It didn’t take but a few steps forward before the Guards advanced. To Ki’s surprise, the two on the outer edge of the formation rushed towards them first, leaving the center Guard behind.

  Ti had not moved to intercept them like she anticipated her to.

  “It’s the two new Guards,” Ki called back to the volunteers. “Ti stayed beside the Vault!”

  Flint cursed under his breath, drawing back the string of his bow. “She must know it’s you.”

  Panic flared in Ki’s chest, her heart skipping a beat. Overturning one person was easy--even if that one person was Ti. Overturning two might be a different story, especially when not everyone was armed or trained. Ki included herself in the list of those not trained or armed. 

  Flint let loose an arrow, which grazed the side of the new-Ki’s face. She yelped in pain, pressing her hand to her cheek. Blood stuck to her curly black hair, her glare throwing daggers at Flint as she collected herself. The blond Na didn’t stop to check on her, charging straight for Emma with his spear raised. Emma ducked beneath his first strike, throwing a kick to his abdomen. He sputtered and coughed, but it only took him a moment to go in for another strike. His swings were awkward, his use of the spear clunky and strange. Ki cringed at the thought of that being how she had looked to the thieves.

  Thinking back to it, the only one who ever wielded her spear with proper grace precision was Ti.

  “Ki!”

  Before she had a chance to respond to Flint’s cry, the end of one of the silver spears met with her abdomen--right where her wound from Ti was. With a yelp, she crashed into the floor. Pain raced up her side, dragging out the worst of the dull ache from the wound. The world tilted, her vision flickering for a moment before it settled. The new-Ki’s face loomed over hers when her vision finally cleared. With a roar, new-Ki lifted her spear for a strike.

  Ki drew her legs back and threw a kick at the other girl’s chest. Groaning, new-Ki stumbled back in surprise, her spear clattering harmlessly to the ground.

  For once, Ki didn’t waste even a moment. She rushed forward and snatched up the spear, turning the sharp point on the replacement. The new-Ki. The fake-Ki.

  Anger welled in her chest, heat of rage flaring in her cheeks. She gripped the spear until her fingers ached. The thought of her being so easily replaced, her name being given to another. The Chamber, the Vault, the Master had all stolen something from her, an identity she couldn’t even remember. When she had disobeyed, they had simply passed “Ki” onto the next person, just as they had done with “Na”.

  The other girl--the other Ki--sneered at her, hazel eyes narrowed with hatred. She said nothing, though her lips twitched like she wanted to.

  Ki stepped forward, proud when the other girl stepped back. Twirling her spear as she had seen Ti do many times before, she let the sharp end touch the ground. “The only Ki here is me!” With a quick swing, the blunt end smashed into the other girl’s head.

  She collapsed soundlessly, blood oozing from the side of her head. Only the slight rise and fall of her shoulder told Ki she was still alive. 

  “Woah. Didn’t know you had that in you.”

  She glanced back to see Flint standing just a few paces away, his bowstring drawn back and an arrow nocked against the shaft. He quickly lowered it with a sheepish smile.

  “I was ready to assist if you needed me to,” he said.

  Ki glanced down at the black haired girl again. “I didn’t know I had it in me either, but the thought of just… being nothing anymore. Being someone nameless, someone faceless, all because I had sought the truth, that hurt. I don’t want to be Ki, but I’m nothing if I’m not.”

  Even as she said them, the words left a bitter taste in her mouth. They came almost automatically, or robotically. Like they weren’t her words at all.

  Deep down, she knew she was someone else. Her life and meaning didn’t hinge on being Ki. Ki was only a Vault Guard, a name given by the Master.

  But it was all she had ever known.

  Shaking her head, she turned her gaze to the others. The blond Na had been quickly and easily overwhelmed by the number of volunteers she had brought. It now seemed excessive, but she hadn’t accounted for taking out the replacement-Ki on her own. Nor had she planned for Ti to simply stand by the Vault, watching.

  Flint knelt by the replacement-Ki, checking for a pulse before he dragged her upright and hauled her off the ground. “Go on. We’ll figure out what to do with these two.”

  She hesitated, gripping the spear. “But didn’t you want to enter the Vault too?”

  “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Ki swept her gaze over the faces of those who had come with her, lingering longest on Flint. Something about it didn’t sit right with her. They had known something before coming here, something they weren’t telling her. 

  None of them had that same spark of curious desire in their eyes as she had seen originally. None of them seemed too keen on moving towards the Vault.

  But they had before the two Guards had been taken out.

  That same sense of wrongness fell over Ki, pressing down on her shoulders like someone had dropped a boulder on top of her. 

  Even Flint seemed reluctant to go farther.

  She swallowed the hard truth and turned back to face the Vault alone. She should have known it would come to this.

  She would have to face Ti alone.

  Her legs felt like lead as she took a step forward. Her steps dragged her down, heavy with anxiety. Over and over, she thought back to the last time she had seen Ti. She had lost in a fight against her then, and she would surely lose again without help.

  But she didn’t have to win, she only had to make it inside the Vault.

  Ti didn’t move from her post in front of the Vault. She only lifted her spear when the distance between them closed enough that Ki could see her face. Her expression remained blank and emotionless, as if she felt nothing at all from the sight of Ki again.

  “Did you find what you were searching for?” Ti asked, resting the shaft of her spear against her shoulder. “Or did you discover there’s nothing out there at all?”

  “There was something out there. A world much larger than this one, filled with the people who live in fear of you.” Ki took a deep breath, squeezing her own spear. “And I came back to enter the Vault, to find the escape from this… curse.”

  Ti glanced past her, towards the others still gathered in the Chamber. “And you subjected many more to this, I see. Did you threaten them into helping you, without even understanding a thing about them?”

  “They came of their own accord!” Ki snapped. “To find the truth, which you and the Master have hidden from us!”

  “Truth,” Ti scoffed, listing her head to the side. “This is why you are unworthy, Ki.” She sighed and shifted her feet, taking the stance of battle that Ki had seen so many times before, only this time, it was directed at her.

  This time, she was the thief of the Vault.

  “If they came to help you and to enter the Vault, tell me why they haven’t come any closer since dealing with the other two.”

  Ki froze, her brow furrowing. “What?”

  Ti rushed at her, spear pointed right towards her chest. Ki leapt out of the way, gritting her teeth. Without missing a beat, Ti spun on her heel and thrust her spear forward. The tip grazed Ki’s arm. 

  “Let me enlighten you,” Ti sneered as she went in for another strike, missing again as Ki jumped back. “Once they have disarmed a Guard, the thieves cannot advance any farther into the Chamber. These are the rules, and you thought you could break them?”

  Ki went in for a strike of her own, ignoring the sharp stare from Ti’s emerald green eyes boring into the back of her skull. She swung her spear, hoping to sweep Ti’s legs out from under her. Ti thrust her elbow into Ki’s jaw, knocking her down before the spear ever made contact with Ti’s legs. Stars danced in Ki’s vision, her jaw throbbing with pain. 

  She grabbed her spear and blocked Ti’s foot as she raised it to plant it on her chest. With a grunt of effort, she flung her away and scrambled to her feet, her arms trembling. 

  “I came to break the rules because no one ever told me what they were.” Ki dropped the tip of her spear against the ground. “They don’t make any sense either. Nothing about this place makes any sense!”

  Again, Ti sighed as she pushed herself upright again. “You’re still unworthy, Ki. No matter how much you fight, you will always be unworthy.”

  “Stop saying that!” she cried, shaking her head. “Maybe I don’t care to be worthy. All I want is to see Na again!”

  Ti laughed as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She collected her spear from the ground, holding it loosely in one hand. “Your Na is gone, I told you once before. He failed the Master.”

  Ki lifted her chin. Holding out her hand, she dropped the spear. It hit the ground with a resounding clang, echoing in the silence of the Chamber. She held Ti’s gaze for a moment, finding nothing there at all. With a huff, she spun on her heel and made her way towards the Vault.

  The ornate doors of the Vault loomed over her, decorated with the same swirls, spirals, and patterns as she had always known. Spots of blood, now dried and brown, stained the front of the door, left from the unlucky Guards who had come before.

  She rested her hand against the stains. Some of that blood belonged to Na, and it had been her fault that he had been wounded in the first place. 

  “That makes two of us then,” she murmured.

  Without wasting another second, she grabbed the handles of the door and pulled it open. The doors were surprisingly light, despite their massive size. They were soundless as they opened, revealing the dark room inside.

  Ki glanced over her shoulder. Ti, as she had done when Na opened the door, stood there and simply watched, her face expressionless. Behind her, so far away, Flint still lingered in the Chamber. Ki couldn’t read his face, but she could picture that stupid grin on his face. That triumphant, proud grin.

  She wondered if he had known he would never be able to enter the Vault if he engaged in a fight with a Guard.

  She wondered if they had all known and still chosen to come anyway.

  Squaring her shoulders, she turned away to face the Vault once more. With nothing left to say or to do, she stepped forward into the dark room.

  The doors slammed shut behind her.