Red Sonja: Vacant Shell

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**Red Sonja: Vacant Shell** is a single issue release from Dynamite Entertainment. The comic was released in 2007.

## Solicitation

Fan Favorite writer Rick Remender is joined by the incredibly talented Paul Renaud as they present the Vacant Shell which finds the She-Devil amidst a village of the undead and up against a dark sorcerer bent of unleashing hell in Hyboria!

## Plot

Red Sonja has started on a trek, unaccompanied by her soldiers. She takes a moment’s rest on a broken statue, when her thoughts are suddenly broken by a drop of blood falling on her arm. Sonja draws her sword, and to her astonishment, finds a wounded man of pale skin, tied to a tree above her. The man asks her for help, and if she lowers him from the tree, he will be immensely grateful to her, and reward her handsomely.

Sonja believes them man, and lowers him from the tree. Finding him battered and bruised, she tends to his wounds, and asks him what led to his current state. The man says that he comes from a formerly peaceful village, which of late had been festering human refuse. A priest from other lands came with the promise of returning peace and glory, but instead, he turned his new disciples to something worse. Soon, pirates and robbers were welcomed with open arms. The pale man had tried to cause an uprising, but he had been dealt with, severely, and had been tied to this tree to die.

Hearing his story, Sonja prepares a fire for the man to keep himself warm, and leaves for his village. The man believes that his village has been burned to ashes, but Sonja is not so certain.

Many days later, Sonja arrives at a village, which is currently in a state of deterioration. She walks into a tavern and persuades the keeper to talk. He says that of late, people have been disappearing into the woods mysteriously. Suddenly, their conversation is interrupted by a blonde girl, who wishes to speak to Sonja urgently. She is stopped by the robbers, but Sonja intervenes. A giant of a man tries to knock her down, and the innkeeper shoots an arrow at her. But Sonja skillful as she is, grabs the arrow in mid-air, stabs the giant and the innkeeper, and ends the skirmish.

Sonja and the girl grab two horses and flee the village. They travel through woods, when they are attacked by a pale human. As Sonja deals with him, the girl says that all of this has happened because of a dark priest who came among their midst. She describes that the humans have become “vacant” shells. He had been banished, but has seemingly returned. As the girl starts to describe the priest, she says that he is also a powerful prince, a disciple of the dark God Borat Na-Fori, and has the magic necessary to persuade people. Red Sonja knows that it is the same man whom she freed a few days ago. She promises to set things right, and together, the two women venture into the cursed village.

As they stop on the edge of the village, Sonja tells the girl to stay behind, and scales the city walls. She beholds a sight of destruction and deterioration from above the rooftops. As she takes the aid of a rope to cross between two building, the girl comes up behind her and cuts the rope. Sonja lands on the street, smack in the middle of a crowd of vacant. As she is overpowered, the Dark Prince comes forward, and Sonja immediately recognizes him. The girl proves faithful to him, addresses him as Drelrem, and tearfully asks him to release her mother. But Drelrem stabs her to death. Then he knocks Sonja out.

Sonja wakes up in chains, and finds Drelrem preparing a magic to call forth the spirit of Borat Na-Fori. He tells that Sonja will be a fitting vessel for his Lord Borat. Sonja persuades him to change his mind, but in vain. Drelrem opens a magical portal, and aims a spear at Sonja’s heart. But he misses, and Sonja kicks him into the portal.

As Sonja frees herself, Drelrem rises again, but in a horribly mutated body. Sonja fights him, ad pierces his eye. He accidentally causes a fire, and gets caught in it while Sonja escapes. The vacant chase her. Sonja jumps from the roof of the tower, catches a rope and glides onto the street. The burning Drelrem jumps and lands behind her. As he runs towards her, she puts all her strength in one final blow and decapitates him. Simultaneously, the vacant burn up. Sonja leaves the burning village.