Thelvyn realized his mistake at once. The Overlord had sacrificed control of his army to retain his command over the remaining gemstone dragons. He was only just struggling to pick himself up when the Masters struck again with the deadly weapons of their fiery forms, focusing their attack against him in a fierce barrage. Great bolts of lighting raked over the ground, ripping the earth asunder. Thelvyn arched his neck and roared with pain as one of the bolts flashed over his back. Then he was thrown violently aside as the ground beneath him was blasted by searing lances of lightning. He was thrown heavily onto his back, half buried in mounds of rock and dirt.
For a brief moment he lay without moving, quickly considering his options while the gemstone dragons continued to bombard him with their deadly barrage of lightning. He was reluctant to reveal his true form so soon, before he had even found the Overlord, but his mortal manifestation as a gold dragon was more vulnerable titan his new incarnation as Diamond. Shaking himself free of the dirt and debris, he spread his wings and leapt effortlessly straight up into the sky. At the same moment, he vanished in a blinding radiance as he became the Immortal Diamond, a great dragon made of pure silver light.
The Masters could not endure the sight of him, and they turned their faces away. For a long moment, Diamond hung in midair like a shaft of brilliant sunlight in dragon form. Then he arched his neck and breathed out a shaft of intense light, trapping the Masters one by one for a brief instant within the brilliant light. Their flames immediately flickered and went out as they fluttered helplessly to the ground, stunned.
Diamond immediately returned to his mortal manifestation as a gold dragon, although he could no longer try to hide his true powers now that he had been forced to reveal himself. Once again he turned his magic to the task of fighting back the powerful influence of the Overlord. The remaining gemstone dragons hesitated, dropping their fiery forms as their ties to the powers of the Overlord were broken. As they came to realize that they were free, they paused a moment in their uncertainty before they turned to flee into the wild.
It was not only the gemstone dragons that were being freed. In the forward ranks of the invaders, the great enslaved beasts that had been tearing and tramping roads through the wilderness suddenly turned and broke free from their drivers, crying and rampaging in their fury as they escaped into the wild. Rank after rank of soldiers lowered their weapons as the Dragonking passed over their heads. The towering metal warriors suddenly paused in midstride, then collapsed heavily to the ground with the force of an earthquake, like great puppets whose strings had been cut by a gigantic scissors.
Thelvyn flew low over the columns of the invaders as if he were following a road, mile after mile of soldiers, siege weapons, and supply wagons passing below him. His very presence spread confusion among his enemies as he drove steadily deeper into the Overlord's region of influence, shattering the will that had held an army of over a million strong in absolute control. The great fortress of storms continued to rise before him until he passed into its outer limits into its deep, protective darkness. The cold, damp winds grew fitful, and the constant flashes of lightning cast deep shadows through the forest.
Suddenly the will of the Overlord grew sharply stronger, opposing his attempt to seize control of the invading army. He was able to maintain his own will with increasing effort, but soon he was only holding his own, unwilling to expend the power he would need to force back the influence of the Overlord. It seemed wise to keep some of his secrets in reserve.
He found the Overlord where he had expected, at the rear of his army, surrounded by a score of Masters still subject to his control and five of the remaining metal warriors. The Overlord himself crouched in the center of the protective ring. In size and shape, he was very much like the warriors. Although his actions seemed to suggest cowardice, as they had in his own fortress when his prisoners had turned on him and he had allowed them to escape rather than face them himself, Thelvyn knew that he was actually trying to guard his own secrets. However, Thelvyn already knew this great, monstrous being was only a manifestation of the Overlord's magic and intellect, not his true self.
Thelvyn landed a short distance away and faced the Overlord and his bodyguards. Even though he was as small as a child in comparison to his enemy, he had to hope that his new powers were sufficient to keep him safe.
"This must be our last battle," he declared. "You cannot begin your conquest of this world until you have dealt with me."
The Overlord cocked his massive, nightmarish head as he stared down at the gold dragon. "Your powers have increased, Dragonking. Does your Immortal dare to support you?"
"I am his chosen champion. I was created specifically for the task of fighting and defeating you," Thelvyn answered evasively.
"We shall see about that."
Apparently the Overlord still wasn't ready to fight his own battles. Two of the nearby warriors dropped their massive heads, and the red jewels of their glittering eyes blazed with a surge of power, sending forth bolts of intense ruby light that struck Thelvyn in the chest. The force of the deadly beams hurled him violently backward, and he crashed heavily onto his back. The magic of the ruby light somehow seemed to rob him of his powers, leaving him weak and dazed.
The Overlord began to retreat slowly, removing himself even more from the actual battle. At the same time, his warriors began to move forward as quickly as dieir eight legs could move, placing themselves protectively between the Overlord and the fallen Dragonking. Apparently none of the nearby Masters were directing the warriors; the Overlord seemed to control their massive draconic forms himself. Thelvyn knew that the full power of the Dragonlord had been ineffective against the warriors, and the Overlord was confident that his small opponent could never be sufficient to break his commanding will.
Thelvyn was struggling to rise when the metal warriors attacked again, the beams of ruby light from their jewel eyes raking over the ground, advancing toward him. The very earth was rent asunder, shaken violently by the devastating blasts, which caused the ground to split open in great, gaping fissures before collapsing slowly into unseen depths.
Thelvyn was struggling to retreat from the fury of the assault when he was struck once more by the beams of ruby light. This time he was held trapped as several of the beams ripped over the ground to focus upon him. He was thrust down against the torn earth and held there, as if by some crushing weight. His neck arched in intense pain. His jaws were wide as if to roar out in his agony, but he had no breath to cry out. It was as if the power of the ruby light was ripping apart his very being. Then the ground beneath him tilted and began to slide away, hurtling him into the depths of the ragged fissure that had opened behind him.
He seemed to fall for a very long time, crashing against first one side of the gaping chasm and then the other as he plummeted into the darkness. Unable to catch himself, he finally landed heavily atop the loose debris of dirt and stone at the bottom of the fissure, snapping his chin violently against the ground. So weak that he could hardly move, he began to lift himself slowly and painfully in an attempt to escape that place before the warriors could trap him there.
Then the darkness at the bottom of the chasm grew even deeper, and he looked up apprehensively to see that one of the warriors was leaning out over the opening of the fissure more than three wingspans above him, as if it intended to climb down after him. It tottered on the edge for a moment before it fell, its incredible weight crashing downward in a shower of dirt and boulders.