::::::::::
As the rosy hue light strip appeared at the horizon, illuminating the world with its soft, golden glow.
It's light filtered through the grimy glass window of Marcus' parlor, casting fragmented patterns across the scattered papers that littered the parlor.
Inside, a man with undeniable charm sat comfortably on a couch, dressed in police uniform and appeared at ease.
With newspaper on his hands, his dark eyes scanned the pages with a mix of amusement and skepticism, chuckling softly at the headlines.
On the cold tile floor lay another young man, sprawled in a rather undignified manner. He was dressed in casual attire, one leg thrown awkwardly over the other, shoes slightly askew.
It was clear he had been caught in the throes of a deep sleep.
Suddenly, a sharp gasp broke through the comforting silence. The man on the floor jerked awake, his dark eyes widening with confusion as he rotated his gaze around the room.
"Oof!" The police officer exclaimed with a chuckle, folding the newspaper neatly and placing it aside.
"Finally, you're awake." He said.
Marcus rubbed his eyes, trying to shake off sleep, his mind still lingering in with confusion.
He blinked rapidly, then looked up at his friend Bruce, a sly smile creeping onto his face.
"Marcus, are you okay?" Bruce Guwang curiously asked. "You look like you just saw a ghost in your slumber."
"Ahh! It was a dream?" He mumbled
With a deep gasp, Bruce lowered his gaze at his friend, who had seemingly drifted into a daze, hands absentmindedly checking whether he was truly ok, and wasn't affected by a terrible horror he did experience.
"I've been trying to wake you up for thirty minutes." Bruce said, worry etched on his face. "But Marcus, why are you laying on the floor?"
Marcus blinked, his mind fumbling through the fog of confusion.
"Why am I laying on the floor?!" he mumbled, startled, he tilted his head as he didn't have an answer, so befuddled.
"Dude, I don't know what's wrong with you ...but, Let's get our ass out of here right now cause we have a fuckin crime scen to attend!" Bruce comanded.
"Yes! Yes! Sure..." Marcus replied with undeniable joy in chaos on his face, but that was just a way to avoid Bruce's questions.
Argh!
Marcus groaned, pushing himself up from the cool tiles,
Bruce extended a hand, helping Marcus to his feet.
Marcus, still couldn't believe that it was just thirty minutes, it felt like the eternity..
Soonest, they reached at the crime scene.
"Again...? Shit!" Marcus cursed bitterly
Detective Marcus Yang stood over the lifeless body sprawled on the cold concrete floor, his heart racing with the weight of dread.
It was the ninth victim within a week, with a pattern too terrifying to ignore.
Each corpse bore the same identical haunting expression, wide, terrified eyes frozen in fear, and mouths agape as if straining to scream just like the others.
"Fuck!, Same freeky coin again."
Yeah.....
What struck Marcus with a chilling certainty was the presence of a mysterious ancient Greek coin, but was it even a Greek coin? Or was it just their assumption.
The coin bared a mysterious figure printed in it, found gleaming eerily besides all the victims.
"I've seen this symbol before." Marcus mumbled. " But where??"
The symbol was the same as the avatar that appeared behind Zhang, but Marcus couldnt grasp it.
Bang! Bang!
Residents locked their doors early and avoided the streets after dusk. Detective Marcus Yang could feel the heavy atmosphere clinging to the air like a shroud.
Beside him, his assistant, Bruce Gu Wang, shuffled nervously, the weight of the case evident on his furrowed brow.
"Do you have any leads, Marcus?" Bruce ventured hesitantly, peering at the body lying before them.
Um-um!
"We gonna get out ass kicked out of the police bureau if we fail to solve this case."
Bruce teased as he leaned down to inspect the deceased man more closely, he got allured by a silver relic glinting with an unsettling glimmer.
Ding! Ding!
Unexpected message alert chimed in Marcus' cellphone, pulling his attention.
He fished his hand into the black denim trouser, face scrunching up in confusion as he pulled out his phone.
He rarely got massages, so who was that? Curious, he opened the screen.
The message wavered on the screen, swimming between clarity and obscurity as he read it aloud.
[Planet earth is nothing but a human prison, with repeated circles of reincarnation.] His heart raced as he continued,
[Depending on your previous deeds. Those with good deeds get their memories wiped clean then sent back to earth again and again and again. While those with bad deeds are sent to the pit of Hades for eternity, with their memories intact.]
"What?" Bruce scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. "It sounds like some bad sci-fi movie plot."
Marcus, however, could feel the adrenaline rush down his spine. Was it mere coincidence?
"Bruce, what if it's true?" he said, his tone suddenly serious. "What if we're all just on some bizarre wheel of fortune—repeating the same things, in the same lives?"
"Sounds like you're overthinking again, that's absurd!" Bruce replied with a chuckle.
"But which lunatic sent that ridiculous message?" Bruce muttered under his breath.
"I don't know," Marcus replied.
Bruce leaned, his brow furrowed as he scanned the text. "It says, it's from an unknown number. You sure it's not some prank?"
" Nah...."
Marcus shook his head, irritation mingling with dread. He scrolled through the messages again, hoping for a clue. Just then, another alert chimed in, echoing through the stillness like a distant bell tolling.
[Marcus, in your next life, where will you belong???? See you soon....]
"What does that even mean?" Bruce said, his voice barely above a whisper. "This is... Absurdity"
"Who is this anonymous person? How does this person know me," Marcus thought .
As night settled in, the two detectives returned home, the shadows lengthening ominously around them, darkness swallowing the streets whole
They departed with no sense of resolution, minds churning with the growing mystery.
"Shit!, l forgot the coin at the station." Bruce mumbled as he searched for the coin he placed his pocket.
"Hope l find it tomorrow at the station".
_______
Morning broke over Solot town with a deceptive tranquility, the sun casting a soft, rosy hue across the sky.
Marcus had been unable to sleep, too tormented by thoughts of the now-tenuous safety of the community under his watch, and the horror he did experience, was it a dream or not? And who sent those mysterious messages? He thought the whole night yet didn't get the answer.
He arrived at the police station early to find a throng of officers gathered at the reception area, hushed murmurs swirling like shadows in a fog.
"What the hell is going on?". He thought.
Curiosity piqued, he pushed through the crowd, only to be met with a scene that felt like a cruel twist of fate.
His friend, lay eerily still on the floor, lifeless and cold, much like others, his eyes were wide, vacant orbs filled with eternal fright, and his mouth was open in a scream that went unheard.
The horror twisted like a dagger in Marcus Yang's heart as he saw the same silver coin resting beside Lian's body—the very coin Bruce had pocketed the day before and misplaced in the station.
"OMG!"
Suddenly, a chilling realization gripped him. The coins were harbingers of death, a warning carried through time.
Whoever has it dies, just like others.
That, he discovered after the demise of Li'an He felt a surge of panic as he pieced all the incidents together and 'the cursed coin' thing.
The very object that had caused his friend's downfall had also gripped the lives of the other victims.
Marcus's thoughts raced. Who had the coin first? Where did it come from? Did it appear intentionally or accidentally? And how does it cause death? Had the first victim unknowingly unleashed an ancient evil?
A lot of questions, yet no answers.
"Marcus...." A voice rasped, borne on the wind. "You can't stop it, not now, not ever… what is destined will be...."
The voice sent chills racing down his spine. It was too foreign—it echoed with a chillingly phantasmal quality that chilled him to the bone.
"Who–who are you? Wha–wha–what do you want from me?" Marcus stammered.