<Estel's POV>

I couldn't think of the nearest future, because I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know where we were going, nor what we were going to find, let alone what would happen to us. Thinking of the past made me nostalgic, while the present was just creepy. Besides, all those who had spoken to me before had already taken other paths, and I was left with two pokemon I knew nothing about. At least the Gastly seemed nice enough, even if he didn't seem quite aware of the gravity of our situation.
"This is a fascinating place, don't you think?," he commented.
"Big gloomy temple. Great," his companion ironized.
"It used to be beautiful. Now the Black Dragon has twisted it and only evil's in the air," I explained.
"Always the way. Always someone coming along and spoiling everything," the Paras protested in a tone that sounded scarily neutral.
"I wish I'd spent more time here in the past. I never got to know most of the chambers and corridors," I sighed.
"Pity," said the Gastly. "They all look so similar! Still, that's all part of the fun."
At that point, we arrived at a junction.
"Okay, left or right?," the Gastly asked.
"Either way. You're the ghost, don't you have any supernatural powers or anything?," his friend queried.
"Well... it's hard. This place is so full of evil it's hard to single anything out!"
"He bluffs again," his friend said smugly.
"I've heard some stories about mazes and left was always the right choice for the first junction," I tried to help. "I don't know if that holds in reality, though."
"Sometimes fiction and reality blur. I say it's worth a shot," suggested the ghost.
"Alright, then," I agreed. "It's a weak reason, but the only one we have, so it will have to serve us. We haven't come this far to get frozen upon the first choice that comes to us. Let's go."

We walked for a while in silence, until the Paras decided to talked to me. It may have been my imagination, but I felt something had changed in his tone.
"Tell me something... uhh... Estel. What was this place like before the Dark Dragon arrived?"
"I didn't see much of it, but the rooms were full of light, and the sculptures and paintings looked alive," I explained. "If you were hurt, sick or tired, you began to feel better only by stepping into the temple."
"I see..." he replied before falling silent again.
"What's wrong, friend? You seem troubled," asked the Gastly.
"I don't need you and your movie script talk, okay? There's nothing wrong with me that you keeping what passes for your nose out won't cure."
"Movie script?," I asked.
I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Oh, sorry, you've not had to deal with this idiot before have you? He's convinced the whole world is a giant work of fiction."
"And our Paras friend here is just a total grouch," the Gastly stuck out his big tongue.
"In that case, would fiction be real?," I wondered, puzzled at those thoughts.
"Fiction's as real as you want it to be," the Gastly grinned. "There's the problem in a nutshell. I'll admit it, I get carried away sometimes. But don't be worried, that's just how I am."
"I wish this were just fiction," I reflected. "That way we couldn't really get hurt or worse."
"You talk sense," the Paras replied, thoughtfully.
"True enough, but don't you agree some things are worth taking a few risks for?," the ghost grinned, just before noticing another junction. "Okay, any votes for this one?"
"I don't think old stories will help us now," I admitted.
"Well then, what about random choices? We went left last time, this time we go right," the Paras suggested.
"Of course! Then we can zigzag towards the heart of the temple, and if I know my dangerous ruins then that'll be exactly where we need to be!," his friend cheered.
The bug said nothing, but rolled his eyes upwards.
"That would only work if we didn't take any turns between junctions," I noted.
So, we turned right to find yet another corridor, and kept going.