City of Lost Lights

By Edwin Shaw

BASED ON TRUE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN TURKEY ( 1963 ) :
More than three decades ago, a happy aging couple mysteriously disappeared from their home in a small Turkish village. No One ever discovered their whereabouts, and eventually the mystery just melted in with all of the other strange happenings of the odd little city. Now, thirty years later, a restless young man has taken residence in the couple’s old house, and is quickly realizing there is nothing normal about it. He has thoughts that make him question his sanity. There are dreams that seem to be coming from someone else’s head. To top it all off, a strange, beautiful girl shows up on his doorstep with wild tales of an underground world, and he doesn’t know whether to fall in love with her or take her to the looney bin. What follows is a tale of lust, mystery and extreme danger. What exactly lies underneath this Turkish town, and why is Garik involved?
Based loosely on the real life discovery of a long hidden ancient underground city in Turkey, this is a story of romance, mystery, adventure, suspense and the extreme horror of the hideous creatures of a forgotten world. Garik and his stunning accomplice find themselves on the adventure of a lifetime, a mission to save not only the couple who vanished so many years ago, but also countless lives that might be harmed in the future. Garik learns more about himself than he ever wanted to, forced into the role of champion and savior. But who will save him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edwin Shaw
• Release date: Jul 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311155108

Book preview

~~~

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction loosely based on an archeological discovery. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Text copyright © 2015 Edwin Shaw

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Chapter One: In the Beginning

Chapter Two: A Stranger Comes to Town

Chapter Three: A Poisoning Ensues

Chapter Four: Drinking With His New Friend

Chapter Five: History of a Hole in the Wall

Chapter Six: The Missing Piece

Chapter Seven: A Dangerous Game

Chapter Eight: A Revelation

Chapter Nine: Derinkuyu

Chapter Ten: A Voice in the Dark

Chapter Eleven: Animals

Chapter Twelve: An Unlikely Exchange

Chapter Thirteen: Hello and Goodbye

Chapter Fourteen: A Homecoming of a Different Kind

Author’s Note

This. This is all I need to be happy for the rest of my life.

Arin Dogan lived a simple life with his wife, Talya, in an unimportant town in Turkey. It wasn’t a special place to many people, but to him, it was an Eden of sorts. Arin would look at his little city, look at his small house carved into the face of a hill, and think this is happiness. This is what it means to be whole.

He would never say these things out loud. To most people, he was nothing more than a cranky, aging man worn down by a life spent performing various forms of physical labour. His most frequent exchanges with people during the course of his days in town went something like this;

Have you any interest in our bread today sir? It is made fresh, and with love.

What need have I of your bread, or your love, for that matter? Do you assume I have no love of my own? Nobody to bake my bread? Leave an aging man in peace. Sell your love to someone else.

Upon hearing this, whatever poor, unsuspecting vendor who had dared to speak to him would shrink back, wondering what lack of luck had led them to solicit this particular gentleman on this particular day. Very quickly, people learned that Arin Dogan prefered to be left alone, and it was only the unsuspecting and eager newcomer who dared to engage him in any kind of consumer-driven conversation.

Why do you do it, my love? Talya would ask, poking him playfully in the side while he recounted his latest run-in with some silly shopkeeper who did not yet know to leave him alone.

Why not? Arin would chuckle, loving the feel of his wife’s kind, soft hands lightheartedly chiding him for his behavior.

They look so uncomfortable, and it is so easy. And besides, what do I need that you and our home cannot provide me?

Talya would sigh and rub his shoulders, nodding her head in agreement.

I know, I know. This is our oasis, yes? No outsiders needed? She knew how her husband felt, how he was. He needed to form a little nest of comfort that was built solely around her and their little home. He was getting older and feeling the regrets of his life more keenly every year. Nevermind the friends they had made and then lost. Never mind the daughter they had made and then driven away. It was too much to take in from day to day, every day for the rest of his life, and so he chose to make his life smaller. He reduced it a bit more every year, until all of the room that was left in his heart was reserved for his wife and his unique little cottage, bound to the volcanic rock peppering the land he lived on and loved.

Tulips. Every woman deserves a tulip now and then, am I right?

Talya would take the flowers from Arin, delighted every time as if he had not brought her flowers thousands of times before. The older he got the more time he spent trying to make her happy, and lately that had spilled over into a love of home improvement projects. He did everything he could to make their home beautiful for her, and while Talya was perfectly content living in the home they already had, she loved Arin for his desire to build her something wonderful.

What about a closet, my love? Arin said one morning over a modest breakfast of freshly baked bread and jam.

What about a closet, Arin? We have several, if i’m not mistaken.

Yes, yes, but what about a truly huge one? I know how women love their space, their space to be feminine. How about I build you an amazing closet to house all of your pretty things? Pretty things for a beautiful woman.

Talya was middle aged and had very few honestly truly possessions, but she loved her husband for thinking of her like that, like some sort of a queen, and so she told him that it was a wonderful idea, and she couldn’t wait to see it.

Every wife should feel pampered, especially one as lovely as mine Arin said to himself as he surveyed the tiny closet in the back of their home. It was in their office, not their room, but it was the space that could most easily be remodeled, and so that is where he would work. It was as good a place as any to build a dream closet, and he might as well get started.

He walked into the shallow closet, examining it, and imagining how wonderful he could make it for his wife. He may not be able to buy her the fanciest things, and he certainly could not undo all of the wrongs of his past, but he could do this. He decided that the back wall of the closet would be the logical place to start his work. The closet needed to be longer, and the hill his house was built upon was made of soft volcanic rock, so making the closet deeper should not be all that difficult. Arin took a large hammer and began to knock into the doomed wall, ready to put his plans into motion. After a few hard hits, however, he noticed something that seemed a bit odd; definitely unlike anything he had encountered in his previous home improvement projects.

Where he broke through the back wall he felt a strange, cool draft. His nostrils were filled not with the smell of clay and volcanic rock he was accustomed to, but instead with the smell of dark, musty earth and surprisingly old air. He thought about going to tell his wife about this anomaly. He told his wife everything, be it something of grave importance or simply the way the air smelled to him before a good rainfall. Something stopped him this time, though.

"Why? Why tell her this? It would only make her like the closet less, once everything is said and done. And besides, I give her everything. Am I to have nothing to myself? Does the bitch get to have all that I am?"

He spoke these words out loud, as if he was speaking to someone sitting in the room with him and listening intently. He spoke these words, and upon hearing his own voice, was horrified at what had come out of his mouth. Bitch? He didn’t believe he had ever called any woman that, but most certainly not his wife. If he gave her everything it was because he wanted to. He was sure that Talya had given up much more by tying herself to him than he had ever forfeited by devoting his life to her.

Still, something kept Arin from telling Talya about the strange smell and feeling he encountered upon knocking down their seemingly mundane closet wall. He told himself it was because he didn’t want to spoil the surprise. He told himself it was because he was ashamed of the terrible thoughts he had (briefly) had about a woman who was far too good for him. In the end though, just below the surface of the self he would allow himself to recognize, he had the uneasy notion that he wasn’t telling her because the discovery signified something important, and potentially dangerous. He wasn’t telling her because he didn’t fucking want to. That had never happened to him, not in the thirty-plus years he and Talya had been married.

So what are you doing, tinkering around in the back of the house? Talya asked, looking lovingly at her crotchety old husband with nothing but tenderness.

Nothing. Well, not nothing. I’m working on a surprise. For you. Promise me you won’t go back there. I don’t want you going back there, not for any reason. Alright?

The words he spoke made perfect sense, but Talya was a little bit taken aback nonetheless. Her husband had never been able to actually keep any of his secrets from her in all of the decades they had known each other. Also, there was a slight edge to his voice that he had never used with her before. Yes, the words made sense, but she still had a distinct and uneasy feeling that something was not quite right here.

Of course Arin, I would never intrude where you did not want me to go. Until your surprise is ready, until you tell me to, I will not go into the back office. Talya said this, feeling a tinge of fear and something like sadness while she did so.

Arin took her hand, rubbing her soft skin approvingly, and nodded. Once again, he was completely content. He had his wonderful wife who would never betray him or go against his wishes, and now he had this mystery. He had this closet, and behind it something suspicious and strange; the most interesting thing he could remember stumbling upon in a long, long while.

Arin, would you like some lunch my love?