Conan the Barbarian 118

Major Characters

 * Conan (Last chronological appearance in CB-115; next appearance in CB-119).

Minor Characters

 * Jenna (Last appearance in CB-11; next appearance in CB-119).
 * Myya L'rrasleff (First and only appearance to date; dies in this issue). Alien wizard.

Locations

 * Southwest Shem

Time Frame

 * Two days

Synopsis
Conan sees a man beating another to death and interferes, throwing the larger man away from the frail, cloaked figure. The man protests, saying he was trying to save others, but now can only save himself as he stabs himself in the heart. The cloaked woman thanks him but scolds herself for ever leaving the valley, then collapses. Conan picks up the woman and rides with her to a small town where he is immediately set upon by the townspeople who flee and throw rocks from afar. Finally cornering one of the townspeople, the terrified man calls attention to Conan's hands and arms on which boils have appeared. He runs to a barrel of water and see the lesions have spread to his face. The woman he saved tells him it is only the beginning, and she pulls back her hood to reveal herself to be Conan's old paramour Jenna, who is also covered in boils and sores. She tells him they must go "the valley." She reveals that after Conan left her she was eventually sold into slavery and brought to the valley where she was infected with the contagion. All infected are called to the valley and undergo a transformation into a hideous deformed human and go through a "conversion" in which they recognize the wizard Myya L'rrasleff as their god and go to his mountainous lair. Conan isn't interested in waiting for it to happen so decides to go the lair on his own volition. They are attacked by a rock monster and a harpy but Conan destroys them both and enters Myya L'rrasleff's cavernous lair. Scores of transformed humans dance and chant around the wizard, who is a larger, equally deformed and scarred creature. His voice rings in Conan and Jenna's head and Jenna is converted, falling to her knees and praising Myya. Conan is captured and held as Myya takes Jenna to show her the truths of the universe - a large black jewel that shows Jenna a vision of how Myya is an exile from another world, and is using his technology to convert the people of the planet into equals with him. But the black jewel rejects Jenna - she was faking her conversion - and she calls out to Conan who bursts into the room. Conan and Myya fight, with the alien draining Conan's life force with each blow, but Conan manages to throw the creature into the jewel, destroying both. As they make their way out of the crumbling cave, both Conan and Jenna return to normal.

Reprinted

 * The Chronicles of Conan 15 - The Corridor of Mullah-Kajar and Other Stories