The mists of the Echoing Marsh had begun to settle, but the chill in the air had only grown sharper. As Lakshya stepped out of the marshlands, he could feel a strange tug deep within his Vardaan. It was as if the world itself had begun whispering—not in sound, but in symbols, visions, fragments of a forgotten truth.
He stood on the edge of a plateau where the ground cracked like ancient glass, and in the distance, a black temple stood inverted—its spires sinking into the earth instead of rising to the skies. The very air shimmered, a pulse running through the land.
"The Mirror's Maw," said a calm voice behind him.
Lakshya turned. It was Ravinya, the seer from the Dreamspeakers, her third eye still faintly glowing.
"No door, no lock, no guard," she whispered. "Because it doesn't need one. The Maw chooses who enters."
Lakshya raised an eyebrow. "Then why do I feel like I've already been inside it?"
"Because you have," Ravinya replied, "but only in dreams you do not remember. Every soul touched by Shunyaka must walk through the Maw—either in sleep, or in life."
Before he could speak further, his Vardaan pulsed. A translucent window opened before his eyes.
📜 System Message: Vardaan Update
Path of Clarity unlocked.
You may now perceive truth behind illusion for a limited time inside forbidden zones.
Special Skill Gained: Trinetra's Glimpse
Without hesitation, Lakshya stepped forward, and as his foot crossed the blackened threshold of the temple, the world cracked.
A howl of silence consumed him.
Inside the Mirror's Maw
The interior of the Maw was endless—no floor, no ceiling, no walls. It was a domain built of reflections and shadows, where every breath summoned a thousand versions of oneself.
Lakshya stood alone, yet everywhere he looked, he saw himself—smiling, broken, bleeding, laughing, conquering. His lives diverged into infinity. But only one reflection stared back at him directly.
A mirror shimmered before him—polished like obsidian water, but etched with golden script that pulsed like a heartbeat. It showed Lakshya as Shiwang, his former life. The world he left behind: the city, the loneliness, the dreams unfulfilled.
"I see you," the mirror whispered. "But do you see you?"
The golden etching glowed:
🪞 Mirror of Origins
— All truths begin where a lie was first believed.
— All power grows from the wound that never healed.
— All rebirths are forged in the fire of regrets.
Lakshya placed his hand on the surface.
Instantly, pain surged through him—not physical, but spiritual. Flashes of his old life danced before his eyes:
His mother's tired smile.
The endless nights dreaming under a half-broken ceiling.
The ache of knowing he was meant for more, but never finding the path.
His body trembled, but he didn't flinch.
"I was never weak," he said softly. "Only waiting."
The mirror rippled—and shattered.
From the darkness behind it emerged a cloaked figure.
It wasn't human. Nor beast. Nor spirit.
It was… Mirrorborne.
The First Mirrorborne
Its form was liquid, constantly shifting between shapes, always mirroring Lakshya's emotions. When he was calm, it shrank. When his rage rose, it grew teeth.
"You broke the seal too early," it rasped. "The Heralds feared this."
"I'm not afraid," Lakshya replied.
"You will be. This is only the first fracture of the Mirror. There are Seven, and each guards a memory you don't know you forgot."
It lunged.
Lakshya summoned his Trinetra's Glimpse.
For a moment, the illusion peeled back.
He saw the creature's core—it wasn't real. It was a fear, projected into flesh.
"False being," Lakshya said. "You were born from my pain. But I've made peace with my past."
He struck with an open palm—not with Shakti, but with clarity.
The Mirrorborne screamed, shattered into a thousand fragments, and vanished.
The Maw's Gift
As the room darkened, the final piece of the mirror began to hum. The golden etching reassembled itself mid-air.
A symbol etched into his Vardaan: a circle inside a triangle inside a flame.
🪔 Vardaan Update: Memory Fragment Claimed
1 Herald Key Acquired
Resistance to Mirror Projections increased
New Skill: Inner Flame: Burn Illusion
Ravinya stood waiting outside the Maw as Lakshya emerged.
"You have seen your reflection," she said, bowing slightly. "And it did not consume you. Few ever return whole."
Lakshya looked at the sky. Clouds swirled above, but he no longer feared what lay ahead.
"I saw more than myself," he whispered. "I saw what I can become."
As they walked away from the temple, the ground rumbled.
Somewhere far across the Mahakaal Lok, a second Mirror Maw began to shimmer into existence.
And deep within the cult of the Mirror, a masked priest turned to the shadows.
"The Dreamwalker has survived the First Maw," he said.
Another voice answered, low and terrible:
"Then we must prepare the Mirrorborn of Truth."