Current Objective: Recruit memory hacker Raya Quill from the fragmented vault world of Nimos-Kai.Threat Alerts:

GEA Enforcement Shadow Division

Oracle Syndicates: Interested

Celestial Auditors: Watching

The Sovereign rises, step by step.

But every new ally means new enemies too.

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