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...[2] The sorcerous Council of the Seven used their arcane power to resurrect the Devourer from death after his battle with the Ravager of Worlds.[6]

The Devourer traveled to El Shah Maddoc and hired the master of assassins Ybn to end Conan's life, but failed and flew away.[7]

In his quest to destroy Conan, the Devourer had his lackey Prince Irham command his wizard to summon the demon lord Xuthl. Upon his arrival Xuthl sucked the squealing sorcerer that summoned him into his flaming embrace, and then playfully spat out his burnt bones. The Devourer, unimpressed by Xuthl's antics, requested a host of Xuthl's Shedu in return for a favor to be repaid later. After the Devourer concealed the glowing orb containing the Shedu in his cloak he then departed on his mission to destroy Conan. Arriving at Bhoraji, and just prior to attacking Kaleb the Destroyer in an attempt to seize the vast eldritch power of his daughter Solaise, the Devourer loosed the Shedu from their containment in the orb. The Shedu killed at least one helpless possessed villager, several of Conan's men, toyed with the barbarian by making Anneka threaten to slit her wrists, and then assumed the form of a herd of wild boar and later animating an entire hillock with their essence to battle Conan. Meanwhile, the Devourer tracked Kaleb and his mysterious daughter to the temple of Mitra they were hiding in. Leaving his daughter in the basement to check on things upstairs Kaleb discovered the Devourer in the temple and a pitched battle began.[8]

After a fierce battle, Kaleb the Destroyer became the only "mortal" to defeat the Devourer in physical combat. Impaling him on the outstretched arm of an idol of Mitra, Kaleb left the Devourer for dead. Meanwhile Conan finally defeated the Shedu with the help of the Footslave of the Elder Gods, using the Footslave's totem. Solaise acquired her pet cat Sedrick, whom she constantly talked to and who helped her access her dread powers.[9]

The Devourer's corpse hung from the arm of the holy statue while the townspeople of Bhoraji looted the wrecked temple. A man named Dimitri saw the Devourer's sword and against his friend's warnings seized it, thinking only that such an ornate, well crafted weapon would bring a good price. Lightning suddenly crashed down from the heavens and the villages fled as a terrible transformation begins. Dimitri was struck dead instantly, but in his place the Devourer lived again.[10]

The Devourer then approached Bahkt and transformed him as his Dark Apostle, to use his deep hatred and loathing of Conan in his soul.[11]

In Syreb, Wraarl visited Prince Ihram, telling him to be patient, that everything was going as planned and to do nothing, unless instructed otherwise. He later met Solaise and Sedrick.[12]

After Bahkt reported what he had done to Red Sonja, the Devourer was pleased with his work and gave him more souls.[13]

The Devourer of Souls then watched with amusement from the edge of the woods as Conan and his one time ally Kaleb the Destroyer waged a pitched battle. Determining it would be to his advantage to bring them to the river, he summoned the feline and Solaise ran after her pet into a portal in the air, soon followed by the Cimmerian and the Aesir. After the terrible truth was revealed to Kaleb in the Forest of the Eternal Verities, the Devourer appeared to them with Solaise and Sedrick the Cat in his arms, revealing something of his plans and how he concealed his presence from Conan for so long in order to piece together the truth about the sacred child. He had somehow seduced Solaise into helping him to seize the power of the Elder Gods. As Conan moved in to fight the Devourer for Solaise, Kaleb struck him down, desiring to face the Devourer alone. The Devourer then proffered a knife for Kaleb to finish off Conan, pushing him to fulfill his destiny and protect the child, saving it from the fate the Devourer had in store, and regaining his youth and power. Therefore he must kill Conan as a man and not the being empowered by the Elder Gods that he had become. Kaleb stood indecisive. The forest erupted in flames and rising from the conflagration is the embodiment of all evil. Wrarrl, mounted on his winged steed, Solaise and Sedrick in the crook of his arm, flew off into the night sky, flaming sword held aloft.[14]

Riding upon his flying steed the Devourer carried Solaise and Sedrick the Cat into Arallu, Land of the Evil Dead, for the purpose of consulting Thulsa Doom, who related to him the origins of the cat. Thulsa Doom then explained to the Devourer that the cat contained the power, but lacked the will to use it. Solaise had the will, but only a fraction of the power. In gratitude for his help, the Devourer shattered Doom's chains, granting him the freedom to wander Arallu at will. He then turned his steed and found the Footslave of the Elder Gods wandering an ancient cavern deep beneath the earth under an inland sea. Wrarrl lured the Footslave to him by calling out his human name, Maxmelle, which no one had used in ten thousand years. On another plane of existence, the Devourer then began an unholy ritual involving Solaise, her cat Sedrick, and the Foot-slave. A wave of the 'white death' swept across the area on Earth where Conan's comrades were awaiting his return. This coincided with Sedrick being returned to human form. The Devourer said Sedrick could remain human on one condition: he must give the Devourer his power, so Wraarl completed his ritual and absorbed the power of the Elder Gods into his frame. He released a huge fireball, propelling it through the dimensional barriers towards his intended victims a world away. Thulsa Doom's magic protected Conan and his allies from a death dealing fireball, unleashed upon them by the Devourer after he attained the power of the Elder Gods. Wrarrl, finally giving in to his hatred of Conan and his fury, unleashed a blast of eldritch energy so powerful it created a mushroom cloud, but the Golden Sword of the Elder Gods protected Conan and his allies, who remained untouched. In a fit of rage, the Devourer childishly flung a portion of his destructive power southward, destroying El Shah Maddoc and engulfing Syreb in a city-wide inferno; to the north, another small kingdom was destroyed beneath the massive tidal waves tossed up by a usually quiet sea. Furious, the Devourer teleported away. High atop the Kenzankian Mountains the Devourer bellowed his pain, driven insane by the agony of the power of the Elder Gods inside him. For once, the Devourer had grossly miscalculated. Solaise felt no pain because she was an innocent child, her virtue intact. The Devourer had no such purity and therefore was in mind-numbing agony. Xuthl soon appeared to the now god-like Devourer, demanding repayment of the debt owed him for the loan of his Shedu. In order to repay his debt to Xuthl the Devourer was commanded to find the most beautiful and unspoilt maiden in the western kingdoms and sacrifice her unto Xuthl, but first the Devourer must win the girl to himself by love. The Devourer then found the most perfect and unblemished maiden in the land and teleported to southern Aquilonian province of Poitain to begin his seduction of her. He created a mortal vessel for himself called Acheron, hiding the Devourer's body in a sepulcher beneath the manor he had taken possession of. Meeting Count Trocero, Baron of the province of Poitain, Acheron was presented to Trocero's daughter Sephra. Over the next few weeks Acheron began his seduction of Sephra, proceeding apace with the girl falling in love with the Devourer's human guise. However, the Devourer soon discovered himself falling in love with the girl as well. Sephra's father refused to allow her to see Acheron any longer. Sephra then snuck out of her father's castle and met with Acheron, who was just debating abandoning his life as the Devourer altogether. Just as they revealed their feelings to one another, Xuthl blasted the girl into a blackened skeleton and charred meat, driving the Devourer insane. Acheron took an axe from the wall and proceeds down into the crypt, fully intending to slay his demonic half and sever his ties with his dark past forever. Conan and his allies arrived at the manor outside and battled their way through an army of skeletal warriors. They made their way to the catacombs beneath the manor, while Conan and the mentally unbalanced Devourer and Conan squared off in a titanic battle that carried them across worlds. At last, Conan finally slew the dread demon with the magical sword in a thunderous explosion of power. Sometime later, the Devourer's human incarnation, Acheron, awakened on a beach on one of the Islands of Pearl. Much to his surprise, he was both alive and human. Xuthl appeared to Acheron and explained that what destroyed the Devourer also saved him. The humanity the Devourer learned in his walk amongst the mortals was his crippling flaw in the battle with Conan. Using that flaw to destroy him was Xuthl's plan all along. The Devourer's demonic shell was destroyed by the magic blade in Conan's hands thus the only part of the Devourer left for Xuthl to save was his human side: he took the liberty of restoring Acheron to his original form as a matter of professional courtesy. Xuthl flowed into a nearby bottle half buried in the sand, which Acheron promptly corked. Acheron wandered away, bottle in hand, telling the demon lord he intends to find a warm place in the sun.[15]

Over the years, Acheron almost completely forgot who he was. When Conan and his Free Companions docked at his island, he welcomed them and was instantly enchanted with Conan's ally Isparana. Later that night, some of Conan's crew ambushed him and took his bottle. As Jubal of Venzia burst into flames, Xuthl was released once more. The demon proceeded to incinerate several of the crewmen, but Acheron raised the bottle into the air, and Xuthl was pulled back into it. The bottle was corked anew, and under Conan's instruction, it was put in a sack, weighed down with rocks, and dropped into the ocean after they had set sail again. Acheron joined Conan and his crew, although the spirit of the Devourer rumbled just beneath his conscious mind.[16]

As Conan and Free Companions set up camp in Dagoth Hill, Acheron and Isparana continued to grow closer, and one night they consummated their love. However, that same night, Acheron was awakened from his sleep and drawn into the catacombs, where he found the empty armor of the Devourer. Isparana awakened and followed Acheron, while Conan heard their voices and investigated. Conan threatened Acheron to keep away from the armor, which caused Isparana to draw her sword to defend him. As Conan and Isparana struggled, Acheron fell the rest of the way under the sway of the call of the Devourer, and he donned the helmet. After putting on the entire suit of armor, Acheron was transformed both physically and mentally back into the Devourer. The Devourer burst forth from the catacombs, slaughtering any of Conan's crew he encountered. He callously swatted Isparana aside and proclaimed himself the new lord of Dark Valley.[1]

Conan, meanwhile had been trapped in the collapsing catacombs when the Devourer broke free, and had been stuck battling some tentacled demons. Eventually he, too, escaped and confronted the Devourer. Isparana joined Conan, but their swords were no match for the Devourer. However, as Conan struggled vainly in hand-to-hand combat with the giant Devourer, smoke began to billow forth from the Devourer as it was consumed from within.[17]

Attributes

Powers

Using vapors that arise from his hands, Wrarrl can turn living beings into what appear to be worms, which he then devours, these larvae containing only the victims' souls (thus his name, Devourer of Souls). This is his sustenance and the source of much of his power. Through the souls he ingests, he can increase his strength, regenerate his wounds and live eternally. Wrarrl knows a series of black magic spells that he can use with various uses.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Wrarrl wields an infernal sword, whose trail of fire weakens whoever it touches.

Transportation

Wrarrl rides a black steed, with red eyes, and of infernal origin.

See Also

Links and References

References

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