Ares returned to the den under the cover of night, his silhouette barely visible against the ochre sky. The wind had died down, but the dust still clung to the air like a memory that refused to fade. He moved quickly through the winding rock corridors carved into the base of Olympus Mons, where the pack made its home among ancient lava tubes and forgotten tunnels.
The moment he stepped inside, the tension was palpable.
Wolves lined the chamber walls, their eyes glowing faintly in the dim light. Some were seated on low platforms of basalt, others stood rigid, arms crossed, muscles taut. Kael sat at the center, his expression unreadable. Across from him, Renn leaned casually against a pillar, watching Ares like a predator waiting for weakness.
"You're back," Kael said simply.
"I have something to say," Ares replied, stepping forward.
Renn scoffed. "We've already heard enough."
Kael silenced him with a glare. "Let him speak."
Ares looked around the room, meeting each gaze in turn. "I didn't transform last night," he began. "And I know why now. It's not a curse. Not madness. It's something else entirely."
Murmurs rippled through the gathered wolves.
"Dr. Patel ran tests. She found something in my DNA—something older than any of us. Older than Mars itself." He paused. "There's an ancient structure beneath this mountain. And it's connected to me. To all of us."
Renn laughed bitterly. "You expect us to believe you've been touched by ghosts? That we're not wolves, but relics?"
"No," Ares said. "I expect you to believe what's real. What's happening to me—it's not random. It's part of something bigger. Something our ancestors knew."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?"
Ares took a breath. "We weren't just born this way. We were made this way."
Silence fell over the chamber like a shroud.
Then came the growls.
Some wolves rose, fur bristling, teeth bared. Others remained seated, uncertain, shaken.
Renn stepped forward. "This is heresy. You're trying to rewrite who we are."
"No," Ares said. "I'm telling you the truth."
Kael raised a hand. "Enough."
He stood slowly, his presence commanding instant quiet. His golden eyes flickered between Ares and Renn.
"If what Ares says is true," Kael said, voice steady, "then we need to understand it. If there's something beneath this mountain that shaped us… then we must know its purpose."
Renn shook his head. "Or we destroy it before it destroys us."
Ares stepped closer. "That's exactly what the Earth Federation will do if they find out. They'll dissect it. Us. Everything we are."
Kael exhaled sharply. "Then we move first."
A murmur of surprise passed through the room.
"What are you suggesting?" one elder asked.
"We go underground," Kael said. "We find the source ourselves. Before anyone else does."
Renn's jaw tightened. "You'd risk everything for a myth?"
Kael's voice was cold. "I'd risk everything to keep our people free."
Ares met his leader's gaze and nodded once. "Then we leave tonight."
---
Elsewhere – Dr. Sophia Patel's Lab
Sophia sat alone in the dim glow of her workstation, surrounded by holographic projections of genetic sequences, Martian topography maps, and fragments of alien text recovered from previous excavations.
She scrolled through the latest data stream from Ares's neural scan, cross-referencing it with the samples taken from the ruins below Olympus Mons. The deeper she delved, the more the patterns aligned.
It wasn't just Ares.
All werewolves carried traces of the same anomaly.
She tapped a command into her console, bringing up an old file buried in classified archives—the *Project Lycan* report, leaked from Earth Federation servers years ago.
Her fingers trembled as she read:
Initial findings suggest that the werewolf genome contains synthetic markers inconsistent with natural evolution. Hypothesis: subject species may be the result of external genetic engineering. Possible origin: pre-human Martian civilization.
She closed the file and stared at the ceiling, heart pounding.
They were never meant to exist.
Not in the way they thought.
Werewolves were not mutations or adaptations.
They were designed.
By something ancient.
Something that still waited beneath the surface.
A soft chime interrupted her thoughts.
Incoming message.
She opened it cautiously.
FROM: UNKNOWN.
SUBJECT: STOP DIGGING.
MESSAGE: YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT
YOU'RE AWAKENING.
She swallowed hard.
Someone knew.
And they were afraid.
---
Beneath Olympus Mons – The Descent Begins
A small group of loyal wolves followed Kael and Ares into the lower tunnels, equipped with torches, oxygen packs, and weapons scavenged from human tech. The deeper they went, the colder the air became, and the silence grew heavier.
Ares led the way, guided by instincts he couldn't explain. He felt the pull—not just in his mind, but in his bones. As if the mountain itself was calling him home.
"This place feels wrong," one of the younger wolves muttered.
"It's not wrong," Ares said quietly. "It's waiting."
They reached a sealed door unlike anything they'd seen before—smooth metal embedded with symbols that pulsed faintly blue. No hinges, no seams. Just a perfect circle in the rock.
Kael turned to Ares. "Can you open it?"
Ares stepped forward. The moment his hand brushed the surface, the light intensified.
A deep hum resonated through the stone.
Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, the door slid open.
Beyond it lay darkness—and something far older than any of them could comprehend.
Ares took a step inside.
Behind him, Kael whispered, "Whatever happens next… we face it together."
And the mountain swallowed them whole.