It had been months since Deko had experienced a teleportation and she had never expected to experience again, but here she was. One moment in Amirr's capitol, Crystal Garden, and now she was standing in the streets of the capitol of Toa Mirr, Eto.

her master said to her through telepathy magic without looking back and began running.

Deko looked around and found three men looking at her in shock, but ignored them and followed her master.

It was late into the night so few people were out, though it appeared her master wasn’t trying to hide as she ran down the nearly deserted streets. 

Eto was just as filthy as Deko remembered. Refuse littered the sides of the road, and many beggars were sleeping in it. Those who were awake appeared to either be drunk or prostitutes. Many didn’t even notice them run by, the rest generally ignored them.

It appeared her master teleported them close to the castle as they arrived after only taking a few turns.

Her master stopped near the castle wall and inspected it, She then ran her hand against the wall, She turned to Deko,

Deko inspected the wall. It was tall and made of granite but of a simple make with lanterns space close enough together that each part of the wall had illumination.

Deko looked to a small gate to their left.

Her master looked at the gate and nodded,

Deko followed her master back around some buildings where they hid behind some barrels in view of the gate.

It was a small side gate with two guards. The gate was closed, and the area was well lit so it would be impossible to sneak through without being seen. The gate itself was a sturdy-looking wood, so it was impossible to see through.

Her master only considered the situation for a moment and then started looking at the surrounding buildings.

None of the buildings were higher than the wall, so climbing on a roof to see inside to the castle grounds was impossible.

Deko watched as her master moved out of sight of the gate and tested her magic power. It gave off a slightly stronger than average glow and her master didn’t seem satisfied or disappointed.

her master said before she jumped onto a nearby crate and then jumped just high enough to grab the roof of the building and climb up.

Deko used wind magic and followed her master on to the roof.

Her master lay down on the roof and then looked at her and then to the wall.

Deko lay down too. With them being this close to the wall, it wouldn’t be hard for a guard to see them if they were standing.

They were much higher, but they still weren’t high enough to see over the wall even if they jumped. They could see the four spires of the palace's towers from here, though.

Her master looked at the towers and then to Deko,

Deko looked closer to the spires and stood up for a second to see if the added height would show anything safer to teleport to before laying down again.

Deko relayed.

Her master looked at the guards and after a moment turned back to Deko,

Deko nodded and got into a crouching position just behind her master. When she was certain no guards were looking their way she picked up her master, stood up, and held her into the air as high as she could.

After a few seconds her master signalled to let her down.

her master’s face showed that she wasn’t confident.

Deko looked to the wall,

Her master sighed and touched her hair where her bells should have been,

Deko nodded.

Her master reached out her hand, and Deko took it. They both then got up from being prone and into a crouch.

The scenery switched, and Deko felt her feet go from a flat roof to an incline and she only slid a bit before coming to a stop thanks to her master’s grip. Her master had grabbed the spire and was preventing herself from sliding and was holding Deko in place too. The incline of the roof was steep with not much traction, so the spire was the only thing keeping them from sliding off.

Her master looked around,

Moments later they were in a poorly lit section of hallway, the tower they were on visible through the window.

Her master looked at her, doubt on her face,

Deko shook her head,

Her master shrugged,

Deko looked around but saw nothing that would give them any clues to where they were.

Her master took off down the hallway.

Deko followed her, but they didn’t get far before they had to stop as they could hear the heavy footsteps of someone wearing armor around the corner. Thankfully, the sound was getting quieter.

Her master took a peek around the corner and then turned back to Deko,

Deko looked around the corner and saw the two guards. They both wore armor fancier than those of the Toa Mirran soldiers she had seen before and was heavier. These soldiers would be harder to kill, but after seeing what her master had done to that crystal shield, she doubted it would make a difference.

The soldiers eventually rounded a corner at the far end of the hall and their footsteps became almost inaudible. This alerted them to some approaching footsteps coming from behind them. Deko couldn’t see the soldiers yet, but judging from the lengths of the hallways it wouldn’t be long.

Her master heard them too and moved into the hallway after the first two guards just left.

They ran silently past several rooms that didn’t catch their attention and made it to the corner the guards had rounded not long before.

The footsteps were louder this time thanks but with the guards having their backs turned to them they probably wouldn’t notice them.

For the next several minutes the two intruders made their way through the hallways easily, in part thanks to her master being able to teleport past guards when needed, when they found stairs leading down and up.

A guard stood watch at the stairs, but her master easily teleported past him.

Her master stopped at the bottom of the stairs, just in front of a door and leaned against the wall,

It didn’t surprise Deko. Her master was the only one she knew that could use teleportation that wasn’t the servant of Deity.

While her master rested against the wall, Deko put her ear up to the door. She heard nothing but knew there was probably a guard or two on the other side. They were underground now, and thanks to the guard at the top of the stairs, she doubted it was a simple food cellar. It was probably a dungeon or the treasury. She didn’t know much about castle or palace design so she could be wrong.

Deko drew a dagger from her sleeve and slowly pushed on the door, stopping frequently to listen, and eventually some light bled through. When she heard no reaction she opened it just enough to see through and saw three guards. One was standing next to the door with the other two sitting at a table. All three were looking at the door, but only the guard next to the door had his weapon drawn.

Deko pushed through the door, and before the closest guard could react, slashed his throat. Blood splattered from the slashed arteries in his neck all over Deko.

The guard gurgled and clutched at his throat as he fell to the ground, his last moments witnessing Deko launching a small fireball into the eye of one guard while she charged at the other.

The guard that took a fireball to his eye reached for his face but went limp halfway through the action and fell to the floor.

The other guard just barely drew his sword when Deko reached him, only to have it knocked from his hand by a quick kick to his wrist. Deko followed the kicked to the wrist by a kick to the chest, sending the man staggering backwards. She then closed the remaining distance and stabbed the guard in the neck.

The guard grabbed his neck and fell against the wall behind him, though did not fall down.

Deko put the knife next to his throat and watched as blood from his neck wound seeped between his fingers, “This is the dungeon?”

The guard nodded and said, “Please, let me go. I promise I won’t get in your way.”

Deko backed away. She knew it was too late to save him. It would be only a matter of moments before he lost conciousness and finished bleeding out, “Where is the treasury?”

The guard fell to his knees, “Please, I don’t want to die!”

Deko put her face just in front of the guard’s, “Where is the treasury?”

The light in the guard’s eyes grew dim, “Back up the stairs, and take a right, then a left into the throne room. There’s… ther…”

The guard slumped forward and fell on his face. A pool of blood pooling on the floor beneath him.

Deko turned her back away from the man and looked for her master.

Her master entered the room after a moment,

Her master’s idea impressed Deko, but when she saw her master’s eyes she became concerned. Her master’s eyes had become that of a predator. Not as bad as the fight against the kidnappers, but she worried her master’s mental health would deteriorate if she had to do any more fighting.

Deko glanced back at the guard in question.

Her master didn’t look at the guard and picked up the weapons the guards had dropped. She then turned to Deko, a devious grin on her face,

Deko looked at the door to that probably led to the cells and then turned back to her master as she moved from guard to guard until she found a set of keys. Her master then went through the door.

A long hallway waited for them on the other side of the door. There were cells on either side of the hallway in what was a typical layout for this kind of place. It was dimly lit with only an oil lamp above the door and one at the far end of the hall.

As they walked down the hallway, they saw that most of the prisoners were sleeping. Her master scanned each cell before returning to the room with the dead guards, a disturbed look in her eyes.

her master looked back to the door and shivered.

Deko nodded,

Her master clenched her fists and then looked back to Deko with determination in her eyes,

Deko nodded,

Her master looked at her, sighed, and shook her head before heading back into the hall.

Deko followed her master to a cell near the end of the hall and began fiddling with the keys.

The noise woke the men inside and some others in the nearest cells. Some men stood up to see what was going on while others either ignored them or watched.

Deko took out her sword and readied herself for when the cell opened.

A moment later her master found the right key, and the door opened. Her master then pointed to a man of average build and height.

The man looked around in confusion, “Who said that?” He then looked at her master, “All right, I’m coming out.”

The man left the cell and her master closed the cell door behind him.

He looked at her and her master, “You no guards like I’ve ever seen before.”

Her master ignored him and went to the next cell, Deko pushing the man forward with her sword at his back. 

Each cell went much the same and by the time they were back to the door they had five men.

Unlike the first, the other four could easily pass as a stereotypical thug. Three had noticeable scars, all had large muscles and the same tattoo, and all had given Deko and her master rude remarks. They also seemed to know each other.

“Where you takin’ us?” One thug said as Deko’s master opened the door to the guardroom.

“We’re free if we can escape the palace?” Another said.

Her master pointed to the three discarded swords from the dead guards.

The average-looking man turned from the dead guards to Deko and her master, “I’m not doing this. It’s suicide!”

A thug looked at the average-looking man, “Rather die than stay in this place? No way I’m stayin’ in a cell any more. Stay here and rot, rat.”

The thugs began stripping the guards of their armor.

One of the four looked to the stairs, “One more at the top of the stairs, huh.”

The average-looking guy walked to the door back to the cells, “If you want to get yourselves killed…”

Deko’s master raised her crystal forged swords and shot lightning out of it at the man.

It wasn’t long, but the man collapsed onto the ground, convulsing uncontrollably and smoke rising from his clothing. He wasn’t dead, but the spasming told that he would be out of it for a while.

The thugs looked at the man and shook their heads before turning back to stripping the armor off the guards.

The next minute passed with only the noise of armor being doffed and then donned. One even snuck up the stairs and came back with the frozen guard’s sword.

The thugs stood, ready to leave. The three that seemed to have the most authority wore the armor, though the remaining one looked like he would have fit in one better than the others.

“Time to go, boys,” the biggest said.

The other three showed their excitement, though quietly.

The thug without armor walked to the average-looking man, still stunned from the lighting, and pulled him to his feet, “I got the bait.”

The thugs looked at each other. The one that seemed in charge looked at Deko and her master, nodded, and then left the room, the others following.

Just as the thugs left the room, blood erupted from the coagulating pool of blood nearest the door and splashed onto the backs of the two in the rear and onto the face of the average-looking man.

Deko’s master waited thirty or so seconds and she signalled for Deko to leave the room.

At the top of the stairs, they noticed the retreating thugs. They hadn’t gotten too far as the three in armor were walking at a leisurely pace, the thug without armor dragging the other man from hiding spot to hiding spot. 

her master said to her before glancing at the thawing guard.

The guard looked like he would topple over at any moment, so Deko laid the body gently onto the ground.

Deko looked around to gather her bearings. Other than the thugs there wasn’t anyone in sight so she took off in the direction the guard told her the treasury was at.

The guard had been telling the truth, and they arrived at a pair of large double doors in less than a minute.

The hallway they had come to was large, with many murals and statues lining it. Fine rugs ran the length of the floor, while several ornate light crystal sconces provided light. Most of the lights were off, leaving only each end of the long hallway lit up.

Two guards stood at either side of the door. Both wore regal looking crystal forged armor, complete with engravings and feather plumes, staves with crystal spear tips, and crystal forged shields.

Deko noticed her master fiddle with the new crystal gauntlets she had made.

Looking at the guards, Deko knew that magic would be useless against them thanks to their crystal forged armor.

Deko reached for her sword, ready to unsheathe it if her master attacked them.

Her master appeared to be studying the area and Deko realized that she was looking for objects to throw at them with levitation magic.

A bell sounded in the distance.

The two guards immediately readied their weapons as they looked in the direction the alarm was coming from.

Her master looked at the guards like a predator.

Deko knew that her master would be fine against these guards, but the look in her eyes still worried her. 

Her master charged at the guards with inhuman speed.

The guards immediately saw her master and turned their spears towards her.

Her master easily dodged the spears, easily grabbing them and tearing them from their grasps.

The guards staggered forward from the force of having the spears yanked from their hands.

Deko’s master took advantage of this to slip past their shields. She then knife-handed one guard between the gaps in his armor near his stomach, her hand penetrating nearly to the elbow. She then yanked her hand out, pulling some of her target’s intestines out and splattering blood on the floor and the other guard.

The second guard had recovered but hesitated when he saw what had happened to his companion.

Deko’s master caught the remaining guard’s shield as he raised it and yanked it towards her, pulling it off his arm and causing him to fall prone onto the floor, his forearm bent in an unnatural angle and his shoulder dislocated at best.

The guard cried out in pain and rolled over just in time for him to see a foot dropping on his face.

Deko ran up to her master as she shook bones, blood, and brain off her shoe.

Deko’s master fastened her new shield onto her wrist, and then pushed through the doors the guards had been guarding.

Deko took only a moment to pull the shield off the dead guard’s arm and picked up their spears.

They entered what could only be the throne room. It wasn’t the largest room considering what went on in here, but the decorations showed it fit for a king.

Murals lined every inch of the wall and ceiling and appeared to depict the triumphs of the kingdom and kings. The floor glittered in the dim light cast from the few lit light crystals and there was a map of Toa Mirr etched into the marble in front of the throne, showing it at its height when Flaern and Koa Flaer were still a part of it. The blue marble throne stood near the back of the room and was in gilded with gold and ivory.

Another set of guards, identical to the ones her master had just killed, stood near an imposing door in the room's rear. They were already at the ready, shields and spears raised.

Behind them, Deko could hear approaching steps and the rattle of armor.

This time, both Deko and her master charged the men at the same time.

Her master reached the guards before Deko even covered half the distance and easily dodged the spears. She then used the momentum from her run and slammed the shield of each guard with her palms, knocking them off their feet and into the wall directly behind them. A loud clang echoed through the room from the impact of armor on stone.

Deko’s master ignored the guards and stopped in front of the door they hoped was the treasury.

The door was of thick wood reinforced with iron bands. A large wooden crossbar complete with a large iron lock kept the door shut.

Deko took one spear she had just picked up from the other guards and stabbed each guard through a gap in their armor just above their collar bones and to their heart. 

Meanwhile, her master punched the lock, shattering it, and then flipped the wooden crossbar out of the way, revealing another lock in the door itself.

Deko watched her master pick up a spear and jam it into the keyhole. Pieces of metal clattered to the floor as the crystal tip of the spear effortlessly pierced the metal of the lock. She then punched it, sending the remnant of the lock into the room on the other side.

The door easily opened, revealing the treasury.

The first thing Deko noticed were the racks of crystal forged weapons and armor, the most grand of which being a crystal forged set of plate armor locked behind a set of iron bars. 

Deko could only imagine that the armor worn by the guards at the crystal garden was the only armor that surpassed this as it had complete with sections of solid crystal over the chest and designs carved on its entire surface. 

Deko turned from the armor and saw that barrels and chests filled the rest of the room. She couldn’t tell what was in them, though she guessed it was money and magic crystals.

Her master walked over to the door that led to the exquisite set of armor and punched it open. She then went back to the door to the throne room and left.

Deko understood why when she heard the shouts of guards and footsteps entering the throne room.

Her master said from the other room.

Deko sighed. She should be the one putting her life on the line protecting her master. 

Deko looked around the room and found a mostly empty chest. It was large enough to fit the exquisite set of armor inside and the crystals already inside were worth taking too.

Screams of terror lured Deko away from the chest.

Pools of blood and viscera surrounded several dead guards and her master was currently dismembering another. Several other guards were fleeing towards each exit, screaming something about a monster. Her master only caught one of them, killing him with a knife hand through the back of the neck, severing the head, blood spraying from the stump of the neck, and covering her master.

Her master came back to the treasure room. 

Deko looked at her master’s eyes and didn’t like what she saw. They constantly moved from one place to the other, looking for more prey. 

Deko now knew she would need to keep her master from fighting as much as she could. If she snapped completely…

Her master nodded at the chest Deko had filled and then dragged two more chests next to it,

Her master disappeared with the chests.

Deko clenched her fist. She had no love for Toa Mirr, but this kind of violence wasn’t good for anyone, let alone her master. She had hoped she would live a quiet life with Nal, El, and Davanvia so the sooner this war between Flaern and Toa Mirr ended, the sooner her master could go back to her quiet life.

Her master returned before Deko had time to inspect another chest.

Without missing a beat, her master found a barrel, dumped out the finely crafted steel swords and filled it with the more valuable crystal forged weapons on display on the weapon racks.

By the time the next group of guards arrived, her master had already taken most of the most valuable items.

Deko put her hand on her master’s shoulder.

Her master looked like she was about ready to fight the next group of guards, but Deko’s touch seemed to bring her back to her senses,

Her master took one more look at the door to the throne room, but to Deko’s relief teleported them away.

They stood in a crudely made rock building. 

Black sand filled the cracks of the floor made from several slabs of stone. Through the gaps in the stone, Deko only saw more stone and black sand. A thin haze filled the air, and the sky shone a pale red.

This was Koron. Her master had teleported them to Koron. The place where those that committed suicide went to suffer.

Deko noticed her master calm down, her eyes returning to normal, “Perrinu, you did it.”

Deko looked to her master, and saw that she had rolled a stone from the entrance. She was looking at piles of glittering golden sand.

Her master looked to Deko, “I… I think I’ve had enough for tonight. Let’s go back to Nal’s place.”

Deko smiled and nodded. She wasn’t sure who Perrinu was or what the golden sand met, but she was thankful her master had calmed down, “That’s sounds good.”