Danny sat motionless on his living room floor, his back pressed against the cold wall. His chest heaved, his shirt clinging to his sweat-drenched skin.
He could feel it—the mark beneath his eye… moving.
At first, it was a subtle pulse, like a second heartbeat just under his skin. But now, it wasn't just pulsing—it was splitting open.
A sharp, tearing pain exploded across his face.
He scrambled to the bathroom mirror, his mind screaming for this nightmare to end. But what stared back at him wasn't just his own horrified reflection.
It was something else.
The mark had fully opened into a small, grinning mouth. Right under his left eye. With teeth. Tiny, jagged, blackened teeth.
And then it spoke.
Out loud.
"Smile wider, Danny... Your true face is emerging."
Danny stumbled back, slamming into the sink. His head spun. His stomach lurched.
The small mouth twitched—its teeth clacking together in a grotesque imitation of laughter.
And then…
A thin, black mist began to seep from it, curling through the air like living smoke.
His phone buzzed violently.
📧 FROM: Fate Exchange"Congratulations, Agent Wong. Phase Two Initiation: Physical Manifestation Confirmed. Prepare for Stage One of Transcendence. WARNING: Loss of Control Likely."
📄 Side Effects Updated:
Soul Mark Manifestation: Active
Consciousness Drift: Beginning
Physical Alteration: Irreversible
Danny clutched the sink, his legs barely holding him up.
He could feel his body temperature plummeting, the world tilting as if gravity itself had become unstable.
From the open mark, the black mist formed a shape—a faint silhouette.
A small, skeletal hand emerged from the swirling darkness, reaching toward his reflection.
"Danny…"
The voice echoed, not just from the mark—but from within his mind, his memories, his very soul.
Images flashed through his head—
Faces of everyone he'd sold houses to. The man who died in Lot 13. The woman who vanished after buying the Grinning House.
Their faces… all smiling. Dead, but smiling.
And now… he was becoming one of them.
He tried to scream, but his lips refused to open—stuck in that permanent, agonized grin.
His reflection began to shift.
It wasn't his face anymore.
The thing in the mirror had empty black eyes, a grin that stretched far beyond human anatomy, and beneath its left eye… two more mouths were opening.
"NO! I'm not… I'm not like you!" Danny roared, his fists crashing into the mirror—glass shattering in all directions.
He collapsed onto the cold floor, gasping, bleeding from his knuckles.
For a moment, the mark seemed to close. The pain subsided.
But deep down… he knew.
This was only the beginning.
His phone lit up again.
📧 FROM: Fate Exchange"Agent Wong, your next transaction involves a client from the Threshold. Survival is… unlikely. Do you accept?"
Danny stared at the message, his bloodied fingers trembling over the screen.
His body wasn't his own anymore. His fate wasn't his either.
But in the corner of the shattered mirror, a voice—cold, familiar—whispered again:
"Say yes, Danny. Or I'll come out… whether you want me to or not."
His thumb hovered… then pressed ACCEPT.
And just like that, the black mist from the mark thickened… and the first of many new mouths opened across his chest.
🎬 [End of Chapter 8]