Danny felt his body being pulled, as if invisible hooks had latched onto his soul and were dragging him through reality itself.
One moment, he was standing in his shattered apartment.
The next, the world around him fractured like broken glass, and he was falling—spiraling through a void of shifting colors, whispers, and shadows that had faces but no eyes.
The air grew colder, heavier, tasting faintly of ash and burnt iron.
When he landed, his knees hit a ground that wasn't quite solid. It felt like standing on memories—soft, shifting, and unstable.
He looked up.
He was standing before the Threshold.
A massive archway loomed ahead, forged from bones and rusted chains, stretching endlessly into a swirling sky of black and red. The words "FATE EXCHANGE – THRESHOLD GATE" burned across the top in a language his mind somehow understood but his tongue could never pronounce.
Beyond the gate lay a vast market unlike anything Danny had ever imagined.
Skies bled crimson rain, and blackened suns hung low over a marketplace filled with the unimaginable.
Stalls built from ancient shipwrecks and the skeletons of long-forgotten beasts lined the crooked streets.
Vendors whispered dark promises as hooded figures bartered with things that should never exist—souls trapped in glass bottles, beating hearts suspended in chains, eyes that blinked despite having no bodies.
Danny's legs trembled as he stumbled forward, drawn by a force he couldn't resist.
A voice echoed inside his mind, loud and commanding.
"Welcome, Agent Wong. You have entered the True Exchange. Prepare for your first Threshold Client."
Ahead, in the center of the marketplace, stood a colossal black tent. Its entrance was a gaping maw lined with sharp ivory teeth, twitching like it was alive.
Above it, a sign written in flaming script read:
🔥 "High-Value Transaction Chamber – Soul Grade: Crimson Tier"
Danny's heart pounded in his ears.
His phone vibrated violently in his pocket.
📧 FROM: Fate Exchange"Client Awaiting Inside. Payment on Completion: One Wish Granted. WARNING: Failure will result in forfeiture of remaining humanity."
His hands shook. One wish?
The temptation was overwhelming. A single wish—anything his heart desired.
Freedom. His old life back. Or… maybe even something more.
But at what cost?
With every step toward the tent, the whispers grew louder, blending into a deafening chorus.
He reached the entrance.
A final warning flashed across his phone.
📧 "Do Not Speak Unless Spoken To. Do Not Break Eye Contact. Do Not Decline the Client's Offer."
Danny took a deep breath and stepped inside.
The interior was vast—far larger than the exterior suggested.
A single throne stood at the far end, and upon it sat his first Threshold Client.
Not human. Not even close.
It was a towering figure shrouded in black smoke, crowned with twisted antlers. Its face… an endless void, stars swirling within its skull like a living galaxy.
But beneath the swirling darkness, Danny saw faint outlines—faces screaming silently, trapped within the being's essence.
The air turned to ice.
The figure spoke directly into his mind.
"Agent Wong. I require… a heart. Not just any heart…
The beating heart of a living man willing to give it freely.
Do this, and your wish shall be granted."
Danny's vision blurred. His mind raced.
Find someone willing to give up their own heart?
It was impossible…
Wasn't it?
But as his phone buzzed one last time, a final message appeared:
📧 "Failure to fulfill within 72 hours will result in the full opening of your Soul Mark. Estimated Survival Time After: 6 Hours."
🎬 [End of Chapter 9]