Beautiful curtains adorned the vast chamber, their silk threads woven with glimmering silver that shimmered like starlight. The walls were lined with living stone—veined with glowing emerald—and the floor beneath them pulsed faintly, enchanted to resonate with the breath of the room. Suspended in the center, a floating chandelier spun slowly, its crystalline limbs emitting a soft, ambient glow. Each light pulsed in rhythm, like a heartbeat, casting ethereal shadows on the assembly gathered below.
Beneath the chandelier hovered a levitating board, sleek and seamless, forged from obsidian and starmetal—a table for nine. Around it sat eight women, regal and radiant, each adorned in robes woven from the skins of lesser serpents and crowned with the marks of eldritch serpentine power. They all shared one trait: serpentine eyes, iridescent and hypnotic, reflecting the cold wisdom of ageless queens.
And at the head of the table sat her.
The first.
The Empress.
Gorgoneia.
