Hugh Starke, a notorious outlaw who has stolen a fortune from the Terro-Venus Mines, crashes in the haunted wilderness of Venus and wakes to an impossible bargain: his dying body is gone, and his mind has been thrust into a stronger, stranger form. On this eerie alien world of red seas, black basalt cities, and oppressive beauty, he finds himself caught between Beudag, a fierce warrior woman, Faolan, a bitter blind fighter who calls him Conan, and Rann, a pale devil-goddess whose unseen power reaches into souls and bodies alike. As Starke struggles to prove he is still himself, he learns that his new body is despised, his memories are being used against him, and his survival may depend on becoming an assassin in a deadlocked war between sea-folk, land warriors, and enslaved humans. Through betrayal, violence, and uneasy alliances, he begins to uncover the mythic struggle binding Conan, Beudag, Faolan, and Rann together. Trapped in a world where love, loyalty, and conquest have been twisted by sorcery, Starke must decide whether he is merely a weapon in someone else's hands—or the one man who can break the cycle. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.