<Gabi's POV>

I turned to Marius as I found a partially open door.
"I think we can take this one to start. What do you think?"
"I don't see why not, seeing as there's no definitive route we may as well investigate every possibility."
Having no reply for that statement, I pushed the door opened and entered a new chamber. Marius followed me in.
"This would be a good time for a premonition," I reflected. "I wish I could summon them voluntarily."
As Marius seemed t be lost in his own thoughts, I took a look at my surroundings.
"Hey, now that I think of it, this place looks like it was really beautiful once. I'd like to pay it a visit once it's back to normal," I commented.
Marius finally came out of his deep thoughts.
"Powers such as that have a tendency to only appear when they're least needed. At least that's what seems to happen with my poor mother." He made a gesture that somehow looked like a shrug. "Glimpses like that are easily misinterpreted anyway."
"Are you speaking of Pandora?," I asked.
"Indeed, she may not be my biological mother but what does that matter? I don't think genes play much of a part in forming bonds. Anyway, you know she sees the future in her dreams, right? It can't be summoned, nor is it easy to interpret. In fact, I'd say the power has done her more harm than good."
"I know. I wish I could do something for her. In my case they have done some good, but only thanks to the stone. Without it, I'd get just useless glimpses at who I'll come across the next day or things like those. But some of my visions have been hard to assimilate, especially those related to the Black Battalion." Then I reflected... "We shouldn't be talking about those things now, though. This place is already gloomy enough as it is."
"Indeed," Marius frowned, "and unnaturally so. You were right earlier, it does seem to have been corrupted from something much purer."

With that, he left my side to inspect the chamber more closely.
"Be careful. Tell me if you find anything," I advised him before deciding to do the same.
Soon, a large tapestry with an impressively complex design caught my attention. Upon taking a closer look at it, I called Marius.
"Hey, look at this!"
"What is it?," he asked, returning to my side.
"Look, this tapestry has an almost symmetrical pattern, but not completely," I explained. "If you look carefully, it could be seen as a maze."
"You make an excellent point there! Is it possible that it could be a map?"
"That's what I was thinking. With the golden lines being corridors and the other figures chambers, or maybe other references... I could easily see it as a map, though I'd be shocked at our luck if it ended up being a map of this temple. If only we could tell exactly what each figure means..."
"I have to say, it's pretty incomprehensible to me," Marius said, peering at the tapestry. "If we could find that Shelgon friend of yours he may have a better idea of what this is, though. He is a native of this area, after all."
"And if we could find either Lagi or Ventura, finding him would be easier," I added. "Maybe we shouldn't have rushed to take separate paths."
"It's too late to have second thoughts now. At least this way we can cover more ground. Who knows how complex this temple is?"
"At least about as complex as this abstract representation, I would say," I smiled.
Marius looked up at the map again.
"What I'd give to be able to study this further... but now isn't the time, I suppose."
"So, what shall we do now?," I asked him.
"Hmm. Tricky. Part of me says we should take the tapestry with us to show the others, but then again do we really want to be removing it?"
"It doesn't feel right. Not to mention it would be hard to carry it around, and it would slow us down. How about we choose a point and try to reach it?"
"Which sounds a far more beneficial idea. Okay, as much as my experiences with Kirei make me feel such powers shouldn't be relied too heavily upon, I say you have the better chance of choosing a destination that will lead to something beneficial."
"Okay. I hope this works."

I held the glowing stone firmly in my left hand and pressed it against my heart while looking at the tapestry. I didn't know how the stone worked, nor how my own abilities did for that matter, but I hoped for a signal of any kind. All I got was a vague sensation, but I'd have to go with that, since it was the only clue I had.
"This white thing on the right," I said pointing at a particular rectangle that looked brighter than any other shape on the cloth. "It reminds me of the place where I found the stone. Don't ask me why, it's just a white square, but it does."
"Well that's as good a starting point as any," Marius approved. "Shall we make a move, then?"
"Alright. But carefully. I think we may find something on the way."
"I'll trust your judgement. I've seen far too much to be skeptical about such hunches."
"So have I, for both good and bad."

We started heading for the white square, whatever it was. Luck would have it so that we'd have to take a long detour before reaching that spot, but that's another story and shall be told another time. Or maybe not, but I like that quote.