Cries of a Wounded Soul

To save the world, Mage Aria sacrificed herself, becoming trapped with the personification of Darkness within an impenetrable tomb of rock and magic. But she had not realized how much of a hell that would be.

Dreams of deep despair haunted Tomas, a blacksmith with no apparent magic, where a wounded soul cried out from her torment, begging for mercy. Heartbroken for the dreamer, he sets out on an uncertain quest to free her. But there were those in power who did not want the dreamer freed, lest it also released the Darkness. Further, the link between Tomas and the dreamer was a kind of Darkness itself, one that would make him a fugitive in his own land.

A Fantasy story written for the 2022 Open Novella Contest.