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. She told him to stop staring at her like an abandoned puppy. Vikram immediately accused her of assault. Lavya replied that he deserved it. He dramatically called it attempted murder while she calmly corrected him by calling it restraint. Vikram muttered something under his breath which instantly made her narrow her eyes and demand he repeat it louder. He finally admitted he called her emotionally unstable. Lavya immediately replied that it was 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. Lavya casually insulted his intelligence again before finally becoming slightly serious. Her sharp eyes shifted toward the glowing symbols around the room as she quietly explained that this place was Mayasabha. The name echoed strangely through the chamber. Vikram complained that she already told him that earlier and still explained absolutely nothing. Lavya crossed her arms and warned him not to interrupt every ten seconds with stupid comments or she would personally throw him into an illusion river. Vikram promised to try his best while she immediately informed him he would 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 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. Lavya explained that 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. He asked if this was the same palace where Duryodhana fell and humiliated himself. Lavya looked mildly impressed that Vikram actually knew that much. He proudly credited the internet.
The glowing visions shifted again. A king slipped upon illusionary water while an enormous royal court laughed around him. Lavya explained that humiliation planted hatred, hatred led to war, and war drowned the world in blood. Since then, Mayasabha had 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: how to leave. Lavya stared at him blankly in disbelief. She questioned how escape could be his first concern while standing inside one of the greatest mystical constructs in existence. Vikram quickly reminded her that magical psychopaths tried to vaporize him five minutes ago. Lavya admitted that was reasonable.
She then reached inside her dress near her chest and pulled out a bronze coin hanging from a thin chain. Vikram blinked and accidentally stared slightly too long again. Lavya's eyes sharpened instantly as she calmly asked if he wanted to lose the other cheek too. Vikram panicked and insisted he was looking at the coin. Lavya immediately accused him of being 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 and asked what it was. 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. The floating display looked like some impossible mixture of futuristic hologram 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 was completely normal. She called it her Mudra interface while Vikram stared in disbelief and compared it to a magical gaming HUD. Lavya ignored him again. 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 if the interface could actually predict the future. Lavya calmly replied that it could to some extent. Vikram immediately declared the entire thing absurd while Lavya called it basic.
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. Lavya admitted she intentionally skipped explaining that part simply because she did not feel like it. Vikram argued that was not a valid reason while Lavya calmly explained that it absolutely was when she was smarter than him. Vikram seriously considered strangling her for a few seconds before sighing heavily and asking what exactly a Mudra was.
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. She explained that the object was created through her Mudra. After placing the floating glass beside her in midair, she explained that three major Mudra classes existed 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. Her own Soldier Mudra allowed her 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. Lavya immediately clarified that future prediction came from the interface itself, not her actual Mudra ability. Vikram quietly accepted the correction.
Lavya then explained that Silver Queen Mudras were vastly rarer and far stronger. Their powers affected concepts themselves such as memory, gravity, emotion, dreams, or time perception. Golden King Mudras stood even higher, possessing enough power to reshape entire cities, armies, or 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.
She quietly revealed that one Mudra existed beyond all classifications. The Supreme King Mudra. The air inside the chamber immediately became heavier. Even the floating lamps dimmed slightly. Lavya explained that 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 existed in all creation. Her eyes slowly moved around the chamber as she revealed that Mayasabha itself resided inside it.
Silence swallowed the room.
Vikram stared at her in disbelief before slowly asking if she was seriously telling him that this entire palace existed inside a coin. Lavya corrected him by calling it a Mudra instead. Vikram immediately declared that explanation somehow even worse. Lavya ignored his panic and explained that the Supreme King Mudra periodically chose contestants across dreams, fate, dimensions, and memory itself. A horrible realization slowly formed in Vikram's mind when she used the word contestant. Lavya looked directly at him and calmly confirmed that he himself had been chosen.
A glowing orange number suddenly appeared floating before him.
The numbers burned brightly in the dark chamber. Vikram slowly stepped backward while nervously insisting he never signed up for any of this. Lavya calmly informed him that nobody did. When Vikram asked what happened now, Lavya explained that Mayasabha would test him. 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 terrifying presence. Lavya quietly explained that thirty-two Heavenly Queens governed the Sabha, each representing a different virtue such as wisdom, sacrifice, truth, courage, patience, and countless others beyond mortal understanding. The pressure inside the chamber increased with every word she spoke. Lavya revealed that one of those Queens was observing Vikram 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. Vikram nervously asked what happened if he failed. Lavya remained silent briefly before calmly explaining that his memories of Mayasabha would be erased completely. He would simply wake up inside his hotel room believing everything had been a dream. Vikram honestly admitted that sounded pretty good to him. Lavya stared at him like he personally offended intelligence itself. She quietly explained that he still did not understand. Most contestants never realized what they lost after failing Mayasabha. Something about her tone suddenly felt colder. Sadder.
Vikram frowned and quietly asked what exactly he would lose besides memory.
Lavya looked away for the first time since meeting him.
Then she softly answered.
"Potential."