For the most part, Ki and the other two guards of the Vault of Dreams did nothing but stand at their posts and stare off into the black, empty void of the Chamber. Sometimes, they would chat about things they barely remember, or about how boring a task it was to be a guard. Sometimes, Ki would narrow her eyes at the emptiness and wish for something to happen, anything to keep her from lulling off into the desire to sleep or stare into space to think. Thinking was dangerous for her, and she needed anything to keep her mind away from it.

  She never intended for her wish to really come true, especially not like this.

  Ki tossed her silver staff to her other hand, her feet pounding against the floor as she ran. Her flats echoed in the emptiness of the Chamber, joined with the sound of Ti’s boots as they ran together. The thief was only a few steps ahead, panic flashing in his eyes as he shot a glance at them over his shoulder. Blood still coated the blade of the knife in his hand, making Ki’s gut wrench at the sight of it.

  Not like this. This wasn’t how she wanted things to go.

  Pulling a bit ahead, Ti raised her spear and tossed it. It flew in a straight arc, catching the thief by his flowing sleeves and pinning him to the ground. With a yelp, he fell flat on his face. The black, void-like appearance of the Chamber floors were just as hard as stone--Ki knew from experience, having tripped and fallen several times before.

  Quick as an arrow, Ti leapt to the side of the thief and planted a firm foot on his back. She yanked her spear up and twirled it before letting it rest at her side again. The thief lifted his knife to strike her, but she kicked it out of his hand and sent it sliding across the floor. 

  Ki skidded to a halt, panting. She gripped her own spear, standing up straight and trying to put on a brave face despite the urge to cry. Blood splattered across the Vault doors flashed through her mind, as well as the angry look on the face of the eldest guard, Ti, before she took off running after the thief.

  “Please,” the thief begged, his voice trembling and his dark eyes glittering with unshed tears. “I didn’t touch the Vault, I swear. I never even made it close!”

  Ki grit her teeth. Lies, all he spoke was lies.

  Ti scoffed in agreement with Ki’s unspoken thought, brushing a loose strand of black hair out of her face. “I can handle this, Ki,” she ground out, glaring down at the thief. “Go back to the Vault and wait with Na.”

  Ki nodded, taking in another deep breath to ease the tightness in her lungs. Her legs ached from running, and her heart pounded in her chest. Guilt flickered at the back of her mind at the thought of facing Na again, but she swallowed it and turned on her heels. Without looking back, she ran down the long, empty expanse, back to the only thing visible in the entire voided Chamber: the ornate doors of the Vault she guarded. 

  A thief hardly ever made it close enough to the Vault to cause this much trouble. Ki’s gut twisted, knowing it was her fault. She had been staring off into space, thinking about unimportant things instead of keeping watch like she was supposed to. The thief had made it all the way down the expanse to where Na, one her fellow guards, was standing just at the front of the Vault.

  As the memory replayed itself, Na and the Vault came into view. Blood still coated Na’s cream colored tunic, his face still contorted in pain. Without thinking about it, Ki’s pace quickened as she rushed to his side.

  “Na!” she called out, her voice echoing. 

  Despite that the echo was normal to her, she found it odd that she could no longer hear the voices of Ti and the thief. Quickly glancing back, she couldn’t see them either. The black room had swallowed them, obscuring them from her vision.

  She shook her head and brushed her long, blonde braid over her shoulder and out of her way. She crossed the last few feet of distance between her and her fellow guard, desperately trying to ease her racing thoughts. He was still standing, though he leaned against the giant Vault doors. Dark crimson splotches decorated the gold carvings in the door, mingling with older, more brown spots that suggested Na wasn’t the first to shed blood while guarding the Vault.

  He lifted his head and a smile briefly crossed his features before it faltered and fell away again. Ki halted in front of him and peeled his hand back from the wound in his shoulder. Relief swept over her at the thought that the thief had missed his chest and only managed to injure his shoulder instead. She supposed she had Na’s quick reflexes to thank for it, if only he had been able to dodge the blow fully instead of only partially.

  “It’s just a little scratch,” he said, trying to laugh it off, but she could hear the tightness of pain in his voice. “I’ll be fine, Ki.”

  Ki nodded to acknowledge that she had heard him, but pushed back his tunic anyways to reveal the wound. A deep gash met her eyes, blood still trickling from the edges and sticking to her fingers. She winced, bile rising in her throat. If she didn’t know better, she could have sworn the room was spinning as well. 

 “Sit down,” she instructed him, forcing the tremble out of her voice. 

  The three Vault guards had been in the Chamber for as long as they could remember, with only their silver spears and the clothes on their backs. They had been left no other supplies by the Master, and had been given no explanation for any of it. Ki had never asked for one, as the Vault and the void-like chamber had never bothered her before.

  But now, every fiber of her being burned for an explanation for why they had no supplies--specifically, no medical supplies. 

  Na was her friend, and had been for as long as she could recall, and now his blood coated her fingers. She tore off a strip of cloth from the hem of her skirt and used it to wrap around the wound. The work was clumsy and bloody, and tears kept getting in the way of her vision. Stupid tears.

  “Sorry,” she finally managed to mumble as she tore off another strip of cloth and wrapped the wound a second time. “It’s all my fault that this happened to you. I should have been paying attention. When Ti gets back, she can look at the wound. I don’t think I did a very good job.”

  Ti had always been the most dependable of the three. Ki supposed it came from her being eighteen years old, while Na and Ki herself were both only sixteen. Whatever the cause for it was, Ti had been the leader of their group since Ki could recall. On top of that, Ti handled most of the intruders that came to break into the Vault.

  But the Master was ultimately the only one the three answered to, and he visited very rarely.

   Na fixed his tunic again, testing the limits of his arm. He grinned at Ki before picking up his spear and pushing himself to his feet again. “I think it’s fine. It’ll heal eventually. Thanks.”

  “It’s not fine, it’s--”

  “And it’s not your fault, Ki. It’s not like I was really paying attention either.” Na combed back his cinnamon brown hair, exposing more of the freckles that dotted his caramel colored skin. “Guess we’re both gonna get an earful from Ti, aren’t we?”

  Ki chuckled, the weight lifting from her shoulders and allowing her to breathe easily. “I guess so.”

  “Get back to your post then.” He winked at her. “My shoulder will be just fine, thank you.”

  She smiled, standing there until he had returned to his own post before she turned. Her heart clenched at the slight waver in his steps, and the way he shifted his spear to his other hand to keep the weight of it off his shoulder. Her own shoulder ached at the thought of his wound, and she wondered how he could brush it off so easily.

  Na was her friend, and she treasured how different he was from Ti. However, sometimes, she worried about his uncanny ability to push on no matter his circumstances.

  She didn’t know how long she had known him, but she had learned Na never quit or gave up on anything. Not even an injury like that one could stop him.

  Ki shuddered, looking down at the blood on her hands. She grit her teeth and wiped her hands off on her torn skirt. It was already ruined anyway.

  As soon as Ki returned to her post on the left side of the Vault door, her spear gripped in both her hands, Ti emerged from the blackness at the far side of the room. As always when she returned from dealing with thieves, she stood a little taller, her chin up and her head held high. Her dark blue and teal clothes were free of blood--spotlessly clean as always--but her green eyes were narrowed, the look that she always wore when she returned.

  “The thief is gone,” she said, taking up her spear and returning to her post. “I trust Na is well now too?”

  “As much as I was beforehand, I suppose,” Na muttered, ignoring Ki when she shot him a look.

  “Very good.” Ti turned her back on the two of them, a few strands of her black hair falling loose from the tight bun at the back of her head. “I trust you learned a valuable lesson here, Ki?”

  Swallowing thickly, Ki looked down at the blood stains on her skirt, and the lingering bits of crimson on her hands. The thief’s face flashed through her mind, along with his bloodied blade and the smears of dark red across the Vault doors behind her.

  Vigilance was required for a Vault guard: a lesson Ti had been trying to teach her from the very beginning, or at least, as long as she could remember.

  But was that really what Ki had learned from this? Or was it that thieves would do anything--anything--to get into the Vault?

  “Yes, Ti,” she finally said, looking down at the silver spear gripped tightly in her hands. “Yes, I did.”

  Whatever was inside the Vault, whatever the Master was trying to protect, must have been important. And yet, neither Ki, Na, or even Ti had ever been told it was.