"Oliver," Lira whispered sadly. "You saved them. You brought them into the Bastion of Dust. But the Overlord is not finished. He knows you hid inside my people's fortress.""The fortress walls are forty feet thick," Oliver stated flatly. "The iron is infused with pure Builder magic. The Overlord cannot break the doors with his monsters. We are secure.""He does not need to break the doors," Lira cried softly. She pointed a pale, shaking finger at the walls of the cavern outside. "He is angry. He is changing the world again. Look at the earth."Oliver narrowed his human gray eye and his burning red eye. He looked at the solid rock walls of the giant cave. The dark purple Rift magic was leaking out of the ceiling. It poured down the walls like a thick, glowing waterfall. The magic sank deep into the black dirt and the hard stone. The ground began to shake. It was a slow, heavy rumble. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. Oliver watched closely. He saw the rocks moving. The solid walls of the cavern w

The ground violently shook. The first Stone Golem reached the doorway. The monster swung its giant, twenty-ton rock fist straight at Oliver’s back. The giant fist hit the blue energy shield. The loud noise was deafening. It sounded like a bomb exploding. The blue light flickered wildly, but it held. Oliver did not even flinch. He did not look over his shoulder. He kept pushing his magic into the jammed boulder. Two more Stone Golems stepped up. Now, three massive giants were pounding on the blue energy shield with all their strength. The noise was absolute torture. The air pressure in the cavern dropped with every massive punch. The ground bounced. The thick iron doors rattled in their frames. Inside the fortress, the civilians screamed and covered their ears. Young Sam buried his face in his father’s chest. Captain Iris stood up, holding her broken arm, staring in horror at the monsters pounding on the glass. "The shield is cracking!" Billy yelled from the computer terminal. "B