NameLess

”We’re here.” Jak stopped his story at the same time that he stopped walking. ”These are the rooms.”

”But we were just getting to the good stuff!! I need more wholesome content.” Psyche obviously wasn’t too pleased by the redheads sudden backstory hiatus, and she freely made it known. Landing on the ground, the grey haired woman scowled slightly. ”Not as if you can’t talk and search at the same time.”

”What’s stopping you from waiting until we finish,” Jak countered.

”Curiosity.”

”Tough.”

”You’re infuriating.”

Jak ignored the last jab and glanced over the three rooms in front of him. It had taken a while, but the two of them had reached the very edge of the maze room, where the Athrafstos walls met each other in a triangular formation. There was one room in front of them that rested dead center of the triangle and two more off to the left of it. They weren’t abnormally large rooms, at least they didn’t appear as such from the outside. Apart from positioning, they looked like every other room within the maze, nothing to give any indication that they could hold secrets within their depths.

”Choose.”

”What?”

”Choose a room.” Jak glanced back at the Buttermoth. ”Psycho.”

”Psyche Cho,” Psyche corrected, glaring at the redhead. ”And why should I pick if you can’t even get my name right?”

”Then don’t.”

Psyche let out a sigh, as if realizing the futility of getting angry with the young Rookie. Gesturing to the room in front of them, she made her choice. ”None of these rooms are marked. Assuming that everyone who goes through here has to take the same way down, it would make sense for them to put it in an easily recognizable place so they don’t HAVE to mark it. Easy for them, hard and confusing for those who aren’t in the know. It would be the logical choice to make.”

Jak walked forward and calmly opened the door.

”Just like that? You aren’t gonna ask questions or think about it?” Psyche followed behind him as the youth stepped into the rooms confines.

”I asked you to choose.” Jak did a quick scan of the interior. ”Why would I question a decision I asked you to make?”

Psyche didn’t respond.

As the outside of the room suggested, there wasn’t anything particularly special about the rooms interior. From the looks of it, they were in some sort of living room that spanned the size of a small house. A huge bookcase filled with various scrolls, orbs, and hardcover books took up one whole half of the room, dust collecting over the surface. In the center, couches were organized around a Projection Orb, though this too looked as if it hadn’t seen any use, layers of dust coating the cushions as well as the projector itself. There were some chairs lining the walls, but they didn’t really add much to the decor, so the duo didn’t give them much thought.

Right from the jump, it was clear that no one had set foot in the room in ages.

”Next room.” Jak said, not even bothering to rummage through it.

For once, Psyche didn’t even object. She merely followed behind the redhead as he made his way to the room next door.

”Welp, that’s the last room.” Mako let out a sigh, clapping his hands together. ”Our work here is done.”

”Wasn’t really that hard,” Ganja said with a bright smile. ”Though it would’ve been nice to find something actually important.”

”Felt like a waste of our time,” Kungo muttered. ”We didn’t even find anything.”

At the same time as Jak was finishing up his search on the first of three rooms, Mako and his Guild knocked off the last few areas they were assigned to search. Similar to Jak, they hadn’t actually managed to locate anything of use to the Coalition, neither finding information nor a way into the Hideouts depths. The only thing they had garnered from their expeditions was that most of the rooms were covered in layers of dirt and grime, indicating that they likely hadn’t been attended to since the place had first been built. Whether or not that was a clue, none of them were fully sure as they reconvened in a nearby hallway, exchanging what they had found.

”Well, it’s all good. It’s a big place, so it’s normal for us to hit some dead-ends.” Mako calmly pulled out his Information Orb and tapped its surface. ”I’m sure the bonehead is having no luck on his end either.”

”Umm, Mako....when did you change your name?”

For the first time since their arrival, Minaret finally spoke up, her soft voice easily carrying through the chatter of her fellow Water Wolves, causing them each to quiet down. Slowly, the shy white-haired girl made her way to Mako’s side and gently tapped the far right corner of the screen, zooming in on a rather small piece of text that was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the hologram. In big block letters, the name YANDA JAK flashed before the blue haired Rookies eyes.

”Wait...what?”

”Hmm, this room hasn’t been touched either.” Jak walked out of the second room, closing it behind him before Psyche could even approach the door. ”Let’s head to the last one.”

”Do you think the dust could just be a way to mislead us?” Psyche touched her hand to her chin as she thought it over.

”What would be the point? If you built multiple layers within the building, why only make sure the entrance is carefully concealed, especially to the point where you even fake dust? Why not just conceal the whole thing?”

”The minds of most nobles are a true mystery to me,” Psyche replied. ”I couldn’t tell you what any of them are thinking. Only what a logical person would do.”

”You’re logical?”

”Quite. I was rated top 20,000 Rift Hunters in terms of intelligence by the WGC. I got the accolades to prove it.”

Jak opened the door to the final room and took one look inside, poking his head into its interior. Pulling himself back, the redhead gave the grey haired individual an odd look, one Psyche couldn’t really identify.

”Well, I guess you can tell me what the logic behind this room is.”

Slightly confused, the Rift Hunter sidestepped the redhead and fully walked into the room, neon orange hues swiftly taking in the confines.

It didn’t take long.

Unlike with the previous rooms, the first being a living room and the second one being a whole bedroom setup, this one was completely barren, void of all objects save for one small stand situated in the very center of the room. On the stand, on top of a thick Athrafstos pole was a singular large red button. Directly across from that, written on the wall in big cursive writing were the words ’DO NOT PRESS’, clearly in reference to the comically large red button in the middle.

”I mean.....it’s a pretty clear choice,” Psyche said, walking up to the pole. ”Not really much logic to it.”

”So we have the same idea then,” Jak said, closing the door behind him.

”I mean, we’re both sensible people. It only makes sense that we would have similar-”

BEEP!

A small sound echoed through the room as the fiery redhead slammed his hand on top of the button, giving it a firm press.

”WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING??!!” Psyche shouted as the pole began to sink into the floor, disappearing a little at a time. ”WHY WOULD YOU PRESS IT!!!??”

”Curiosity,” Jak responded with the most serious face possible.

”What kind of idiot presses an unknown button in the middle of a room? Especially one that says DO NOT PRESS!!” Psyche fluttered off the ground as the room began to shake. ”Are you criminally insane??!!”

Before Jak could actively answer the Buttermoths question, a buzzing sound rang out from beneath the youths feet, a sound reminiscent to that of a mosquito. Rapid clicking noises could be heard somewhere far below, as if gas was escaping in multiple places. Eventually, all the rattling and clinking grounded to a halt, stopping after one final, extremely loud DING. Just below Jaks feet, a trap door opened up, swallowing the boy before he could even shout, slamming shut the moment he had fully fallen through.

”THIS IS WHY WE DONT PRESS BUTTONS!!”

Clenching a fist together, Psyche stuck out her thumb, index, and middle finger.

”Look into the void with an all-seeing eye!! Glimpse over the structure of existence and show me the depths of which it has to offer, demonstrating its ebb and flow.” A white aura surrounded the Rift Hunter, a glow that grew stronger with each spoken word. ”Every breath, every life, every physical manifestation. Heed my call and bestow the vision of the all mighty!! ARC ENLIGHTENMENT!!”

VWOOM!!

Upon finishing her spell, the white aura blasted outwards, through the walls, through the floors and far out into the desert, beyond the hideout, encompassing dozens of kilometers. However, even with all of the info she received from the spell, Psyche put her entire focus on her immediate surroundings, namely the spot where Jak had fallen. At the same time, an alarm began to ring throughout the Maze room, throughout the entirety of the Spider Dome, a shrill screech that could wake even the dead. Still, the Buttermoth ignored it as she searched her mind for where Jak had ended up.

((”Jak!! You’re an idiot!!”)) Psyche attempted to reach through the void, her annoyance clear even in her thoughts. ((”You better not be dead!!”))

((”I’m not dead but that will probably change soon.”))

After about a minute of searching, Psyche’s consciousness traveling down the long chute that had whisked the redhead away, she managed to find the young Rookie. With her connection to everything within the white aura, she was able to see Jak and the spot he had landed in, a near empty room of about the same size as the first room they had entered. To the Buttermoths relief, Jak wasn’t harmed in any way.

That relief didn’t last the moment she saw what was in there with him.

((”I landed in here with a Vox Lion.”))