The darkness inside the CAVE OF DESIRES wasn't empty. It pressed against ARYAN like wet cloth, soaking into his skin. Every step he took swallowed sound; even his breath felt muted.
Drip… drip…
Each droplet echoed too long, like the cave stretched time itself.
Aryan "Creepy. Rate this cave: two stars. Smells damp. Possibly cursed."
SYSTEM:
"Possibly? You walked into an eldritch throat without a torch. Five stars for stupidity."
ARYAN snorted and kept moving.
The tunnel curved—and then red glyphs flashed across his vision.
⚠ ALERT – LUCK STAT SEVERED ⚠
Source: CAVE OF DESIRES / Absolute Interior Law
All probability-alteration effects DISABLED.
Passive MAX LUCK force-cut at boundary.
Manual override: DENIED.
Aryan yelled "…What?"
SYSTEM:
"That… shouldn't be possible. Your LUCK is divine-tier bound to me. The cave just reached in and shut the valve."
"Can you switch it back on?" Aryan whispered to himself.
SYSTEM:
"If I could, I would have done it before telling you we're screwed."
Before ARYAN could reply, a second warning overrode the first—this one in pulsing gold.
TEMPORAL DISTORTION ACTIVE
Region: Inner CAVE OF DESIRES
1 Year Inside = 1 Day Outside.
Biological aging: Unconfirmed.
Exit condition: Unknown.
Recommend: DO NOT LOSE TRACK OF TIME.
Aryan yells "…One year… one day outside?"
SYSTEM: "Training cheat… or lifetime prison. Depends who's doing the math—and whether we age in here."
Data: zero.
Confidence: zero.
Anxiety: maximum.
The floor rumbled softly underfoot—as if the cave chuckled.
A chill climbed ARYAN's spine. For the first time since awakening the SYSTEM, he felt truly unshielded. No luck. No divine accident saves. If he messed up—it would stick.
SYSTEM:
"Listen. We are both under hostile rules. Core permissions throttled. Diagnostics blind past thirty meters. If I go dark—keep moving forward. Do not stop. Do not sleep long. Mark time with chakra pulses every hundred breaths."
Aryan asked shivering "Since when do you sound scared?"
SYSTEM:
"Since ten seconds ago when a cave out-ranked God and unplugged my best user perk."
The tunnel ahead pulsed—slow… slow… slow—like a heartbeat buried in stone.
A whisper brushed ARYAN's mind. Not sound. Not language. Just hunger shaped like a question.
What do you desire… most?
ARYAN swallowed.
He took one more step.
The entrance behind him sealed into black.
Elsewhere—far above kingdoms, tournaments, and burning villages—the THREADS OF POSSIBILITY rippled.
Billions of silver filaments stretched across a starless void, each one a life, a choice, a regret. Here, probability had form. Luck had weight. And one thread—thin, stubborn, and wildly knotted—suddenly flared red.
ARYAN had entered the CAVE OF DESIRES.
And the cave had done the unthinkable.
It had severed LUCK.
Deep within the CHAMBER OF CHANCE, a palace made of spinning dice, floating lotus cups, and half-finished bets, LADY LUCK lounged sideways across a reclining wheel of fortune, sipping from a clay wine gourd and arguing with a pile of celestial gambling slips.
Lady Luck Sees the Alert
Then her board screamed.
[URGENT EVENT FLAG]
User Tag: ARYAN
Realm: Mortal / Vaikunth Dham Periphery
Status Shift: Entered Domain: CAVE OF DESIRES
System Link: Interference Detected
LUCK CHANNEL: HARD-SEVERED (THIRD-EYE LOCK)
LADY LUCK sat up so fast her wine sloshed out and splashed across a roulette constellation.
"NO-no-no-no-no-no—He went WHERE?!"
She slammed both palms on the display. The readouts reconfigured: probability lines shredded, reroute attempts denied. An ugly crimson sigil pulsed at the bottom: DOMAIN OWNER—MAHADEV SHIVJI. OVERRIDE ABSOLUTE.
Her pupils shrank. "Oh… shit."
At same time Indra enters inside Chamber of Chance with a Smug Stormlord look on his face
With theatrical timing only a god of lightning would dare, INDRA drifted in on a reclining thundercloud, polishing the VAJRA just like always while wearing a smile usually reserved for seeing one's rival step barefoot on a tack.
"Oh? Troubles in the Betting Den?" he asked, voice dripping amusement. "Is this about that little mortal you accidentally gave MAX LUCK to after three goblets of nectar?"
LADY LUCK: "He was promising. And I was… celebrating."
INDRA: "You were drunk."
She threw the empty gourd at his head. The thundercloud dodged.
He flicked a finger and a replay shimmered between them: ARYAN, laughing in a mask, blowing a murderer into vapor, fleeing royalty. Then—blackness. Cave entry.
INDRA: "I told you the brat dodging my thunderbolt was bad news. He slipped fate once. But the CAVE OF DESIRES? Even I don't spar with that. That place chews gods for meditation snacks."
LADY LUCK grabbed him by the collar. "You are coming with me."
INDRA: "To…?"
"MOUNT KAILASH. Now."
He blinked. "…You want to bother MAHADEV over one boy?"
She didn't blink. "He's six. And he's mine."
Indra sighed. "Fine. But if Shiva starts Chaos dancing, I'm leaving."
Lady Luck smiles "DEAL"
Indra looked at her with wide, desperate eyes. "You never keep your deals! Yet here I am, still following you just to save face as a divine king of Gods? Honestly, I'd rather wrestle a thousand demons than keep falling for your tricks!"
Climbing Mount Kailash is not an easy task even for Gods
The climb was not a path—it was a vow. They rose past cloud lines and mantra winds, past the frozen edge of the astral snows, past the cries of ascetics chanting into eternity. Bells rang without sound. Stars dimmed in respect.
At the summit, MOUNT KAILASH cracked open like a lotus.
There sat MAHADEV SHIVJI—ash-smeared, matted locks coiled with the crescent moon, GANGA flowing from his hair in endless descent, serpents resting like ornaments, the TRISHUL planted beside him. His eyes were closed. Yet nothing in the universe went unseen.
Around him danced small GANAS, laughing spirits, and a white bull—NANDI—watched the visitors approach with infinite patience.
LADY LUCK dropped to her knees so hard the snow cracked.
"MAHADEV! O Bhole Shankar! Please—please listen. My user, a child named ARYAN, has entered Your CAVE OF DESIRES. His LUCK stats are severed from him. He carries too much raw chakra and too little sense to survive. If the cave trials trigger at full severity—"
Her voice broke. "—he'll die before Destiny has a chance to unfold."
INDRA hovered just behind, trying to look respectful and not extremely entertained.
"Also," he added, "if he dies, Lady Over-Bets here will be insufferable for a millennium."
She elbowed him. "Shut up."
Shiva Opens His Eyes
The moment MAHADEV's eyelids lifted, the sky trembled. One look, and time slowed enough for mountains to think.
"LADY LUCK," he said softly. "You waste no moments… when it is one you favor."
She bowed lower, forehead to snow. "I gave him MAX LUCK by accident—but I grew fond. He tries. He's foolish. Human. And right now… helpless but he is really good at heart."
MAHADEV: "He walked willingly into DESIRE. I do not shield souls from choices freely taken. To intervene is to write karma in ink that is not theirs."
LADY LUCK: "Then don't shield—temper! Lower the edge. He's six. Let the cave teach, not erase. Please."
INDRA: "For the record, I say let the cave smack him twice. Builds character."
Lightning crackled overhead. MAHADEV tilted his head. INDRA coughed and stepped back.
The Cosmic Terms shake at the will of SHIV ji
MAHADEV: "Hear, then. The CAVE OF DESIRES strips pretense. Shows the core longing. Grants or grinds according to truth. No god may override what rests in the depth of self. But…"
He turned his palm. A map of the cave's wards surfaced—rings of TRIAL INTENSITY, SOUL LOAD, PAIN FEEDBACK, FATALITY THRESHOLD.
"…Difficulty may be calibrated."
LADY LUCK looked up, breath held.
MAHADEV: "Will you bind a portion of your own fortune-stream to his suffering? Each time the cave would take him to the brink of death, it will instead burn you in his place."
Her smile wobbled. "Done."
INDRA: "She's lying, she's broke she has boon to fend off any injury without feeling pain"
LADY LUCK: "INDRA!"
MAHADEV smiled—not amused, but infinitely kind. "An innocent soul (bhole) I may be But, blind I am not. Your cups are never empty, LADY LUCK. Spend well."
He dropped one drop of blood on the Trishul shaft.
Difficulty Drop by one huge gap just from one drop of Lord SHIV
[DOMAIN CHANGE – CAVE OF DESIRES]
Owner: MAHADEV SHIVJI
Petition Granted: LADY LUCK
Observing Witness: INDRA
Trial Severity: DEADLY COSMOS LEVEL → BRUTAL / NON-INSTANT LEVEL
Fatal Strike Conversion: 1st & 2nd Deadly events → Non-fatal severe trauma (Luck pays debt)
Sensory/Pain Feedback: RETENTION 100% (Lesson remains.)
Exit Eligibility: Available after Destiny thinks he is ready.
Time Ratio Unchanged: 1 Year Inside = 1 Day Outside.
INDRA whistled. "He still gets wrecked."
MAHADEV: "Growth requires annihilation. Not obliteration."
He lowered his hand. The snow settled. The stars resumed breathing.
"Go," he said gently. "Watch him. Interfere no more unless asked by the soul itself. Destiny must be walked, not gifted."
LADY LUCK pressed both palms together in gratitude, eyes shining. "Dhan'yavāda(Thanks in Sanskrit), Mahadev."
INDRA bowed (half-heartedly) and muttered, "Next time, warn me before mortals crash divine dungeons."
This process creates Ripple to the Mortal Realm
Across planes, the adjustment struck the CAVE OF DESIRES like a tuning fork. Trial seals dimmed from white divine hot to molten red. Kill-threshold sigils withdrew, leaving impact-scar runes. In its black corridors, unseen bones of reality shifted—just enough.
Inside, ARYAN shivered without knowing why.
For a heartbeat, warmth brushed his chest. A hint of laughter. Of spilled wine. Of a goddess betting everything on a fool.
Then darkness swallowed it.
And the cave whispered again:
What do you desire most… child without luck?
The cave was silent.
Not dead silent—alive silent. Like a predator that didn't need to roar to remind you where you stood.
Aryan took a step deeper. The floor wasn't stone. It wasn't soil either. It was something in between—dense, porous, and warm, like the inside of a giant fossilized beast. The walls glistened faintly, breathing shadows in and out like the cave itself inhaled him.
The SYSTEM floated in the corner of his vision, still buzzing with warnings.
SYSTEM:
[Caution: Dimensional Time Flux Active.]
[User remains in Cave of Desires.]
[Stats: Luck — DISCONNECTED.]
[Warning: Power signatures unaligned with known mortal laws detected.]
Aryan muttered under his breath, "Yeah, yeah. Scan all you want. This place already feels… wrong."
SYSTEM:
"Oh, really? What gave it away? The ominous throat you willingly walked into, or the metaphysical paperwork I just filed for your funeral?"
He ignored it. Every step echoed like it traveled through time itself. His heartbeat drummed too loud in his ears.
And then—
The cave moved.
Not the ground. Not the walls. Something deeper—an undercurrent of thought so old it didn't need words.
What do you desire… most, child?
Aryan froze.
The voice wasn't sound. It was inside him. Twisting between neurons. Stroking his bones.
Before he could answer, a pull yanked at his skull—no, deeper. At his subconscious.
A thin thread of light bled out of his forehead, writhing like a living worm of memory, glowing with fragments of thought: Grandpa laughing. Blood in Kaliganj. Rage. Fire. Pain. The masked boy's taunt. And under it all—power. Strength. The hunger to never be helpless again.
The thread tore loose and sank into the cave floor.
The cave laughed.
Not loud. Not harsh. Just a low ripple, like distant thunder rolling under black seas.
Ah… Power. Strength. To crush all who stand before you. To rip fate from its root. Very well… little predator.
The floor split.
Dust curled like smoke, dancing upward, shaping bone, then sinew, then flesh. Chakra hissed through the cavern, coiling like serpents as the figure took form.
When the dust settled, Aryan stared into a face he knew too well.
His own.