The hidden chamber remained silent for several moments after Lavya slapped him.
Vikram still held his burning cheek while staring at her with wounded disbelief.
The blue lamps floating near the ceiling cast shifting shadows across the room, making the glowing symbols on the walls pulse like living things.
Somewhere beyond the hidden corridors of the palace, distant footsteps echoed endlessly through Mayasabha.
Lavya acted completely unaffected.
She calmly adjusted the silver ornaments in her hair before turning toward one of the glowing walls.
“Stop staring at me like an abandoned puppy.”
Vikram immediately accused her of assault.
“You just assaulted me!”
Lavya replied that he deserved it.
“You deserved it.”
Vikram dramatically shouted at her.
“That was attempted murder!”
Lavya calmly corrected him.
“That was restraint.”
Vikram muttered something under his breath, which instantly made her narrow her eyes.
“Repeat that.
Louder.”
He finally admitted what he had called her.
“I said you’re emotionally unstable.”
Lavya immediately replied.
“An interesting statement coming from someone dragged into a divine illusion palace because reality itself found him suspicious.”
Vikram silently accepted the point while Lavya looked annoyingly satisfied after winning the argument.
Vikram finally pushed himself away from the wall and properly looked around the chamber.
Unlike the gigantic halls outside, this place felt strangely personal.
Small shelves filled with scrolls lined the walls while metallic objects floated slowly in the air, as if gravity behaved differently here.
A glowing stream of water flowed through the corner of the room without any visible source.
Nothing inside Mayasabha followed logic.
Vikram exhaled tiredly and demanded answers before his brain melted completely.
“Okay, I need answers before my brain completely melts.”
Lavya casually insulted his intelligence again before finally becoming slightly serious.
“Considering your current intellect, I doubt there is much left to melt.”
Her sharp eyes shifted toward the glowing symbols around the room as she quietly explained that this place was Mayasabha.
“This place is Mayasabha.”
The name echoed strangely through the chamber.
Vikram complained that she had already told him that earlier and still hadn’t explained anything.
“You already told me that earlier, and you still haven’t explained anything.”
Lavya crossed her arms and warned him not to interrupt every ten seconds with stupid comments.
“Do not interrupt me every ten seconds with foolish remarks, or I shall personally throw you into an illusory river.”
Vikram promised to try his best.
“I’ll try my best.”
Lavya immediately informed him that he would fail.
“And you shall fail.”
Finally, she began explaining the origin of the palace.
“Long before the modern world existed, there lived an Asura architect named Maya.
During the era of the Mahabharata, after Arjuna spared Maya’s life during the burning of the Khandava Forest, Maya built an unimaginable palace for the Pandavas.”
As Lavya spoke, the glowing walls around them shifted into moving visions.
Vikram watched endless golden halls form from light itself.
Crystal gardens floated in midair while rivers moved through polished marble floors.
“Mayasabha was a palace capable of deceiving human perception itself.
Water appeared as land.
Land appeared as water.
Open paths became walls, while closed doors hid entrances.
Even mighty kings lost themselves inside it.”
Vikram immediately remembered the nobleman slipping earlier and suddenly realized something.
“Wait…
is this the same palace where Duryodhana fell and humiliated himself?”
Lavya looked mildly impressed that Vikram actually knew that much.
“Indeed.
I am mildly impressed that you actually know that much.”
He proudly credited the internet.
“I have the internet to thank.”
The glowing visions shifted again.
A king slipped upon illusory water while an enormous royal court laughed around him.
“That humiliation planted hatred.
Hatred led to war, and war drowned the world in blood.
Since then, Mayasabha has become more than a palace.
It became a judge.”
Silence settled inside the chamber after those words.
Vikram awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck before immediately asking the most important question in his mind.
“So…
how do I leave?”
Lavya stared at him blankly in disbelief.
“How is escaping your first concern when you are standing inside one of the greatest mystical constructs in existence?”
Vikram quickly reminded her that magical psychopaths had tried to vaporize him five minutes ago.
“Magical psychopaths tried to vaporize me five minutes ago!”
Lavya admitted that was reasonable.
“That is…
admittedly reasonable.”
She then put her hand into her bra and pulled out a bronze coin.
Vikram blinked and accidentally stared slightly too long again.
Lavya’s eyes sharpened instantly.
“Do you wish to lose the other cheek as well?”
Vikram panicked and insisted he was looking at the coin.
“I was looking at the coin!”
Lavya immediately accused him of being biologically incapable of honesty.
“You appear to be biologically incapable of honesty.”
Ignoring him, she held the coin between her fingers.
One side carried the letters BMV engraved deeply into the bronze surface, while the other side contained an intricate kundali-like design filled with rotating symbols.
Vikram leaned closer curiously.
“What is that?”
Lavya pressed her thumb against the kundali.
Instantly, the coin glowed dark orange.
A transparent screen materialized before her in midair.
Vikram nearly jumped backward in shock.
“What the hell?!”
The floating display looked like some impossible mixture of futuristic holographic technology and ancient Sanskrit geometry.
Symbols moved rapidly across the screen while glowing diagrams rotated endlessly.
Lavya casually scrolled through the display with her fingers as though it were completely normal.
“This is my Mudra interface.”
Vikram stared in disbelief.
“It looks like some kind of magical gaming HUD.”
Lavya ignored him.
From where he stood, Vikram could see sections displaying health status, future probability, mental stability, spiritual pressure, and threat calculations.
Some areas remained locked behind rotating symbols.
Vikram asked,
“Can that thing actually predict the future?”
Lavya calmly replied.
“To some extent.”
Vikram immediately declared the entire thing absurd.
“That’s absurd.”
Lavya called it basic.
“That is merely basic functionality.”
Before he could ask more questions, she dismissed the glowing screen with a flick of her fingers and slipped the coin away again.
Vikram immediately demanded to know where the coin came from.
“Where did that coin come from?”
Lavya admitted she had intentionally skipped explaining that part simply because she did not feel like it.
“I intentionally omitted that information because I did not feel like explaining it.”
Vikram argued that was not a valid reason.
“That’s not a valid reason!”
Lavya calmly explained that it absolutely was when she was smarter than him.
“It is perfectly valid when I am considerably more intelligent than you.”
Vikram seriously considered strangling her for a few seconds before sighing heavily and asking what exactly a Mudra was.
“Fine.
Then what exactly is a Mudra?”
Lavya lifted one hand casually.
Dark orange symbols formed around her fingers, and moments later, a glass of water materialized out of thin air.
Vikram froze completely.
Lavya calmly drank from the glass while watching his stunned expression with amusement.
“This is the power of a Mudra.”
After placing the floating glass beside her in midair, she explained that three major Mudra classes existed in creation.
“There are three major classes of Mudra in creation: Soldier Mudras, Queen Mudras, and King Mudras.”
Bronze-colored Soldier Mudras were the most common and usually specialized in practical abilities such as healing, crafting, combat, or domestic utility.
“My own Soldier Mudra allows me to generate useful objects related to daily needs, such as food, water, clothing, and basic tools.”
Vikram suspiciously pointed out that summoning household items sounded weak compared to future prediction.
“Summoning household items sounds pretty weak compared to predicting the future.”
Lavya immediately clarified that future prediction came from the interface itself, not her actual Mudra ability.
“The prediction of the future comes from the interface itself, not from my actual Mudra ability.”
Vikram quietly accepted the correction.
Lavya then explained that Silver Queen Mudras were vastly rarer and far stronger.
“Silver Queen Mudras are vastly rarer and far more powerful.
Their abilities affect concepts themselves, such as memory, gravity, emotion, dreams, or the perception of time.”
“Golden King Mudras stand even higher.
Their power is sufficient to reshape entire cities, armies, or even dimensions themselves.”
As she spoke, glowing silver and golden symbols briefly formed around the chamber.
Vikram swallowed nervously while listening.
Then Lavya’s expression changed slightly.
For the first time since meeting her, genuine reverence entered her voice.
“Yet one Mudra exists beyond all classifications.”
The air inside the chamber immediately became heavier.
“The Supreme King Mudra.”
Even the floating lamps dimmed slightly.
“It was born from stardust, forged within the core of the sun itself, and cooled in the cosmic sea before time fully stabilized.
Unlike every other Mudra, only one Supreme King Mudra exists in all creation.”
Her eyes slowly moved around the chamber.
“And Mayasabha itself resides within it.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Vikram stared at her in disbelief before slowly asking,
“Are you seriously telling me that this entire palace exists inside a coin?”
Lavya corrected him.
“It is not a mere coin.
It is a Mudra.”
Vikram immediately declared that explanation somehow sounded even worse.
“That explanation somehow makes it even worse.”
Lavya ignored his panic and explained that the Supreme King Mudra periodically chose contestants across dreams, fate, dimensions, and memory itself.
“The Supreme King Mudra periodically chooses contestants across dreams, fate, dimensions, and even memory itself.”
A horrible realization slowly formed in Vikram’s mind when she used the word contestant.
“Contestant?”
Lavya looked directly at him and calmly confirmed that he himself had been chosen.
“You have been chosen.”
Vikram replied,
“I never signed up for any of this!”
Lavya calmly informed him that nobody did.
“Nobody does.”
When Vikram asked her,
“What happens now?”
“Mayasabha will test you,” she replied.
The walls shifted once more, and for a brief moment, Vikram saw gigantic feminine silhouettes sitting upon distant cosmic thrones.
Thirty-two figures, each radiating a terrifying presence.
“Thirty-two Heavenly Queens govern the Sabha.
Each represents a different virtue—wisdom, sacrifice, truth, courage, patience, and countless others beyond mortal understanding.”
The pressure inside the chamber increased with every word she spoke.
“One of those Queens is observing you right now.”
Instantly, Vikram felt ancient eyes upon him.
Judging him.
Measuring him.
Waiting.
Lavya explained that if the Queen sensed her virtue within him, he would pass the trial.
“If the Queen senses her virtue within you, you shall pass the trial.”
Vikram nervously asked what happened if he failed.
“And what happens if I fail?”
Lavya remained silent briefly before calmly explaining that his memories of Mayasabha would be erased completely.
“Your memories of Mayasabha will be erased completely.
You will simply awaken inside your hotel room, believing everything was merely a dream.”
Vikram honestly admitted that sounded pretty good to him.
“Honestly, that sounds pretty good to me.”
Lavya stared at him like he had personally offended intelligence itself.
“You still do not understand.”
She quietly explained that he still did not understand.
Most contestants never realized what they lost after failing Mayasabha.
“Most contestants never realize what they have lost after failing Mayasabha.”
Something about her tone suddenly felt colder.
Sadder.
Vikram frowned and quietly asked what exactly he would lose besides his memory.
“What exactly would I lose besides my memory?”
Lavya looked away for the first time since meeting him.
Then she softly answered.
“Potential.”