Infrastructure: Part One Hundred and Ninety One

Like his rider, the Nightdrake Xhalcris relished the sensation of flight after being grounded for so long, though he lacked the mental faculties to articulate this thought. Of the species of Dragons, his was among the dumber ones. He could match wits with a chimpanzee if he did not feel like eating it. He did not understand why he left with his master from his home to this mana sparse land, nor who were the people in the city before him that he was flying against today. Nor did he care much. This was battle, what he was trained for. His master urged him on to lay waste to the humans below in their ditches. His master's orders resonated in his mind and he descended. He noticed that his master threw lightning bolts down at a few of them as he dived and a few of the people below burned, all the while he readied himself for a good long burn on one of the tube machines.

But as he got closer he felt sudden bursts of pain appear across his body, in particular his wings which were soon perferated. They got more frequent and more painful with every passing second. A Dragon's hide was durable and bolstered by built in spells, but even these were being sapped as more and more bullets stuck him. Even so his master urged him on and on until he was but twelve meters above the ground and he let forth a blaze. But as that happened a bullet managed to pierce through his neck. The fires that burned within him now had another way out besides his mouth and was soon burning through flesh. This was more than enough to have the beast flail about and eventually crash to the ground. Other wounds had contributed to this. A few Infrastructurals were burned by the attack, but ultimately his rider made a big miscalculation when he decided to treat the Coldlanders as just another mob of human infantry. But not every Dragon Rider made that folly.

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