She knew the room was empty. Nothing here but a few murals from long ago, when the ruin was still the center of an empire. A sigh, escaping her as she pondered, imagining standing before the empress, the great, monstrous goddess. Her gaze, looming over her. A whisper, as real as if she was leaning down above her. "You're jealous, aren't you? You wish you could've been one of my worshipers."

She shook her head. "No, I..." Her imagination slipping away from her, as something ancient and powerful seized upon it. Her face, hot as though the empress's maw was just above her.

"Oh, you're overwhelmed by my presence, admit it... Just witnessing me. This bare fragment of my former glory." A slow nod. A flush spreading across her cheeks as she breathes slower, heavier. Streams of thick, violet smoke slipping from her nostrils. "You'd like to see more, wouldn't you? You want to see me restored. You want to help me return, don't you?" Nod becomes a bit deeper, more forceful as she leans against a wall.

"Y-yes..."

"Oh, but the cost will be dire. You won't be human, anymore. You'll be a dark, corrupted beast. A monster. Strong, grand, powerful, flush with your renewed glory. Returned from centuries of absence to forge a new empire. A goddess."

She breathes deeper, gasping, difficult, now, to tell where her thoughts ended and her thoughts began. "B-but... Y-you'll.." She mumbled, stammering through stretching maw. "I-I'll love every moment of it."