Everyone was busy with the preparations. The maids were decorating Vinayak's chamber. Just then, they heard the voice of a lady. They turned around and saw Mandira. She said, "Decorate the room with jasmine flowers tomorrow. My son loves jasmines."

Mandira retired to her room. She went to the balcony and looked outside. It was evening. Many thoughts started to float in her mind. The old memories became fresh once again. She said to herself, "Mallika, I am glad that you do not exist anymore."

Mandira and Mallika were twins born to the king and queen of Devamatrika. They were non-identical twins. They had different looks and different personalities. Since childhood, Mandira was quite jealous of Mallika. But she never expressed her jealousy in front of anyone. It was a fire burning inside her which no one knew about. Both Mandira and Mallika were beautiful but the beauty of Mallika surpassed that of Mandira. With passing time, Mallika turned  into an enchantress. Mallika was also an excellent dancer. However, Mandira felt that she could dance better than her sister but still, no one appreciated her. Mallika's beauty enchanted everyone and so, people could not stop themselves from admiring her while she danced. Mallika had everything and Mandira desired all those things. She wanted to posses all of them and taste the pleasure.

Mallika also had Jayadrath. No one knew how much Mandira had burned with envy when Jayadrath expressed his desire to marry Mallika. Her heart burned with agony when Jayadrath filled her sister's partition with vermillion and made her his wife.

This agony was a venomous snake which bit her continuously. She craved for Jayadrath and wanted to be with him. Night after night, her cravings grew.

On the other hand, Mallika and Jayadrath were leading a happy life in Matangpur. Soon enough, Mallika got pregnant. After a few months, she gave birth to a son. The old king Kamaldev named his grandson ‘Vinayak’.

One day, Mallika visited Devamatrika with her son. Mandira masked her deep rooted hatred for Mallika with a smile on her face and welcomed her sister with open arms. During her stay in Devamatrika, Mandira took care of her. She used to babysit infant Vinayak and sing lullabies to him.
 
After staying in her father's palace for a few days, Mallika returned to Matangpur. Everything was going smoothly or at least, that was what they thought. But the problems started soon after Mallika's return from Devamatrika.

One night she woke up screaming. Jayadrath tried to console her. But she kept crying. The same thing happened the next night and then several nights passed in the same way. Mallika could not sleep. Whenever she attempted to sleep, horrible nightmares used to come to her. No one knew what her nightmares were. She used to wake up every night and cry. It was very hard to console her. If someone asked her about her nightmares, she used to remember them and start screaming again.

After a few days, the nightmares did not remain 'just nightmares' anymore. She started hallucinating them even while she was awake. She would run around and throw things. She would scream for as long as she had strength in her body. She could not describe anything to anyone and started losing her sanity.

Her condition worsened day by day. No medicine was able to cure her. Moreover, no one was able to help her because nobody knew anything about the nightmares.

Then one day, Jayadrath found her covered in her own blood  and with a sharp edged knife in her hand. She had killed herself and that was the end to all her sufferings.

Jayadrath became a widower and Vinayak needed a mother. So the family members decided to get Mandira married to Jayadrath.
Time passed and Jaydrath accepted Mandira wholeheartedly. After two years of their marriage, Mandira gave birth to Ojaswini.

Mandira decided to go and meet Niranjana, the queen of Matangpur. The door of Niranjana's chamber was open. Mandira entered through the door and found Niranjana sitting on a chair.

Niranjana saw Mandira and said, "Come here, Mandira."

Mandira went and sat beside her. She said, "I just wanted to sit and talk to you for sometime. Am I bothering you, Maharani?"

Niranjana smiled and said, "We are the daughters-in-law of the same family. If we do not spend time together, then who will? I like to talk to you."

Mandira looked at her and smiled. The queen stood up and looked outside the window. She said, "How are the preparations going on?"

"Quite well," Mandira replied.

Niranjana looked at Mandira and spoke softly, "You never liked your sister, did you?"

Mandira did not say anything. She was surprised. Niranjana smiled a little and said, "Women are a great mystery, but only for men. You may not remember, but I attended Mallika and Jayadrath's wedding. I saw you there. I had seen the burning flames in your eyes. You had always wanted to marry Jayadrath, did you not? That is the reason why, you hated Mallika. I never liked her either."

This surprised Mandira even more. She said, "What was that hatred for, Maharani?"

Niranjana played with her gold bangles and said, "My younger brother Aniruddh was deeply in love with her and tried every means to win her love. And why would he not? She had even incited the fire of jealousy inside me, when I witnessed her beauty for the first time. Your sister never returned his love. After a lot of unsuccessful attempts, he accepted defeat. He drowned himself in wine and disappeared somewhere. We never found him. Did the earth swallow him? Or did the winds carry him away? We never got to know. So my youngest brother Chandrashekhar was declared as the crown prince."

Mandira did not know about that. She had always thought that she was the only one who hated Mallika. But after talking to the Queen, she realised that there were many others like her.

There was no exchange of words between the two. Mandira stood up and said, "Allow me to take leave, Maharani." Niranjana nodded her head.

Garuda kingdom :

Parnalekha woke up from her slumber. She noticed that it was already dark. She said to herself, "I should resume my journey. I need to take advantage of the darkness and go to meet Takshak."

She mounted on her horse and started her journey. She was travelling through the deep forest when she sensed the presence of someone. The sound of someone stepping on the dried fallen leaves reached her ears. There were many people. It did not take Parnalekha, much time to deduce that they were the Panchadaityas, a group of five bandits who looted the people travelling through this forest. She grabbed her sword and her dagger, and prepared herself for the fight.

She heard someone running towards her from behind. She stayed calm. The distance between them was decreasing. The man was about to attack her. He lifted his sword. Just then, he felt the pain of a dagger piercing his skin and cutting his flesh, and collapsed. Parnalekha said to the dying man, "Did you like the surprise?"

Parnalekha stood there quietly. She was waiting for the other men. She felt that there was someone near her. She looked above. Suddenly, out of nowhere a man attacked her while swinging on a branch. She decapitated him with her sword at an instant.

Then, she saw another man behind a nearby tree. But the man disappeared. She was looking for him. She felt someone breathing near her left shoulder. Wasting no time, she held her dagger and stabbed his throat. Blood oozed out from the wound and the man collapsed. Her face was covered in the man's blood.

Suddenly, she felt a slight pain at the back of her neck. A man was holding his sword there. He said, "I have never seen such a beauty being so bloodthirsty. Let me have a look at you."

Parnalekha moved away from the sword quickly and snatched it from him. She said, "What a pity!" and decapitated him.

Four men had died. Only one was left. Parnalekha searched for him. But she could not find him. She heard a loud thud. She turned around to see a man who had fallen from a tree. An arrow struck his throat and killed him. She thought, "Who shot him?"

She heard the footsteps of someone again. A veiled man  walking towards her. When he approached her, she quickly threw him on the ground and placed a dagger near his throat.

The man smiled slightly and said, "Is this how you thank the man who helped you?"

Parnalekha smiled a little and said, "Who are you?"

The man said, "Will you not keep the dagger a little far from my throat?"

Parnalekha looked a him and with a sly smile, she whispered, "No. Answer me first. Who are you and what is your name?"

The man took a deep breath. He said, "I have pledged my life to the service of Rajkumari Ojaswini. Spying and killing is my game and Takshak is my name. "

Parnalekha took the dagger away. Takshak stood up. She smiled at him and said, "So you are the one whom they call Takshak."