Chapter 36: Divided
John also seemed very curious about the book that lay on the ground, as same as me. I told him to read the book so John was now looking at a bit of detail inside it.
"What's wrong, John?"
"Seemed like we have discovered something interesting, Commander!" - John said to me while opening a smile, I wondered what he meant
"What's written in that book?"
"I will read it to you!"
I hope someone will be able to read what I wrote here, in this book.
You may be wondering who is the man who wrote this book, but don't worry, I will tell you now.
My name is David Finder, the man who wrote posted a post on Reddit named "A letter about World War 3 I found on the Sword Mountain".
The reason why I wrote this book is because I am now trapped here, exhausted and cannot walk so I write this book for anyone who comes here later can find it and read it.
I have been hunted by the military after posting that post but I managed to escape, I already knew that before when I was starting to write the post.
So I have prepared myself very well to get inside the Sword Cave alone, I really want to know about the secret of the Sword Mountain.
Day 1, I had to swim 164 yards ( about 150 meters ) at midnight, in the cold water through Virginia Beach to reach the sword-mountain, when I got there, most of my electronic equipment had been wet or broken.
The sword mountain's entrance is always open though the research of the scientists inside it has been delayed due to an incident that made 36 die when a lightning strike hit the upper of the mountain, making the fallen rocks block the entrance.
I got in the entrance to get down the sword cave right away, when I got there, I saw that inside the sword cave was very dark so I had to turn on my flashlight all the time.
I went deeper down the tunnel and saw about 1 route led forward, 6 other routes led to other sides that were placed from left to right, I came inside the routes one to one to see what are inside those.
On the first route on the left, there was a room that had 2 corpses of scientists dead inside, seemed like they had devoured each other or something, nothing else inside it so I moved to another room.
On the second route on the left, also a room, I saw a sword and a book placed on the ground but I didn't touch them, I would spoil those ancient artifacts if I touched them.
Also that room, I saw a work chair that seemed very modern, also a machine that had a board up the wall, also modern as well.
I cannot understand what words were written on the machine, I also interacted with the buttons, handgrips and switches on it but nothing happened.
On the third route on the left, I saw a machine also with that modern chair like the second route, I also interacted with it but nothing happened.
After that, I went out and went to the remaining three other routes on the right, seemed like except for the first route on the left, every route had a machine.
Maybe the scientists had removed the machine and the chair to bring them back to the lab for the research.
Then I went to the route forward, which took me about 10 minutes to go through, after I went through the route, in front of me was a large lake that covered the entire space down there.
I looked at the lake, there was glowing blue water on it, I took the water to smell, seemed like they were very normal so I drank the water that I took.
After drinking the water, my mind felt very relieved, I wondered why, I also wondered if it was the end of the sword cave. After looking around, I found there was a small entrance in the middle of the end of the lake.
At first, I thought I would have to swim through the lake because the lake seemed very deep, when I put my feet down the lake. I found that I was floating, not sinking so I walked through the lake.
I managed to get through the lake, I took myself inside the small entrance, when I got through it and kept walking, I found out that I was going up, not going down like before.
I went further and saw a bunch of scientists' corpses lying around, seemed like they had fought for their lives to eat each other because of trapped inside the sword mountain.
After I went more and more, I found there were a lot of routes, about hundreds of them so I skipped those things and went back to the lake.
I had wondered how could I get down the lake, then I touched my hands to the lake and tried to get them through the water, I managed to do it, then I accidentally jumped into the lake while still bringing my bag with me.
I got down the lake and saw an entrance which was very deep down there, I swam down, almost dying because of the suffocation of the water, but I managed to go through the entrance.
I got down the entrance and found a way to get through the water so I swam up, after that I saw my bag didn't get wet. I also checked the electronic devices and supplies and brought them in the bag, nothing got wet.
After that, I found a bunch of routes like the previous one I saw from up the lake, but when I was going around, suddenly I found a stone door that looked like an elevator opened for me to go in.
I got inside and saw two-button written in a language that I didn't know, they pointed down and up, I pushed the down button.
The stone elevator went down, it took me so long to go down, about two weeks, I think! But I brought too much food with me so I didn't need to be scared about starvation, but it took me too much time, when I woke up but still saw myself inside the elevator, I was about to go crazy.
I was so depressed, but when the elevator opened, I was so happy so I got out right away and more depressed after that.
I only saw small pieces of a blue thing, I didn't know what it was but I tried to find out what was this thing exactly, I put down my bag and took out many electronic devices, trying to interact them with that blue thing.
Until I put the radiation detector on that blue thing, I was terrified, the radiation level of that blue thing was higher than any radiation level of any nuclear warhead that had ever been created in human history.
Was that blue thing a part of a nuclear warhead? I wondered. My mind began to feel crazy, if that was true then what was this sword mountain, a nuclear weapon from ancient times or what?
But according to the scientists, the sword mountain is estimated to have existed at the end of the Cretaceous, this thing hit the earth and killed the entire dinosaurs?
My mind was so crazy but I kept it close by returning to the elevator and going up, after going up the lake on the 29th day, I think! I tried to get through the route up there that had many routes.
After going through most of the routes, maybe it took me 5 days, so that was the 34th day. I was very exhausted but I saw there was a route that went straight at the time you got inside that small entrance but I didn't go yet.
I got there and went further until I heard the loud sounds of machines running around there, I saw a big and long pillar that had blue lines that connected with it, going up and down like electricity, that pillar was straight.
Also hearing AI voices that said something like restarting programs and releasing the redundant energy.
I managed to look up the pillar by using my binoculars, there was a long thing that was exposed outside of the mountain, looked like a sword's hilt with a blue pommel on the top of it.
When I got closer to the pillar, suddenly it struck lightning strikes on me so I struggled a lot to hide, avoiding getting hit by the strikes.
After thinking for a bit longer, I was sure there was no way for me to get closer to the pillar so I went down the tunnel, about to get out of the sword mountain and hide somewhere else out of the military's reach.
But when I was going in the mid of the road, I felt so exhausted, I cannot walk, I think I was about to die so I wrote this book.
I hope there is someone who can read my message, I hope!
The book ended there.
"That's all of what was written inside the book?" - I was so curious so I asked John
"Yeah, maybe!" - John said to me and sighed, looked like there was no way out of the sword cave for us
"What should we do now?"
"Don't know, Commander! We may die here all of us, or I will kill you and Hatano to eat your meats until the rescue team comes!" - John said to me while keeping his serious face, I was so scared!
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"John, how could you?"
"Don't blame me, Sarah! Or Commander! When we got into a hard time, our instinct will be exposed fully, and I have no regret if I had to do that, Commander."
"The war I fought has taught me to do anything to survive!" - John said to me while keeping his face close to me more and more
"John!"
"But don't worry, I will do my best to calm my mind down, we may have enough rations until we got rescued!" - John said to me in a normal voice but I was still nervous
I was so terrified after hearing John say those words, John's face was now so serious, he stared at me and walked toward me.
I cannot run, I was so scared so I didn't have enough courage to do that!
"Don't get close to me!" - I shouted to John
John was still staring at me while walking toward me, I was more terrified.
"Stop!"
I was so scared so I closed my eyes, I was about to be breathless, my breath was very panicked, but then I felt something that touched my head, slowly stroking my hair.
"It was just a joke, Commander! Don't scare like a kid, you are fully grown up, you know?" - John talked to me in a funny voice, he said that was just a joke! But I didn't think that was a joke!
"Hmmph!" - I took John's hand out of my head and ignored him, walking toward the tunnel
"Hey! That was just a joke!" - John kept calling me more and more while following me
Then I looked back to John's pistol holster, if I could make him hand over his pistol to me then that wouldn't be so bad for me to forgive him.
"Hmmph! If you want me to forgive you, then hand over your pistol to me!"
John seemed a bit disappointed, he sighed and threw his pistol at me.
"Why did you sad?" - I asked John because I was so curious about his behavior
"Sigh! Sigh! Give me a few seconds, Commander!" - John kept sighing at me
"Ahem! I don't think you will stop angry at me so soon like that, Sarah! I mean Commander! I have secretly flirted with a lot of girls when I was in high school, non of them willing to date me because most of them were fastidious!"
"But you, Commander! I think Hatano will have to be far away from you soon! I think with an easy-going like you, Commander! You will soon be my girlfriend!" - John said to me that it would be very easy to make me his girlfriend, what did he mean?
"What do you mean by "girlfriend", John? I don't understand yet!"
"Sigh! You dummy! Did you ever have a boy to go with you when you were schooling?" - John said to me
"No!"
"Okay! You brown-haired Princess! To see a nut like you become my girlfriend, I cannot be assured of it!" - John said to me with a bored voice, he even walked past me
"Shut your mouth off and keep going!" - I kicked John's butt, making him lose his momentum while walking
After being kicked by my foot to his butt, John didn't seem to be angry but made a mocking smile at me, I really wanted to beat him right now!
But then I ignored John a little bit, I was now still wondering should I go down the lake or not but according to David's book, the route to get down there took about two weeks. Maybe I should not waste our time getting down there.
Maybe I would go with John up the route forward, go straight, I wanted to see what was up there, there may be a way for us if we got up there. The sword's hilt that had a pommel on it might be the thing that exposed on the top of the sword mountain, we may have a chance to get in there and escape.
"John! We will go up, there may be a way out for us up there!"
John made me a nod, he seemed like didn't joke like before anymore, we went further up there until we saw the hundreds of routes. But as what we according to David's book, we would go straight until we see the road.
Luckily that John had chosen to keep the book, it may be still useful for us at some points, maybe.
When I went through the road forward with John, I saw that the road we were going had now lighted up a bit by some blue lights that came out from a long thing that was away from us on the right.
That was the pillar that David had mentioned in his book, that thing was now on the right, we were now peeking at it while standing behind the big rocks that covered us from that thing.
John and I also heard loud noises of machines, seemed like that pillar was an electronic device. So strange that before humans appeared, there was a modern thing, even more modern than our today's technology that existed in this place.
"What are you intending to do, Commander?" - John asked me, I saw no way to go up the tunnel or that thing but I could see the sky from the outside appeared when I looked up the pillar.
The pillar seemed to have a height of 400 feet (About 120 meters), it also had blue lines that looked like electricity lines covering around it, running as if to provide electricity.
"Check!"
I heard an AI voice, John may hear it too, he was now peeking out his head as same as me to hear it talk.
"Begin to restart the computer programs in 3 seconds, 3, 2, 1...Start!" - That AI voice said
Then we felt the ground was shaking, quite big, it looked like an earthquake, this was the thing that caused the earthquakes around the sword mountain? I wondered.
After 1 minute, the earthquake was gone, seemed like that AI had ended its process.
"Restart failed, the next restart will be launched after 18 days!" - That AI said again
"Check! Detect much excess energy from the Watchtower! Suggest release the energy!" - That AI said
"Suggestion accepted! Countdown in 3, 2, 1...Start!" - I heard a lot of lightning sounds that came from the top of the sword mountain
So this AI thing was both responsible for making the earthquakes and also making the lightning strikes.
"Sarah!" - John called me by my name though I always told him to call me Commander
"John! I always tell you to call me-"
"Let's change our role for now, Sarah! I think you should not mess around anymore, get through this pillar is very hard so I need you to serious about this!" - John seemed very serious, I also felt that
"Yes, I understand! Commander!"
"Sarah! Can you run to the big rock forward? This place is very wide so there may be a way out for us in this place if we keep looking!" - John ordered me, though I didn't see any way out in this place
"I will try!"
"Remember to run fast, that pillar seems very dangerous!" - John said to me, he seemed very cared about me this time
Then I ran as fast as I could to the next big rocks that were away from us not so long, but when I was running, suddenly that AI alarmed.
"Detect intruders, suggest takedown immediately!" - The entire lines on the pillar turned red and started shooting lightning at me
"Sarah!" - John shouted loud to me, he even shot a few bullets from his rifle at that pillar
But that pillar was so thick, the shots from John's rifle cannot make it stop, it kept shooting lightning at me, I was so scared so I lay down on the ground. I managed to hide from the lightning strikes but was still scared.
"Sarah! We will retreat, get back here!" - John shouted to me but I was so scared, I didn't want to go out, I was scared that I would be hit by the lightning
"Commander! Commander! I'm scared! I can't do that! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" - I was now holding my head, begging the lightning not to hit me
"Sarah! Just stay there, don't move!" - John shouted loud to me, I later heard footsteps like someone was running
Then a few seconds later, my body felt like someone had lifted me, that was John, he risked his life to save me from those lightning strikes. After grabbing me, John ran as fast as he could to escape from the strikes.
We managed to get out of the pillar and went back to my sis's place, looked like we had to wait until the rescue team come.
"Are you okay, Sarah?' - John asked me while carrying me
"Yeah, I'm fine! Thank you, John! I mean, Commander!" - I didn't know why my face was now a bit red when I had to look at John directly
"Look like we have to wait until the rescue team gets here! Don't worry, if we eat less of our rations, there will be a chance for us to escape this place." - John seemed to want to comfort me
"Yeah! Let's head back to my sis, Ah! John, your hands are grabbing my breasts!" - I was a bit frustrated when seeing John's hands grabbing my breasts
"Sorry!" - John looked away while trying to take his hands out of my breasts
"Just touch them as you like, Commander! At least this time! I won't tell my sis! If you let me keep your pistol!"
"Why, Sarah? It's just a pistol, why do you need to keep it?" - John seemed didn't know about my purpose
"I want to be like John Wick! Bangbang!"
"Sigh! You are just a seems like you are a kid after all, Sarah!" - John seemed very exhausted
"Eh?"
"Don't care about what I say, you are so pure to become a Marines, but at least! Please still be pure as you are always, there are very less people like you in this world!" - John seemed to avoid talking
Then I and John went up to meet again my sis, John shooked his head when he met my sis, which meant cannot find any way out of the sword mountain. I was a bit disappointed because we had collected nothing on that journey but just only a lake that can provide us with water.
But my sis had behaved very strangely, when we met her, she was looking at the wall on the left of the entrance of the sword mountain while guarding the ammo crates, I wondered what she was looking at.
"Sis! What were you looking at? That's just a wall, sis!"
"Sarah...that wall...has...a groove...there is something...inside that wall..." - My sis said to me
Then John looked at the wall, he said to me a word.
"Yeah! Sarah! Your sis is right, I saw a very small groove here, it was so small so maybe the scientists didn't notice it!" - John said to me
"Should we try to slide it, Commander?"
"Yeah! We should!"
Then John tried to slide the groove of that wall out, he seemed a bit exhausted after doing that.
"Sarah! Hatano! Help me! This thing is very heavy!" - John said to me and my sis
Then three of us had slid the groove on the wall together, that thing was very heavy to slide out.
"Arghh! Arggh! Arrgh! Haaahhhh!" - All of us were making sounds of tired while sliding the groove
After sliding out the groove, we saw a room that was very, very wide, it had nothing there but a small pillar in the middle of the room.
I was about to look closer to the pillar but then I heard the sound of two ammo crates being put inside the room.
"Hey! Hatano, are you nut? You lift these things inside to avoid the lightning strikes?" - John asked my sis, he seemed very funny at this time
"Uhm!..." - My sis just made a sound "Uhm" to John
"Uhm!!!!!!!" - John imitated my sis's voice and then slapped his head, seemed like cannot believe what he heard
Then I looked closer to the pillar, that thing was made of stone, rectangle-shaped, tall about 1,2 meters ( about 4 feet).
It had a button in the middle of the top of the pillar, around the button were 10 very small round holes, placed from left to right. Each side had 5 holes and a button in the middle.
Then I remembered the small round jewel that glowed blue colored my sis gave me. I took it out of my pocket and compared it with the shape of the small holes, they seemed fit to each other.
I put that jewel on the upper right side of the round hole and pushed the button on the pillar, nothing happened.
"Sis! Did you bring the remaining round jewels? I see this pillar is very fit for it?"
Then my sis and John walked toward me and saw the pillar, my sis suddenly put down the bag that contained the round jewels on the pillar and took out the remaining 9 of them.
"I saw those things once, what are they?" - John asked my sis, for some reason that John had known these glowed jewels before me, hmmm!
"These things...were discovered...inside the sword cave...my father stole them...from the lab..." - Oh, sis! That was the first time I knew about that
"Stole?" - John seemed very surprised to know
"But forget it, maybe we should place all those glowed jewels on this pillar, at least doing something to kill our time when waiting for the rescue!" - John ordered my sis to hand over to him the glowed jewels
Then I and my sis were standing a bit far from John, seemed like he had placed all of the glowed jewels on the pillar, he was still curious why these things could glow, as same as me. After placing all the glowed jewels, John pushed the button on the pillar he seemed very enjoyed playing with those things.
Then suddenly, at the time John pushed the button, the ground shaking, another earthquake, I thought!
Then I started noticing the strange about those glowed jewels, they were now glowing white lights on the pillar, about to cover the entire room we were standing.
John was now the one who stood near the pillar the most, he was now covering his eyes because the lights were too bright.
"What the hell?" - John seemed very shocked
"You are the one who has woken up me! You have the mark of the Goddess on your body, she summoned you here to save the world! Hero! Tell me your name!" - A voice suddenly came out from the pillar
The white lights were so bright that I cannot see properly, my sis was now standing near me, she had to close both of her eyes. I tried a bit to get closer to John.
"Commander!" - I shouted loud to John as much as I could
"What the hell is this thing? What do you want!" - John asked the pillar
"Tell me your name, Hero! Tell me your name!" - The pillar said louder to John
"My name is, my name is! John! John Rigen!"
"Commander! Where are you?" - The light was so bright that it blinded my eyes
Then I felt like the entire white light had covered all of my body, all of the room, suddenly I lost consciousness, my body felt so heavy, my head hurt, my neck hurt, everything was very hurt.
That's all I could remember in those last moments.