Ame Perdue

Prologue

There was only one rule.

And yet, the idiot still managed to break it. Nobody else had problems with it, it wasn't like it was that complicated. I thought that all the morons I worked with would find it simple, but no, someone had to prove to be a bigger moron than the others. Which meant that it was up to me to clean up his mess. Next time, I should leave him with the fallout, let him figure his own way out of it. I had better things to do than to worry about him.

Don't get caught. It's seriously not complicated.

If I didn't like the idiot so much, I would leave him to rot. Scratch that, if he didn't know so much, I would leave him to rot. But, the fool was one of the few people who actually knew a thing or two and the last thing I needed was him breaking under torture. I could only hope that he had the strength to withstand them until we set him free. He wasn't very strong, but what he lacked in strength, he made up for in loyalty.

He was one of the most stubborn people that I had met. He shouldn't have ever been out in the field, he wasn't suited for the battles that we were facing. He avoided killing, avoiding fighting altogether. Even his power as an air elementist was weak in comparison to others. He had no business being out in the field, but he refused to leave because of the woman standing beside me. A woman that was suited for the job that needed to get down, one that was not only able to handle the terrors this world threw at her, but lead others through the madness.

If we ended up surviving this, I had half a mind to kill him myself. At least then I wouldn't have to worry about him. I would just pull him off of missions, send him back to the fortress where he would be safe, but I knew that he wouldn't stay away. He refused to be reasoned with, as long as she was here, fighting against the creatures that threatened to destroy their world, he would be there beside her. That wasn't even the most pathetic thing about his situation.

She thought of him as her brother.

It wasn't like I just keep him out of the fighting either. He wasn't even a part of the last mission and it didn't get them anywhere. I left him out of it to ensure that I didn't have to save him. And somehow, he still managed to get snatched. All he was supposed to do was watch out for everyone too weak to protect themselves. It wasn't the first tie that this had happened. It seemed like as long as he was alive, he was going to find his way into some kind of trouble.

Sometimes, it was best just to kill the cute little puppy before it managed to set itself on fire.

"This is a terrible idea," Despite the grim words, there was excitement in Acilia's voice she stared down at the hoard of killers below us. She was a truly terrifying creature when she wanted to be, the kind of woman that made feminists cheer and brought men to their knees with awe. Or perhaps fall to their knees in terror as she roasted them alive. It was difficult to tell the difference sometimes.

She had told me what her species was called many times over the years, but it was one of those complicated names that were probably Latin or Greek in origin. The fact that she could pronounce it was impressive, but I wasn't going to try. All I knew was that it started with a 'c' and translated to something along the lines of a volcano dragon. My response to learning this was to call her Lavagirl because there honestly wasn't that much difference between them.

Expect that Lavagirl couldn't turn into a dragon.

Dark wavy hair spilled to her waist, dyed streaks of red and orange poping against the color that resembled soot. It was currently pulled back away from her face, yet stray strains snuck their way into her eyes, making her reach up irritably to push it back every few minutes. There would be no one calling her Barbie-like. She wasn't fat, yet she carried the kind of weight to her hips that made it clear she wasn't stick thin. She was a large woman that was perfectly capable of throwing someone into the grand canyon if they pissed her off enough. She wasn't a classic kind of beauty, yet no one could deny that she was beautiful. Strong features dominated her square face, her narrowed eyes that set a little too far apart. Nothing about her was delicate, her beauty was one of strength, of power.