Noah hit the ground hard enough to feel it in his bones. Every part of his body screamed protest, ribs aching from impacts he couldn't quite remember taking, his right shoulder throbbing where the dragon's tail had clipped him during the fall. Blood ran down his face from a cut above his eyebrow, and when he tried to move, his muscles responded with the kind of reluctance that came from being pushed way past their limits.
The world around him was burning.
Trees that had somehow survived the initial exchange were now consumed by flames that spread with unnatural hunger. The ground itself was scorched black, stone melted in places where the dragon's fire had touched. Smoke filled the air thick enough to make breathing difficult, and the heat was intense even from a distance.
Noah forced himself to sit up, every movement sending fresh waves of pain through his body. He could see the dragon maybe thirty feet away, its massive form sprawled across the ruined landscape.
