The night air felt cold under the moon that glared at me with a radiance that I did not deserve. The chill that crept over my body was nothing compared to the frost in my heart. Standing in the center of the disaster, all around me were corpses of friend and foes that I slew for a mere night's sleep. It was then that I knew what I was...The Bloodstained Rose, alone in a cage of thorns that would neither free me nor allow me to be freed. Unable to escape, I prayed for a hero to end my nightmare and cut me out of this cage of thorns...This [13,200+word] novelella is a stand-alone side story to the Arcane Advent series and takes you through the tragic story of Tanmay, a mage who was blessed with control over plants and turned into a weapon as a child during a civil war between the magical factions of India.