Post

Rock Bottom

The Hunt of Black Island - Event Post

Middle Ossaran Sea, August 2nd, 1911

Jetei Tseren lay awake, his bloodshot eyes redder than they have ever been before. His hands shook with nervous pain shooting up and down his body, his arms twitched from the trickling blood down his body. His feet barely had any movement left in them, his back aching from the hardwood flooring beneath him. Bullet wounds in his left pectoral, right leg, left hip, and right arm screamed in pain from the battle before, preventing an ounce of sleep since his capture. He regretted every previous decision he had made to come to Elodia.

A mercenary by trade, he was originally born in the jagged mountain of northern Hoydland. His father, a Hoyd soldier himself, had taught him the rules of warfare, and simply groomed him into a soldier since he was four. At the age of sixteen, Jetei had immediately been appointed a Hoyd uniform and given a rifle to be apart of the Hoyd infantry. Trained in the rural hills of the centrality of the province, he breezed past the preliminary training to be assigned to a low-level battalion protecting the province from the military bases in his homeland, the north. However, a tragic accident regarding a nearby power plant killed half of his battalion, causing Jetei to leave the Hoyd military and go north to the Hexlans. He could still remember the smell of burning charcoal and blood combining into one…

And that is where he found his current ‘occupation’ of a traveling mercenary. Through this career, he had traveled the far reaches of the Empire, seeing the many different cultures of the land. However, something had always drawn him back to Hoydland. After being hired for a battle within the Zuunzugt Territory, where a bloody war between the Zuunzugt natives and Hoyd government has persisted for years now, he stayed in the outskirts of Khottar, specifically Treinor City. Although he was technically a wanted man within his home province, he couldn’t help but enjoy the nighttime activities the downtown had to offer. That’s when he met her. The love of his life, the one that had changed everything. Suvdan.

When he first met her in the local bar, she was the most lively person he had ever met. And one of the most beautiful, too. She was a local nurse at the only hospital in the city. He had never expected himself to fall for a working woman, but it had happened regardless. That night, his hotel room was left vacant as he spent the night in Suvdan’s apartment. It was the best night of his life.

Although he had to leave, he couldn’t get her face out of his head. She may have been the most ambitious woman in the Empire. Her big dreams of change within the province were some of the most fascinating things he had ever heard. And from a woman, nonetheless? After a job in Kolch, he took the fastest train to the capital and made his way south to Treinor City once again. There, he professed his love to Suvdan and asked her to marry him. She immediately said yes. The pair stayed in Suvdan’s apartment together as she continued to work her nursing job before becoming the first female doctor at the clinic with the sudden passing of the lone doctor there. Jetei looked for a job himself, but options were limited due to his lack of experience in civilian industries. That’s when he got a call from the Elodian government.

The money presented to him was sizable, and would only help Suvdan. However, as he told her about the offer, she immediately rejected the idea. Something about leaving his past behind him. A frustrated Jetei stormed out of the apartment, and in a flurry of decisions, found himself on a train to the north. Assigned to the front lines, a line of gear was given to him before sending him onto the battlefield. But they were outmatched. For the first time in his career, he could do nothing. They were overwhelmed. As bullets entered his body as his fellow soldiers, many mercenaries, fled to safety, he fell to the floor. He was captured.

And now, he’s here. He couldn’t even cry, for he had shed all of his tears. His heart was still with Suvdan, but would he ever see her again? As his restless eyes darted around the room, his mind spun rapidly. He could feel himself bleeding out, the infection entering his wounds even. But he had to return. He had to see her beautiful face once again. This wasn’t the end. It couldn’t be. He had to see Suvdan.