The neons of the Sons of Adam had filled the darkness with red and purple lights like an empty canvas. The underground needed humans because it was eternal night. The "mind" that had replaced Mother Nature had built this place to all reachable limits and ultimately, inspired by the underworld, had created a mysterious woman.

In the feelings, dreams, and faces of the residents living here, there was a trace of that woman. On faces that had never seen daylight was that woman's kiss, in the cracked inns was that woman's touch, in the humid air was that woman's scent. She was within the rapidly flowing life amidst the chaos. When she was present, no matter how fast time moved, a sweet weight settled over time with the pleasure she gave.

Life was truly complicated in this realm. The various inns, their affiliated shops and bazaars had their own cultures. These inns, along with their connected craftsmen and merchants, represented diverse identities. Some were famous for their spices brought from large and small Indian territories, some for their ornaments carried from the Far East, others for their industrial goods from the West... The list went on, and the underground's crowds would find a place to spend their time.

This massive underground city stretching like a snake between two mountains from Lefke to Famagusta was actually a huge prison where Anarchists from Turkey were exiled during the TRNC era. This underground city was built by an international organization based in North America called Cryogenic, and it was also Cryogenic that forced Turkey to make this decision. Due to the revolution in Turkey, anarchists saw various tortures here until Cryogenic departed, and they could only emerge to the surface with the Karagül revolution that followed Turkey's revolution.

After the Karagül revolution, it was abandoned to its own fate, but as Cyprus trade developed over time, commerce moved underground. This place was the trade center not only of Cyprus, but of the entire Mediterranean. It was still full of chaos as it was before the revolution, but those who could emerge from the underground journey definitely came out as wealthy people. And those who dared experienced the taste of pleasant experiences they could never live anywhere else.

Xea had only seen the underground sporadically. Even though she hadn't expected it, she concluded that there were places worth visiting. However... The paths they took to avoid crowds were both deserted and filled with terrible sights. Even Heralga, accustomed to all kinds of evil, regretted taking this route. Who would enjoy seeing the brains and intestines of dead corpses gnawed by rats? But at least it was only nauseating; the dead didn't suffer. Encountering desomorphine addicts was even more distressing. Their skin had fallen apart in strips and their bones were visible. These were both nauseating and created a bitter feeling in people. Yet they didn't look unhappy at all; these people wandering around like sleepwalkers were laughing and having fun, not caring about anything. This was what truly surprised and at the same time frightened Xea. Death, that is, Xea's own apocalypse, was clearly a simple matter for them.

Corpses, addicts, fugitives, and bandits... There was a pattern here, the places they scattered and even the order in which they would appear before travelers was clear. But there was one madman who remained outside of them. He was so wretched and different that he could only be called a madman. With his uncorrupted skin and serpentine silence, he was unique in that misery. Xea couldn't take her attention away from him. Finally, succumbing to her curiosity, she approached him. She wanted to talk. But what could she say?

"Are you alright?"

The man didn't answer, didn't even move.

"Is something wrong with you?" "..." "Look at my face, will you?!"

She was angry, aware of how meaningless her anger was. The poor man also startled as if awakening from sleep. He scrutinized this woman who had disturbed his peace... There was a woman in front of him in Karagül's uniform with golden patterns. Attractive... Graceful... But he didn't care. What he really cared about was whether he was being accused of something wrong. Xea repeated her question, adjusting the tone of her voice to be more reassuring:

"Are you alright?"

The man's face had turned white with fear:

"What do you want?" "Nothing. Is there something you want?"

Xea's question seemed so absurd to the man in the stress of that moment that he finally couldn't stand it and burst into neurotic laughter.

"What does it matter if I want something or not?"

Was the man implying something? His attitude suggested so. But no matter how much she thought, she couldn't understand what he meant. This only increased her curiosity:

"I'll give you whatever you want." "In exchange for what?" "Nothing. Just why..." "Don't disturb my peace, that's enough, it would just be a waste of your time. And..."

He took a deep breath, then completed his sentence.

"If you have any sense, get out of here."

The man got up. He headed toward the pitch darkness. Xea was very impressed by the man's dervish-like mannerisms. Many questions echoed within her, toward her own abstract formless existence.

"That man is sick."

She got excited when she heard Heralga's voice.

"How is he sick?" "Just sick. He's caught the Virus..." "What virus?" "What virus would it be? The virus that the hierarchy I mentioned calls the Sacred Virus." "What does it do?" "If we think about it... It actually does many things. It dulls the sense of taste, adrenal glands, and nervous system." "Does it kill?" "No, it doesn't kill, but it reduces pleasure to zero. After that, it leaves neither enthusiasm nor joy for living. You live like grass, and that too counts as a kind of death."

This also explained the man's catatonia. His soul couldn't nourish vitality, so he wouldn't want to move or do things. But still... A great inspiration had awakened within her. Who knows what separating from the pressures and troubles of the material world, being able to see the world they lived in in a completely different way, would add to a person. Her mind was illuminated with the light of this inspiration.

"How sad actually..." "Sad of course. If you only knew what a cursed thing it is." "But doesn't this disease offer a person a different horizon?" "What do you mean by a different horizon?" "Doesn't it make you see the world differently, discover different aspects of matter?" "Does blindness make you see the world differently?" "Excuse me?"

Heralga started walking while looking at the ground. Those who knew him knew that Heralga always looked at the ground when thinking about something detailed and explaining his thoughts.

"This disease is no different from blindness. A person who tries to derive all their pleasures only from their inner world is actually blind because they are stuck in a sterile cycle. The concrete thing is existence. You feel what exists, experience it and understand it. The purpose of the abstract is to fill the void, to make nothingness comprehensible. If you cut yourself off from materiality, the only existence you will obtain will be your self. That single existence also integrates with abstract meanings over time, thinks it dominates materiality and the environment. The delusion is so bad that the self holds itself guilty and responsible for everything. It acts like a god because it hasn't understood that its power won't be enough for everything."

"So... So... Isn't there another horizon beyond this? Is there only a nothingness? Is man dependent on materiality? How do you know this?" "Do you know how long this damn virus has been circulating in my veins? All of Karagül is fighting this. Laboratories, artificial intelligences, many geniuses... They work tirelessly to find a cure for this thing. But we could only prevent its spread from person to person, that's all. This needs to be destroyed. To establish disorder, to allow nature's true flow, this must be dealt with. Otherwise, all of Karagül's cause will fall through. If we can't destroy this, the world's nations will continue to worship and serve charlatans who appear wise."

After these words from Heralga, Xea paused. She thought there was a contradiction here. Heralga knew that a sick self held itself responsible for everything, but at the same time felt responsibility for things beyond his control. Maybe she didn't understand; the connection between thought and worldview was too subtle for her mind to grasp that relationship.

As soon as Heralga closed his mouth, his eyes immediately shifted to the silhouettes moving around. There was a difference in these shadows... They were quieter and faster than they should be. It was clear from small details that they were cyborgs like Heralga, even though they wore loose robes so their cyborg nature wouldn't be obvious. He first tried to ignore them. He tried to act as if they didn't exist, to remain unresponsive.

"We're being followed." "What?! Who's following us?" "How would I know?"

Heralga took out two black marbles from his jacket's inner pocket and rolled them on the ground. When they steamed, they quickly walked away. A few minutes later, when Xea turned her head to look behind them, there was a light mist behind them. It looked quite natural too. If it had nothing to do with the incident, one would think it appeared naturally.

"What did you throw on the ground?" "Smoke bomb. But a bit different." "How different?" "A normal smoke bomb immediately gives itself away. If you ask why... Because it releases very dense steam. But this creates more natural mist, its effect lasts longer. That's why it's not really clear whether you used it or not."

They ran until they came across a deformed wall. There were steps on the wall. Heralga grabbed onto the wall, then climbed a steel column via a chain extending from his arm prosthetics. Then he extended his chain to Xea and pulled her up. They were saved, so to speak; no one could easily find them.

Heralga surveyed the surroundings with his lenses. The silhouettes they had fled from had gathered one by one under the light. White masks, long black robes, and triangular hoods... They were followers of the hierarchy... That is, temple worshippers. They were harshly interrogating the poor man Xea had chatted with. Heralga immediately took out a tiny microphone the size of a flea and sent it to them.

"I saw them here, bro. I swear I don't know anything else. I saw two Karagül people and slipped away immediately so they wouldn't get messed up."

The temple worshippers believed whatever they believed, trusted the man's word and let him go, then started talking among themselves. A tall man joined the conversation:

"Let's search around here just to be sure. There's a chance they might be here. Do you know where this leads?"

Another man answered him:

"Toward Kaymaklı." "So what business do they have on that side? Aren't they going to Ortaköy?" "The shortest exit to the surface is also here, maybe they thought they'd get out quickly." "Possible... Then let's inform our network, have them sweep the Kaymaklı and Ortaköy sides. It doesn't matter if they don't find the man, the important thing is the woman. We should also wander around here a bit, maybe they're not far away."

Heralga laughed. These people had no idea what they wanted to do.

"I think... We can't find them here. It's the great Heralga after all. He must have hidden in some rat hole and found his way." "Fine. At least we'll tell the hierarchy we did something."

The man who had been silent from the beginning asked, looking at the mist Heralga had created:

"Can there be mist underground?"

Heralga also muttered to himself, "What a fool I am..." These temple worshippers weren't very experienced, but they weren't stupid either.

From Heralga's strange behavior, Xea understood there was a problem.

"What happened, Heral... I mean Göksel?" "What do you think? The guys woke up. Would there ever be mist on this side of the underground? It would have been better if I hadn't put anything."

The duo stood up and carefully walked on the thin column. The temple worshippers were arguing heatedly among themselves. A woman was defending that there could be mist here. But her arguments were absurd; the others had stopped taking her seriously. Besides... Her intention was a bit to stall for time.

They reached a narrow tunnel they could only pass through by bending. Since the floor was perforated grating, they could see how high above the ground they were. With each step they took, the ground shook and Xea thought she would fall down. It wasn't a very comfortable place, but she probably wouldn't get another chance to watch the underground's pinkish-red splendor from this angle.

"Are we safe?" "No one can find us here. Relax." "Where is this place?" "The main electrical line used when the underground served as a prison. When Karagül took over the island, no more electricity was given, so it just sits there. I saw a rusted electrical box sitting there. It occurred to me then, not a bad idea, right?" "Excellent idea, too. They can't follow us, can they?" "Let them come if they want, it's like a labyrinth inside anyway. How would they find us?" "They can't." "They can't."

Xea surveyed the underground, looking at the people moving among the neons. People had become tiny limbs of a massive body with thousands of arms and heads from the angle she was looking. The inns and passages where they got lost among them resembled octopus tentacles. She studied this view for a long time, while Heralga was busy directing the microphone he had sent.

"Where are we going?" "You see that glass building ahead... The one spread out like tree roots. When we get there... Wait a second..."

Heralga's plan was to reach Karagül's underground station, but when he heard the sounds from the microphone, he realized they couldn't get there safely. The flea he had sent had been noticed, and they had also determined Heralga's approximate location from the flea. In fact, footsteps had become audible. At that moment, he decided to take Xea somewhere else and changed his entire plan. When the temple worshippers entered the electrical network, he decided to implement what he had in mind. He took out the laser he kept in his inner pocket like a lighter and cut the metal grating below. It could be slow, but it was silent after all. After putting the grating he cut aside, he called to Xea:

"Hold onto me." "What? What are we going to do?" "The attachments on me protect me from hard falls. If you hold onto me, we can easily go down, but you might get electrocuted." "Does it hurt a lot, dear?" "Depending on the probability, you might even turn to ash." "Well... That wasn't very encouraging, to be honest."

Heralga took off his jacket and handed it to Xea.

"Here... Take this for yourself... We'll jump together, when we get close to the ground you'll separate from me and use my jacket like a parachute. The jacket was designed for that too. Even I get a little electrocuted when I get close to the ground. When I look through my lenses, I see a tarp... We'll fall onto that. While falling, bend your knees, spread your arms, and use the jacket carefully."

Xea looked at the height. Although she was hesitant, there was nothing to be done. She put on the big coat and held on, then they jumped from a height of ninety meters. Despite their plan, Xea never separated from Heralga's body, even if it hurt. They fell onto a tarp, then that tarp couldn't bear their weight and tore, and they fell again. Luckily, both were perfectly fine. The market people gathered around them. Some offered water, some offered cigarettes to ease their pain, and some just asked about their condition. When it was understood that they were perfectly fine, they left them alone.

Heralga wouldn't connect to the Karagül network and ask for help. Even though no one would consider the possibility, he thought there were spies inside and would never want to advertise his location. He sent word to a friend he could trust through local networks, then they met.

They had chosen a neighborhood with calm people who minded their own business to meet. Xea had also liked this neighborhood very much. The first image she encountered had been etched into her mind like a painting: The smell of coffee cooking over the fire had enveloped the streets, and people were watching passersby on the benches around this fire. The underground was very complex, but time had stopped in this neighborhood.

Apart from these people, the first person to catch attention was a dark-skinned woman dressed in black who was silently patrolling the corner. She had painted around her eyes like poppy flowers. She had put a hat on her head and pulled a veil over her face to avoid being recognized. When they went to her, Xea saw that she had a thin face, thin lips, and eyes that gathered light like owls. This last detail gave away that she was a cyborg.

"Ece..." "What's up, handsome?" "I'd like you to meet Melek."

Ece studied this stranger she had never seen before for a while. After a moment, she smiled and extended her hand, and Xea responded timidly.

"Nice to meet you..." "Me too..."

Heralga joined the conversation, showing his stress.

"Did you find a safe place for Melek to stay?" "I did. A place called Art Dictator, it's a great place to hide. You pull on your robe and sit quietly in your corner." "It's not a morgue or anything, is it?" "It's not, Gökoş." "We're entrusting her to you but... I hope it's a good place."

Heralga pulled Xea to a distant corner for a short while and handed her a brooch.

"Now... Our Ece is a bit crazy. That's okay, she's helped me a lot, you can trust her. If anything happens, go to Ece immediately, she'll help you. When you press this brooch from the sides, I get a signal, carry it with you no matter what. I need to go now, being seen with me might not be good for you. My brain chip is off right now, but I still need to get away immediately."

Fear had completely gripped Xea. Where was she, where was she yesterday, and where was she now... Everything was mixed up. She didn't want Heralga to leave her. But there was nothing to be done.

"Okay, Gökoş..." "You too?"

Xea giggled again.

"Oh, it just slipped out." "I can't handle another Ece, just so you know." "What do those people following us want?" "You..." "Yes, but... Why?" "I explained it to you this morning." "Yes, but... You go over everything very superficially. Can't you go into detail?"

Heralga paused. The questions had come very suddenly and quickly. Although he knew this question would come, he gathered his thoughts and tried to explain everything point by point.

"Listen carefully. These temple worshippers... that is, the hierarchy I mentioned... They believe in a doctrine that requires man to be purified of all his pleasures. And they fear the destruction you will create, because you can destroy that computer system with the code in your genetics. This destruction has a great purpose. To remove all obstacles in front of Karagül and Anarchism. Karagül is such a powerful organization that it can dominate the whole world. Karagül is not just Cyprus, even though it appears so. What you need to know... The Vesta structure. That is, the computer system I mentioned. The structure that the temple worshippers are trying to maintain. That's also your purpose for existence. To carry the key and destroy the last master, the Vesta structure, and establish Anarchism. But I must tell you, don't let anyone know that you know these things. It attracts too much attention. I need to go now, be careful; you can use that brooch whenever you need it."

After Heralga left, Xea's morale was low; after all, Heralga was the first person she could trust. Now there was Ece. She didn't seem like a bad person. Just like holding a child's hand, and Xea could be considered a child spiritually, she took her hand:

"Come on, let's go to our Art Dictator..." "What's that?" "The name of the inn where you'll stay." "It sounds more like a megalomaniac singer's name than an inn. I have one more question..." "Of course..." "What is this Karagül?" "I don't know, it's our organization." "I mean... What is Karagül's purpose, do you know?" "To represent Anarchism. What are you really curious about?" "I don't know. I'm looking for a deeper answer."

Ece prepared a text in her brain chip, then put her hand on Xea's shoulder.

"Look... There's a very beautiful statement that has become Karagül's motto. I love it very much. I think it summarizes Karagül's intention and ideology very well, would you like to hear it?" "Why not?" "I'm telling you... 'Karagül's cause is to break man's truly rotten idols, to purify him from all pressures. Man needs neither success nor competition. Man must remain human, must not declare himself god. While saying he is purifying himself from his weaknesses, he must not disrupt the perfect balance of spontaneous existence. Man takes pleasure, so Karagül is also hedonistic. Man is flawed, so Karagül also has many mistakes. We never said we need to take all people under our dominion, we never became a spiritual guide to people. We just said we exist, we said pay your taxes, and we said we will protect you. Those who didn't want to didn't pay, we accepted that they remain in their own state. We are not a civilization or an idea state; in fact, we are not a state. We are only the representatives of matter and natural functioning in this order.'"