Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #11

In an Oriental bazaar, the ruthless millionaire Baron de Fiche seeks to acquire the magical secrets of Eastern fakirs to expand his already vast empire—but when he dismisses a guide's offer of genuine knowledge, he misses a discovery that will soon prove far more valuable than he could imagine. Back at his hotel, catastrophic news arrives: his financial empire has crumbled in his absence, and the baron desperately searches for any unconventional solution to save himself. The Mysterious Traveler, who has witnessed it all, knows an irony the baron never will—one that arrives far too late.

The Mysterious Traveler bears witness to a corrupt swami's scheme to bilk a trusting woman out of her savings through fake crystal-globe readings—until an unexpected vision forces the charlatan to flee in terror. With his power to intervene finally awakened, the Mysterious Traveler has ensured that justice finds a way.

Four fugitives—a swindler, a coward, a hired thug, and a corrupt politician—converge on a hidden valley in the Indian mountains, drawn by chance or perhaps something stranger. Inside they discover an ancient, impossibly alive figure who claims the valley holds the secret to peace and immortality, and offers to make them its ambassadors to a world that desperately needs them. But as the aura of the valley begins to work on their hardened hearts, these unscrupulous men must reckon with what transformation might actually cost them.

Hugo Korak, a craftsman proud of the grand clock he built for the town hall, finds himself lost in sudden fog during a woodland walk—but the tolling of his own masterpiece guides him safely back through the darkening woods. When he returns to town, he discovers something impossible: the clock has been stopped all along. A brief, eerie tale that leaves the mystery of what guided him home hanging in the air.

Walter Dykes is a timid man who has spent his life hiding from the world in books, until a storm forces him into a mysterious cave where he discovers an otherworldly machine with strange discs. When he puts on the device's helmet and plays one of the discs, he's transported to an alien world where he must fight a fearsome creature to save an entire civilization. The experience shakes him to his core and transforms his understanding of what life can truly offer.