Mystic #17

In "The Sign of Doom," American tourist Mark Wayne finds himself entangled in a chilling mystery during a visit to Rome, where he begins to suspect he’s the reincarnated soul of Marcus, a cruel slavedriver and cousin to Nero. Haunted by visions and pursued by the vengeful spirits of the enslaved, Mark is branded on the forehead by ghostly hands—leaving him marked by a past he never lived.

In "My Coffin Must Wait," a man named Seth races against time and weather, driving through a brutal blizzard to fulfill his dying wife Martha’s final wish. With robbers in pursuit and a police roadblock blocking his path, he pushes his car through the storm, determined to have her photograph taken one last time. The journey becomes a desperate test of love and will, as the road ahead offers no guarantees.

In "The Big Story!", a desperate newspaperman named Will Karp gambles everything on a sensational headline, orchestrating a train wreck to secure his big break—unaware that his own son is aboard the doomed locomotive. The tension builds as ambition collides with fate, and one man’s pursuit of glory threatens to destroy the very family he hopes to save.

In "Escape from Hell!", criminal Richard Benton finds himself condemned to eternal torment in the fiery depths of Hell, forced to drag a massive boulder up a treacherous mountain. As he battles demons and his own despair, every step forward feels like a step deeper into damnation—until he confronts the chilling truth that no matter how far he climbs, freedom remains an illusion.

In Siam, American tourists Sam and Anne purchase a mysterious artifact—the hand of the god Sivak—only to find it moves on its own and kills the vendor who sold it. After Anne mails the hand back to the U.S., a shadowy figure stalks them across the ocean, demanding its return. When Sam refuses, he’s thrown overboard. Back home, Anne is greeted by a fellow traveler named Kavis, who reveals a terrifying truth: he is Sivak, and the hand has finally come home.