A Discreet Takeover

POV Tanya:

A young woman in a cloak with a scarf wrapped around her face slowly ascended up a long spiral staircase, her nervous steps resounding through the empty black corridors.

Everything around her was dark, but her red glowing reverse-slitted eyes saw like during daylight. She was visibly nervous, knowing that her master would likely not react positively to her suggestion. She could already imagine the dragon's anger.

"Graaa!" a growl came from the darkness, making her slightly jump up.

A pitch-black wolf-shaped monster walked out from behind a corner, an unnaturally red magma glowing from cracks in its stone-hard skin. It audibly sniffed, smelling the young woman while growling with its sharp teeth fully shown.

In an instant, its aggressivity subsided. It immediately closed its mouth filled with sharp teeth as it recognized the smell of its master emitting from her, marking her as its fellow minion.