X-Men Vol 1 115

Sauron has left Storm unconscious as he confronts the X-Men. Wolverine acts first, lunging at their foe with claws ready only to be struck by the creatures hypnotic powers. Sauron makes Wolverine see the other X-Men as demons and he attacks his team mates Cyclops knocks Wolverine out with an optic blast so that they can concentrate on stopping Sauron.

As Cyclops and Banshee fight the mutate, while Colossus tends to Storm and Nightcrawler revives Wolverine. But Wolverine is still under the influence of Sauron's hypnosis, however, and strikes down Nightcrawler. Seeing Cyclops blasting Sauron, Wolverine's warped perceptions cause him to interpret it as Cyclops attacking Phoenix and he tries to stop him, only for Cyclops to blast him again. Caught between Cyclops' optic blast and Banshee's sonic scream, Sauron is weakened almost to the point where he is about to transform into Lykos again.

Attempting to prevent this, Sauron returns to where he attacked Storm. He targets Colossus, who has reverted to flesh form while helping Storm. Under Cyclops's orders, Colossus transforms into his organic steel mode, causing feedback that throws Sauron aside. Sauron then reverts back to Karl Lykos once more. Before Wolverine can slay him, he is stopped by Ka-Zar and Zabu who have just arrived and consider Lykos a friend. Cyclops, remembering Ka-Zar from their previous encounter[1], orders Wolverine to stand down. Ka-Zar explains that he heard rumors among the Savage Land’s tribes of a team of superhumans and guessed it must be the X-Men.

Returning to the Fall People's village, Lykos explains that following his previous encounter with the X-Men[2], where he unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide in Tierra Del Fuego, he followed a system of caverns to the Savage Land. Once there, he witnessed strange rites performed by a cult led by a woman named Zaladane. The cult worshipped a deity called Garrok the Petrified man. He watched as Zaladane conducted a ceremony, transforming an ordinary man into a vessel for Garrok's essence and making him the living embodiment of the godly (actually demonic) entity. Ka-Zar recounts his own battles with the invading Sheenars from the Savage Land[3] and Lykos tells how Garrok repelled the dimensional invaders. But afterwards, Garrok and his cult began building their own city using slave labor and installed themselves as rulers of the region. Lykos and Ka-Zar have been working together in combating the cult as it constructed a giant citadel that would threaten the stability of the Savage Land’s environment.

Ka-Zar asks for the X-Men's help. Wolverine and Banshee are both willing to fight but Cyclops declines Ka-Zar's request for assistance. He states that they need to get back to America and let the Professor know that they are still alive. Wolverine accuses Cyclops of cowardice.

Ka-Zar agrees to show them the way out of the Savage Land. But as they approach the waters leading to the outside world they find it frozen over. Snow begins falling, which at first the X-Men seem delighted by. But Ka-Zar points out to the team that snow in the Savage Land will spell out doom for the entire region.

This story is continued next issue...

Notes

The system of subterranean caverns that Karl Lykos navigated to reach the Savage Land is likely the same system of caverns mentioned in Avengers (Vol 1) # 105, which the Savage Land Mutates used to take a reverse route from the Savage Land to Chile, perhaps navigating another branch of tunnels to that country. Why the X-Men simply don't use this system of caverns to journey to the outside world (rather than undertake the dangerous sea travel they do next issue) is never explained, although Storm's intense claustrophobia could possibly be a factor.
This issue references a storyline in Ka-Zar's own series in which a rift opened to an alternate dimension through which the city of the Sheenar people was transported to the Savage Land. Ka-Zar recounts that Garrok closed the rift, causing the city to return to its home reality.

Links and References

Official Marvel Index to the X-Men #6 - See for further referencing
Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (Vol. 2) #2 - See for further referencing

References

X-Men Vol 1 115

Appearing in "Visions of Death!"

Synopsis for "Visions of Death!"

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