He appeared to be just under thirty. His hair was light, leaning toward a cold blond, messy in a way that suggested recent neglect rather than long-standing filth. His clothes were light-colored, simple, but well made — clean fabric, no tears, no dust stains.Anyone looking at him would say he had been placed there only moments ago.
Ethan approached slowly."Breathing is steady," he murmured. "He doesn't seem injured."
Jay stayed at the entrance, shield slightly raised, making sure any unexpected reaction would be blocked before reaching the rest of the group.
Elenya walked around, analyzing the room."There's no other exit. Nowhere someone could be hiding."
Marcus crossed his arms."Then someone brought him here… and left through the same way we came in. Without leaving a trace."
Sienna, who had been watching in silence, lifted her gaze above the man's head — a reflex born from having seen icons hovering over NPCs, monsters, and players countless times.
She froze.
Her expression hardened."Ethan."
The mage looked up as well.
There was nothing there.No color.No symbol.Not even a faded outline.
An absolute void.
"'No icon'…" Sienna whispered. "Is that even possible?"
Ethan took a deep breath, his jaw tightening."Everything here has an icon.This… wasn't supposed to happen."
Jay tightened his grip on the shield's handle."A bug?"
"If it is," Marcus replied, "it's the worst kind — the kind we don't understand."
"Let's try to wake him up," Sienna said.
Elenya nodded."Let's."
When Ethan touched him, it felt as if he'd been shocked. The body jerked involuntarily, and the man fell off the platform.
Before anyone could say anything else, the man drew a deep, forceful breath, as if air had finally returned to his lungs.
His expression twisted in pain.
Slowly, his eyes began to open.
He woke like someone ripped from a nightmare without remembering the dream.
The light-colored eyes blinked a few times, trying to focus. First on the cracked ceiling, then on the walls, then on the figures around him.
His body tried to react quickly, but his head seemed to explode from the inside.
He brought a hand to his temple, fingers pressing hard."Agh…"
Ethan grabbed his shoulder, stopping any sudden movement."Hey, easy. No need to get up so fast."
The voice wasn't cold, nor overly gentle. It was firm, controlled — the tone of someone who had dealt with frightened people before.
The man took a few deep breaths, trying to stabilize the pain."What…" His voice came out hoarse. He swallowed. "What's happening?"
Elenya took a small step forward, keeping a respectful distance."You're in a temple, on the Third Floor. We found you unconscious in here."
His eyes moved from face to face. Jay, motionless at the doorway with his shield ready. Marcus, stone-serious. Sienna, far too alert to be mere curiosity.
"I…" he began, but the thought seemed to break before it could become a sentence.
His hand returned to his head.
The weight of the pain was visible.
Sienna spoke first, this time with less irony than usual:"Easy. No one here is going to attack you. Breathe."
He did as she said. One, two, three seconds. His breathing began to normalize, but his expression remained lost.
Ethan waited until the rhythm steadied before continuing."Can you tell if you're feeling pain anywhere besides your head?"
The man closed his eyes for a moment, checking his own body."No…" he answered, still short of breath. "It's just… here. Like someone's squeezing from the inside."
"Alright," Marcus said. "At least it doesn't look like you're injured."
The stranger tried to force a memory. Any memory.
Nothing.
A vast emptiness where something should have been.
Elenya watched his expression change — a mix of effort, frustration, and… fear.
Only then did Ethan risk the next question:"Do you remember your name?"
Silence.
He tried.Truly.
His eyes drifted to some point on the wall.His fingers pressed harder against his head.His face tensed.
For a few seconds, it seemed as if a word might finally surface.
But it didn't.
He opened his eyes again.
They were empty.
"No." His voice came out low, almost a whisper. "I… don't remember."
Sienna exchanged a quick look with Elenya.
Jay broke the silence:"That's okay. Sometimes, after a shock, memory slips a bit. Maybe—"
"It's not 'a bit,'" he interrupted, shaking his head. "I don't remember anything.Not before this, not where I was, not what I was doing.It's like… only this moment exists."
He seemed more disturbed by that than by the pain itself.
Marcus inhaled slowly."And how you ended up in this temple?"
The stranger closed his eyes again, as if trying to rewind a nonexistent film."I don't know. Nothing comes to mind.Just… darkness.And then I opened my eyes, and you were here."
The entire room seemed to grow heavier.
Ethan planted his staff more firmly on the ground, thinking.
Elenya voiced what everyone had been avoiding:"Ethan… and the icon?"
The man frowned."Icon?"
Sienna let out a small, ironic sigh."In this world, everyone has a symbol floating up here," she said, pointing above her own head. "Player, NPC, monster, item. It's how the system sees us."
"Icon… system… I don't understand anything. And mine…?" he asked slowly.
"It doesn't exist," Ethan replied flatly. "We're not seeing anything.And when we tried to identify you, the system didn't respond."
The silence that followed wasn't just uncomfortable.
It was dangerous.
Jay broke the tension with a practical question:"So what now? Leaving him here alone is clearly not an option."
Marcus nodded once."Taking him with us isn't very smart either. If he's some kind of trap… or something that attracts trouble, bringing that into the middle of the floor is asking to die."
Sienna crossed her arms."We also don't know if he can fight, if he has a class, if he's a player or an NPC. We don't even know if he's supposed to be here."
The man himself listened in silence, as if they were talking about someone else."NPC? I don't understand anything…" he began, his voice faltering. "But if I'm a problem, you can leave me here."
Elenya answered before anyone else:"That's not how we do things."
She said it firmly.Without doubt.Without hesitation.
Ethan finally voiced what he had already decided:"There's one place where answers can appear when the system doesn't help: the Adventurers' Guild."
Jay looked at him."You want to take all this back to the First Floor… just because of him?"
"I want to know what he is before putting anyone else at risk," Ethan replied directly. "And before putting him at risk too."
The Guild has registration crystals, status readings, advanced identification. If anyone can see something where the system is failing… it's them.
Sienna sighed."Going back to the First Floor now is… terrible for our pace. But worse is moving forward with someone the game pretends doesn't exist."
Marcus agreed."Going back to the First Floor wouldn't be a problem. From a safety standpoint, it's much better to be sure of what we're dealing with."
The stranger's eyes moved from one to another."I don't know if I can be useful," he said honestly. "But… if you want me to go, I will."
Ethan studied him for a moment. There was fear there, yes, but also… a strange kind of calm. Like someone who had no idea who he was, yet still accepted walking alongside strangers.
"Alright," the mage decided. "For now, you're coming with us. Down there, we'll try to figure out who you are."
Until then… we'll call you 'Nameless.'At least until you remember something better.
A short, awkward smile appeared on the man's face."'Nameless,' then."
Jay stepped closer, offering his shoulder for support."Just don't pass out again halfway, alright?"
"I… I'll try."
They left the room, crossed the corridor that gradually returned to dust, passed once more through the main hall, and descended the temple's stairway to face the road back.
The Third Floor hadn't shown anything yet.
But before any real challenge, before any boss…
it had already given them a man without a past, without an icon, without a name.
And for that alone, that floor already felt far more dangerous than the others.