Conan the Barbarian 130

Major Characters

 * Conan (Previous appearance in CB-129; next appearance in CB-131).

Minor Characters

 * Noyo ((Previous appearance in CB-129; no further appearances to date).
 * Laynnen (Previous appearance in CB-129; no further appearances to date).
 * Dreeme (Previous appearance in CB-129; no further appearances to date).
 * Pau-Styss (Previous appearance in CB-129; dies in this issue).

Locations

 * Khitai

Time Frame

 * A few hours

Synopsis
Noyo uses the last reserves of strength to teleport herself, Conan, and Dreeme to the outskirts of a city in Khitai where they can find the last two artifacts - the Rose of Peace and the Mirror of Beauty. Back at his castle, a frustrated Pau-Styss toys with Laynnen, ultimately turning him to stone. In the city, Noyo leads the party into an alley which is guarded by a staff-wielding woman. To his surprise, Conan's sword turns into a staff and seems to grant him supernatural abilities to wield it. Still, he is no match for the ninja-clad woman, who has powers of her own - she commands him to kneel and he does, though Noyo's magic enters and charges the staff, giving him the power to resist and defeat the woman. The Mirror of Beauty appears in the air, and when Conan, on Noyo's command, strikes the mirror with his staff, the three are sucked through to an island on which the Rose of Peace grows. His sword returns to its natural shape, and when Conan tries to cut the giant rose with it he is unable to do so. Noyo is also unable to even touch the rose, but Dreeme, however, approaches and gently plucks the now-shrunken rose from the ground. The three find themselves back in the alleyway, and Noyo teleports them all to Pau-Styss's castle. Conan attacks but Pau-Styss is surprisingly adept with the sword, and his prowess and magic knock Conan to the ground. But when he tries to take possession of all four Cornerstones of Creation, their power overwhelms him and he crumbles to dust. Laynnen returns to normal, and Noyo reveals that he is in fact a child of the gods, created to unite with her, the chosen of the gods, to create a more pure human who can control all of the artifacts - Dreeme. Overwhelmed and annoyed that his childhood friend turned out to be something he wasn't, Conan leaves despite Laynnen's protestations, hoping all the while that Laynnen is more like the person he remembered rather than the person he may become.

Reprinted

 * The Chronicles of Conan 17 - The Creation Quest and Other Stories