CHAPTER 206: The Original Curse, Adam the King of the Lycans

CHAPTER 206: The Original Curse, Adam the King of the Lycans

Michael and Selene advanced until they reached a dead-end chamber, and then—

Selene fell several meters before crashing violently against an icy floor. The impact stole the air from her lungs for a few seconds, and a dry crack echoed through the hidden chamber. The cold was unnatural, dense, as if the place were suspended outside of time.

With effort, Selene pushed herself up, resting one knee on the ground. Her breath formed clouds of vapor before her face. As she looked up, she realized she was not in a simple underground room.

Before her stretched a gigantic chamber, faintly illuminated by the bluish light filtering through a colossal block of ice. Inside that ice lay something impossible.

A body.

No, it wasn't just a body.

It was a lycan… but unlike any she had ever seen.

It measured several meters even hunched over by the freezing. It had four well-defined, muscular arms, twisted in an unnatural posture, as if it had tried to break free at the last instant. Its anatomy was both grotesque and majestic, a primitive aberration. The ice that trapped it was stained with dark blood, solidified for millennia.

Selene took a step back, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the cold.

"It can't be…" she whispered.

She activated her communicator with steady hands, though her pulse betrayed the tension.

"Selene to surface," she said in a grave voice. "I've fallen into a secondary chamber beneath the main crypt."

She paused, observing again that figure trapped in the ice.

"Confirming discovery of a frozen lycan specimen. Morphology not recorded. Four upper limbs. Enormous size. The ice shows traces of ancient blood."

She swallowed before continuing.

"Based on descriptions and ancient records… I have no doubt."

Silence took over the channel for an eternal second.

"We have found Adam," she concluded. "The first lycanthrope."

From above, signals began crossing immediately. Agitated voices, overlapping orders, held breaths. Selene turned off the communicator for a moment and looked again at the frozen body.

Even dead, even imprisoned in the ice, Adam's presence filled the chamber. He was not just a corpse. He was the origin of a curse… and perhaps, the end of many things.

On the surface, the icy wind battered the temporary structures set up around the cave entrance. The monitors showed irregular readings of temperature and anomalous biological activity. Enid watched in silence, arms crossed, as on one of the screens appeared the thermal image of Selene and Michael, separated by several levels of depth.

"So it was true…" she murmured with a slight smile. "Adam was here all this time."

She turned her head slightly toward Grunbak, who stood behind her, motionless, hands clasped.

"Go down," she ordered in a calm, almost casual tone. "Put Michael and Selene to sleep. No permanent damage."

Grunbak tilted his head.

"Now? Just when they've found something interesting."

"Precisely because of that," Enid replied. "In these two weeks, they have proven to be… exceptional. Adaptable. Useful. I'd like to study them more closely."

She paused briefly and added, with calculated coldness:

"Consider this a preventive measure. I don't want surprises when Adam comes into play."

Grunbak smiled faintly, a twisted, unnatural gesture.

"As you wish, Enid Drakewood."

Without another word, he turned and began walking toward the cave entrance.

In the crypt, the metallic echo of the sarcophagus striking the floor resonated throughout the chamber. The lid, cracked by the impact, slid slowly until it fell to the side, revealing Eva's body. Her figure was imposing even at rest: tall, pale as marble, with serene features that contrasted with the antiquity and horror that her existence represented.

Selene took a step back, holding her breath. Michael clenched his fists, aware that something was wrong from the instant the sarcophagus had opened.

Then, a slow, mocking clap broke the silence.

"Well, well…" said a familiar voice. "It's always a spectacle to see myths become flesh."

From the shadows emerged Grunbak, walking with absolute calm. The light from the flashlights reflected off the suture line that crossed his forehead from side to side, a grotesque detail that made it impossible to ignore that this wasn't Marius… even though he wore his face.

Selene raised her weapon immediately.

"Don't take another step," she warned, her voice firm but tense.

Grunbak smiled, tilting his head.

"I'm afraid that won't be necessary. You see, dear couple, you're not leaving this cave unscathed."

Michael felt a knot in his stomach.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Enid didn't mention this."

"Oh, Enid mentioned it," Grunbak replied. "She always talks. She wants you alive… asleep, contained, ready to be dissected with scientific affection."

He paused briefly, and his smile widened.

"But for me, you're far more useful dead."

Selene's eyes widened, frozen.

"Accident?" she murmured, understanding.

"Exactly," Grunbak confirmed. "A collapse, a structural failure, a tragedy in an ancient cave. Nothing out of the ordinary."