The Altar of Wuoor

PROMPT: House of horror in old city

Discovering an entirely new cave system in Cappadocia is an archaeologists dream come true. Dr. Amalia Wendlinger had done so eighteen months before using satellite lidar technology from the comfort of her little college office at the University of Tubingen. The images from the satellites showed that there was something under a series of gentle hills north of the previously discovered cave sites in Cappadocia. She approached her colleague, Dr. Simon Scherer, and asked for his assistance in obtaining the necessary grants and approvals to proceed with the dig. She did so with some misgivings as they had been lovers years before, and she had broken off the relationship when she caught him with a student. But she needed help, and Simon was well respected in the field. She had long ago concluded he was simply who he was. She had moved on with other lovers as had he. Neither had any hard feelings, and yet she had did have feelings for him; feelings of longing mixed with revulsion.

Now after a year of submitting proposals for grants, getting permission from the Turkish government, and arranging all the details for the exploration of the project, she was in Cappadocia doing what she loved most; digging. Dirty work, no doubt, but something she enjoyed on a profoundly primal level. Here she was with a small team of archaeologists and students doing physically…