The moment John lifted the Mask, everything changed.

  Not in a way that could be seen.

  Not in a way that could be explained.

  But in a way that could be felt.

  Like the world itself shifted.

  Like something had been waiting for this moment.

  And now—it was awake.

  John’s fingers curled around the Mask’s surface.

  Smooth. Cold.

  But beneath that?

  Something else.

  Something that felt alive.

  John’s pulse pounded.

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  Every instinct screamed at him to drop it. To walk away.

  But deep down—he already knew.

  There was no walking away.

  Not anymore.

  "You’ve chosen."

  The voice was inside him now.

  No longer distant. No longer just a whisper.

  It was closer. Stronger.

  John inhaled sharply.

  Then—he put the Mask on.

  The second the Mask touched his skin, the world exploded.

  John’s breath vanished.

  A force slammed into him, flooding every part of his body.

  Heat. Cold. Light. Darkness.

  It wasn’t pain.

  It wasn’t pleasure.

  It was something beyond either.

  Something indescribable.

  Like his body was being rewritten.

  Like every weakness, every limitation, every chain that had ever held him down—

  Was burning away.

  John staggered.

  Then—he stilled.

  Because he felt it.

  The change.

  He wasn’t just stronger.

  He was more.

  Every sense was sharper.

  Every thought was clearer.

  Every part of him that had ever felt small, weak, powerless—was gone.

  For the first time in his life, John wasn’t just surviving.

  He was something else entirely.

  He exhaled slowly.

  Then—he opened his eyes.

  And for the first time, he saw the world as it truly was.