The first sketch of Sword mountain:

Chapter 28: Before Everything Happened (Part 1)

On December 26th, 1996, Virginia had occurred the biggest earthquake in the United States' history, that earthquake woke up the entire state with a high magnitude.

Many people died on that day, after that earthquake, an object that looked like a mountain that was supposed to be deep in the ocean suddenly flowed up the ground, next to Virginia beach.

That thing later had been claimed by the scientists to be the thing that cause the earthquake, 2 hours after the first earthquake, the second earthquake suddenly occurred but with a lower magnitude. Also claimed to be caused by that thing, the military and the scientists later operated an investigation about that object.

As the time they got up that mountain thing, the military was so shocked to see two slates placed together, those two slates were later called "twin slates". The thing that appeared on the twin slate, which the military said seemed to be written in 5 other languages, written by the languages that they didn't know about.

After investigating more, the military found out there was only one language on the twin slate that they could translate, that language seemed to be written similar to Japanese. The military had according to that language to translate four other languages that were written on twin slate.

The thing that looked like a mountain was later named Sword mountain by the military by the way that thing looked, if we saw that thing from far away, it would look like a mountain. From above, we could see a thing that looks like a sword's hilt with a blue-colored-round pommel on it that is plugged in from the top.

From below, when we looked at that object under the ocean, there was a long thing that looked like a sword's blade that stick under it. The scientist still now figuring out how depth could the sword mountain be, they didn't find out precisely how depth it was yet.

Many topics had occurred around this Sword mountain, and many theories had been made but the main thing the people wanted to know was, were there any other ancient civilizations that existed before our mankind appear. Because this Sword mountain according to the scientists, it existed since the end-Cretaceous.

That Sword mountain has appeared at Virginia beach about 34 years ago and it still remained there until this time.

Back to the present, now we were in the summer.

"Ah! It's hot!"

I was sitting next to my older sister, Shizuka Hatano outside the room of our superior, Colonel Amanda Rigen, she said to us that we would get inside her room at 9:00 AM to do something that she didn't tell us.

My older sister, Shizuka was now listening to music, she was wearing airpods, I wondered what kind of music she was hearing.

The reason why I had a Japanese surname though I was a caucasian is that I was an adopted child of Dr. Hiro Hatano, a scientist, our father had now passed away a year ago because of that Sword mountain.

He was with more than 36 scientists doing the research inside the "sword cave", which was the entrance of the sword mountain that was also next to the twin slate. There was a lightning strike that struck down the mountain when our father was doing research with the scientists, that strike made the rocks fall down, blocked the entire entrance.

The rescue was very late, when the rescue team got inside the sword cave, they found the corpses of 36 scientists, about our father, his body was never found but he was considered dead during that incident.

I was now with my sis have to take care of our lives on our own, though my sis's face seemed very emotionless for everyone but she was very kind, she always cared about me. I didn't know why my sis had to keep that kind of face all the time with her odd way of talking, maybe that was her habit.

"Sis!"

My sis heard me say to her something, she immediately pulled out the airpods to hear me out.

"What's wrong...Sarah...?"

"It's hot, sis!"

"Try hard...to bear it...Sarah..." - My sis gave me a head pat to comfort me

"I want to get inside soon to get an air conditioner!"

Then I looked at my watch, seemed like there was one minute left, just one minute! It was already 8:59 AM, it was very near! Very near right now!

"Pin!" - My watch turned into 9:00 AM

"Get inside, sis! It's already 9:00 AM!"

Then my sis held my right hand and led me to our superior's room, when we got in the room, we saw a man, he seemed to have a full beard, with a short crew cut.

That man was wearing a US uniform with woodland camo, the US military uniform has been changed into jungle colored after the war in Afghanistan so we were all wearing like that man.

"Hello, man! What are you doing here? Do you also come here for the same reason as us?"

Then that man turned around to see us.

Yikes! That man's face was so scary, even more scary than my sis's face, his face looked so serious, did he always keep that face all the time?

"Hello...John - san..." - My sis greeted that man with a Japanese honorific on the last line of the talk

"San" is a type of Japanese honorific used to call everyone to show the friendly

"Sis! How did you know his name?"

Then my sis pointed her hand to the man's uniform, she pointed straight to his nameplate. Okay! So the man who was standing before us was named John.

"Sis? Your sister seems not talk much. You are, Sarah, right? Tell your sister to keep a normal face for me, the way she stares at me right now creeps me out!" - John complained to me

"Ah! Everyone here also says the same as you every time they see my sis, please don't be so annoyed, John! Keeping that face is her habit."

"You two are freaks!" - John said to me

"Calm down, man! Anyway, where is Colonel Amanda? She told us to get here to do something?'

"She's inside discussing with that old bitch, she'll go out in a few minutes!" - John said to us while pointing his hand to a door next to our superior's desk, it seemed like a secret room

"Old bitch?"

"Old...bitch..?..." - My sis tilted her head to the right, trying to understand

"Oh! That's the way the marines here call my first mom, that bitch doesn't deserve to be called mom."

"Poor you two! Maybe you guys came here for the same reason as me, I don't know why I have to get here either." - John said to me

"You guys didn't know that? You two just newly transferred here?"

"We always respect our boss, why did you just call your mom so disgusted like that, John?"

"Tch." - John clicked his tongue then turned around, seemed to avoid us

After that, John went silent, seemed like he didn't want to talk to us anymore, then I heard footsteps coming out of the room John pointed to me before. Two aged women were coming out of it, they were Colonel Amanda and her assistant, Lieutenant Kaori.

"My son! I can't believe the meeting with you two new friends would be ended up so bad like this." - Amanda said to John with a disappointed face

John was Amanda's son? Well, I heard that Colonel Amanda and Lieutenant Kaori had married each other for some reason though they were not lesbian. I also heard that they adopted a child, that man also working in the military though I didn't know this was the guy who we were standing with.

Then Amanda sat on her chair, she was now staring at us, about her assistant, Lieutenant Kaori was now holding 3 things in her hand looked like guidebooks. I could see a bit details that were written on the book's covers, it meant "Operation 1172" or something like that.

Then I saw John and my sis was about to do the military salute to greet our superiors, I was about to do the same as them.

"No need for the salute, marines! I will brief you on the reason why I called you three here, my speech will end fast." - Amanda said to us

Then we stopped doing the military salute to hear what our superior was about to say to us.

"Congratulations! You people are the very first subjects of this revolutionary technology!"

"Kaori, send them the guidebooks." - Amanda ordered Kaori

"Yes, sir!"

Kaori walked toward us and gave each of us a guidebook named "Operation 1172", the book's page seemed not so thick, maybe the length to read this book won't take a long time. Because I was very lazy to read, I hate to read!

"Sir...this is..." - My sis asked Amanda

"Everything that I want to say to you all written inside those books, it's about the new weapons that our military newly invented, of course, this is secret info." - Amanda said to us

"Then why do you have to hand over this kind of technology to us, Sir? You should have handed it over to the special forces!"

"Private Sarah, I have full authority to choose the soldiers to test these kinds of weapons because I'm the head of this project."

"The reason why I chose three of you, well! I cannot tell! You may know about it when the right time comes." - Amanda said to me

"What do you mean, Sir?"

"Three of you will have about 2 days off from now on before heading to your mission, three of you will head to Virginia Beach at 18:00 PM after two days resting for gathering before I give you the mission to do."

"Sergeant John Rigen, Private Shizuka Hatano and Private Sarah Hatano, three of you will be mixed into a special fireteam named Krieg 2 - 1, Sergeant John Rigen will be the leader."

"Try to know more each other and try to be friendly in those two days off, all of you will accompany for a quite long."

"That's all! Everyone dismisses!" - Amanda told us to dismiss though I didn't understand what was the meaning she wanted from us yet

"Marines, try to be friendly to each other, alright?" - Lieutenant Kaori told us to be friendly with her adopted son, I will do my best, Sir!

"Sigh!" - That was John, I saw him suddenly walk outside of the room after he heard Kaori say that

"We will go now, Sir! Though we didn't know much about the mission we are about to do but we will do our best." - I and my sis were about to do a military salute to goodbye to Kaori and Amanda

"No need, marines! Anyway, please try to be friendly with my son, I know he very hates me, he is always alone so I hope he has some friends to play with." - Kaori said to us

"Yes, Sir! We will do our best!"

"Yes...Sir..." - My sis said to Kaori

Then we got outside of our superior's room while holding the guidebooks Kaori gave us, maybe I will read them if I have the mood, I guess. Because I hate to read!

"Unlucky for you two." - John said to us as the time we got out of the room, he was now reading that guidebook a bit while looking at us

"Hey! Your mom said we need to be friendly with you!"

"Which mom? I can only consider Amanda as my mom, if you were meaning about Kaori, quit!"

"How did you talk to your mom so rough like that?"

"See this? She shot me here when I first got home from Afghanistan, see this face? She always tells me to keep it serious!" - John pointed to me his right shoulder, which he said had been shot by his mom

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"No, I also have the fault when talking with you two so loud, but anyway, why does your sister always keep that face?" - John asked me about my sis

"That's...my...habit..." - My sis replied to John

"Anyway, we didn't introduce ourselves yet, right? I'm John Rigen, what about you two?"

"Sarah Hatano."

"Shizuka...Hatano...desu..." - My sis introduced her name to John, "desu" in Japanese means "I am"

"Weird, you are white but you have a Japanese surname?" - John asked me, he seemed a bit curious

"Oh, because I'm an adopted child from a Japanese doctor!"

"Oh, okay! So we are now having 2 days off, want to go back home together, girls?" - John asked me

"I want to know your phone number first!"

"Bah! Here, only 10 seconds!" - John immediately pulled out his mobile and showed me

"Your number looks not so pretty!" - I told John about my expression about his phone number while typing it on my mobile

"Forget it, what about you?"

"Here!" - I showed John my phone number

"Yours is long as hell!" - John said to me while typing my phone number into his mobile

"About your sister?"

"She doesn't use a phone!"

"What? But why did she hold the phone with the Air-Pods in her ears?" - John seemed a bit surprised when he heard me say that

"I don't use...my phone...to call...I use it...to listen to music..."

"Everyone...let's...change our clothes...then...go home." - My sis said to us

"Your sister is truly a freak, Sarah!"

"Hey, don't insult my sis like that, she may be weird but she's very kind."

"Sorry! Okay! I mean, sometimes I cannot control my mind so I will sometime say roughly with you guys, anyway! Let's get out of the base then get back home." - John said to us

"Do we need to return our uniform?"

"No! Don't worry, we are allowed to bring them back home!"

"Anyway, do you guys live near here?" - John asked me

"Yes!"

"Good, let's move out, guys!"

Then we walked out of the military base, the military base was established around Virginia beach so we just need to have less than 30 minutes to get back to our homes. I wanted to introduce my house to John and also wanted to know about the place he was now living.

"It's still hot!" - There was also no air conditioner inside our superior's room so when I got out of the streets, I just felt hotter

"Bear it, Sarah! These days are very hot, we can go to the beach to cool down." - John said to me

"Stop joking, John! You know there is no one dares to step close to the beach, the area around that sword mountain always has earthquakes and lightning strikes."

"That beach has been abandoned and have no construction being built there for 30 years, you know?"

For some reason, Virginia beach had been abandoned, no one dares to come near the beach. Maybe that was caused by the earthquakes and the lightning strikes occuring around the sword mountain .

According to what I know about the sword mountain, when you stepped on its surface, your electricity things like phones, and radios would be jamming frequency, or worse, they would be broken if you were unlucky.

The area around the sword mountain always had earthquakes and lightning strikes, many constructions had been made to reconstruct for entertainment on the beach but it always ended up badly.

On the top of the sword mountain, there was a black cloud that would appear sometimes but most of its appearance was always in bad weather, very rare it appeared when the sky was clean.

That black cloud was the thing that occurred lightning strikes, the lightning strikes made the constructions fall, and even made people died.

The scientists cannot explain the sword mountain's strange phenomenon, if a governor of this state suggested reconstructing the buildings around the beach, he would be protested and thrown away by the people.

At the time this thing appeared, many scientists over the world had been sent there to do the research but many of them died during researching inside the sword cave.

I heard from the internet that the sword cave had a lot of routes the scientists said they looked like tunnels, they were many of them so if you didn't pay attention when you were going deep inside the cave, you would be lost and died there.

Also sometimes if a lightning strike hit above the mountain, it would cause the rocks up there to fall down, blocking the entrance of the cave. Most of the scientists died because of this one, my father also had the same fate as them.

The research around the sword mountain had been criticized very much by the people, the last research around the sword mountain had been made a year ago.

At the time my father died in the cave with the scientists while doing research, it was never reoperated since that incident.

"Hey, Sarah! We have come to Virginia Beach." - John suddenly said to me

I think I was thinking so much so I didn't pay much attention when I go so I was surprised a little bit when I got to the beach. I had said to John that I would introduce him to the house I and my sis were now living in, I always wanted to be friendly when I got new friends.

We were about to head back home in a few minutes because my house was located near the beach, but seemed like we had got into something else, I saw crowds that were now gathering around the beach.

Though the military had established a perimeter around the beach to tell the people to stay away to avoid danger from the sword mountain but seemed like there were still people hanging around it.

The sword mountain can be seen from far away, it was quite huge, I was now wondering why people were gathering near the beach, they didn't scare to be struck by lightning strikes?

"Hey, you two want to go with me? I want to see what happened there." - John asked me and my sis

"Maybe, I was about to show you my house but."

"We will get there when we have done the look here, okay?" - John said to me

"Yeah, you seemed didn't say loud to us like before, John! What happened to you?"

"Sigh! I already said to you that sometimes I cannot CONTROL myself, okay? I just got into a bad mood this morning so...sorry! Maybe I have talked too much."

"Don't worry, I won't make you scared again, I promise." - John seemed nice, not bad at all though he always kept his serious face, which makes me creep out

"Can't you cool your face down a little bit for me?"

"I'll try!" - John said to me, but his face didn't show the promise...sigh!

"Seems like...you two...are have...fun...to each other." - My sis said to me

"Oh, Hatano! if you didn't say a word then I would forget your existence though you were going with us all the time here."

"Can...we...go to the beach...now...?"

"Okay, okay!" - John said to us then we slowly went to the crowds that gathering on the beach

When we got to the crowds, we saw many people who seemed to be reporters, they were filming their cameras at an aged man standing near there holding a loudspeaker.

That man was now protected by the police, seemed like I already knew who were the crowds that gathering here, they were the protesters who protest the reconstruction around the beach.

The man who was holding a loudspeaker, if I was right then this man must be the new governor of Virginia. He always wanted to reconstruct the beach, seemed like he was now here to express his feeling to the protesters.

"Everyone! Please calm down! I, the governor of Virginia will take all responsibility for this reconstruction. Look over there, people! That thing is the first military outpost that was built on the beach 6 six months ago!"

"That thing was built just a little bit close to the danger perimeter around the beach but at the time this thing was built, there were no lightning strikes that can reach it."

"You know what, people? That means we can rebuild the residential area around the beach soon, that mountain cannot stop us from this beach reconstruction anymore!"

"So I will fully anno-" - The governor was about to announce his words

"Hey, look! That black cloud has come back again!" - Many protesters pointed their hands to the cloud that appeared on the top of the sword mountain from far away

Three of us also saw that scene, strangely that this cloud suddenly appeared when the weather here was nice.

"What?" - The governor turned his back to see the black cloud, his face showed a lot of nervous

"Lightning strike sound!" - Suddenly a lightning strike struck down the military outpost

"Ahh!" - The crowds were now running away because of scared

I saw the new governor was now having a lot of sweats, he expressed his panic to the police, some police officers were now panicked and some ran toward the outpost to check the marines who were stuck inside during that lightning strike.

Sarah, Hatano! I will go there to see, it will be very dangerous if you two go with me, stay here, I will be right back!" - John said to us then ran toward the outpost

When I was about to run with John to the outpost though he told me not to do it, my sis suddenly grabbed my collar.

"Stop, Sarah...Don't go..."

"But!"

"It's very dangerous...out there...stay here...I don't want...to see you...die...Sarah..." - My sis suddenly hugged me tight

She didn't want to let me go.

"But sis! What about John?"

"Don't...worry...he will...daijobu..." (Don't...worry...he will...be okay...) - My sis held me tighter

I hope John will be alright, I hope so, I hope so!