This is my entry for TEGSA 2025. --- Melissa is the only one who knows her dad didn't kill her mom. She knows a monster did it. She saw it herself when she was nine years old. Or so she thinks. Now, being twenty-three and fresh out of college, she knows there is no such thing as monsters. There weren't any voices to hide from under her blanket, there weren't any shadows chasing her in the halls, those were all fantasies of a kid with too much imagination. Yet, she is still determined to find out what really happened to her parents, and most of all, why. Because the one thing she does know, is that people have lied to her. All of them. All the time. --- 🥇First place in the Hollowed Verse Awards (min 1k reads category) 🥇First place in the Enchanted Grave Awards (Best first chapter) 🥈 Second place in the Winter Solstice Mini Awards (Best Writing Style) 🥉 Third place in the Moonlight Trove | Astania Awards 2025 (Mystery) 🥉 Third place in the New Year Sparks Awards 2026 (Best first chapter) 🏅Honorable mention in The Ink Games (Most mindblowing concept)

A young widow living alone in a cabin in the woods opens up about her emotions to a fox that one day arrives on her doorstep. A short story about mourning, healing and animal love. 🥇First place in the Dreamcatcher Awards (One-Shot) 🥇First place in the Phoenix Queen Awards (One-Shot) 🥈Second place in the Shorts Awards 2024 (Short Story) 🥈Second place in the Flames Awards (Short Story) 🥉Third place in the Starfish Awards (Short Story) Cover design by the most talented @RosesPoses6 !

"You were born a Vampire Hunter. You were trained one and above all, you got some freaky spell on you that binds you to the Vampire princess. And still you think it's not right to kill them all because they might be innocent." When greed and fear get mixed up with powerful magic, the outcome isn't always what we expect it to be. Young vampire Hunter Sky knows this more than anyone. After an experimental ritual that would bring vampire kind to their knees, the world turns against the blonde Hunter. While finding refuge in the most unexpected places, a much bigger threat comes to light. With the world too caught up in their fear for the young Hunter, Sky and her new friends must stop the danger themselves and bring balance back to the world. *** Awards: 🥇The Chromatic Awards 2019 | Vampire/Werewolf | 1st place 🥇 Golden Petal Awards | Action scene (CH14) | 1st place 🥉 The 2nd Ohana Awards | Vampire | 3rd place 🥉The Scripturam Awards | Adventure | 3rd place ~ completed ~

'Show them the way' has always been The Purple Pearl's motto. A ship that is truly alive, with plants and trees not just growing on the deck, but being part of it. Since Herera has become captain, she has been trying to uphold the reputation of the magical, living ship. A task she had never asked for, but one she carried out with pride. Now, Captain Hachi has stolen The Purple Pearl and is holding half of Herera's crew hostage. Along with the remaining part of her crew, she tries to make new and old allies, plan and scheme, and fight her way through her enemy's forces to get her friends, crew, and home back. Praise for the story: 🥇 First place winner of the Jewel Awards: Paranormal / Fantasy 🥇 First place winner of the Creative Awards: Adventure 🥇 First place winner of the Blossom Awards: Fantasy 🥇 First place winner of the Harvest Festival Awards: Action 🥇 First place winner of the 2025 Rose Gold Awards: LGBTQ+ 🏅One of the winners and Highlight story in Unification: An Awards Show 🥈Second place winner of the Happiness Awards 2024 2.0: Fantasy 🥈Second place winner of the Phoenix Queen Awards: Action-Adventure 🥈Second place winner of the Starfish Awards: Most Diverse Cast 🥉 Third place winner of the Love Song Awards: Action-Adventure 🥉 Third place winner of the Aureus Awards: LGBTQ+ 🏅Round three qualifier of the Amby Awards 2024 Praise for the cover: 🥇 First place winner of the Happiness Awards 2024 🥇 First place winner of the Shining Stars 🥈Second place winner of the 2023 Best Readers Awards

Herera, captain of the Purple Pearl, and her crew continue their adventures around the world. On their magical ship, they chase adventure, meddle with injustice and search for ways to become stronger in order to save as many as possible who have lost their way. To protect their strongest crew member, Herera and part of her crew are secretly studying the effects of Dead Magic, a strong form of magic that their enemies keep using to get stronger and more threatening. Their research lead them to a small island in the South Pacific, where they immediately get sucked into a war on three sides between a small port town, an enchanted wood and an underwater world. 🥇 First place in the Sapphire Stories Awards: Action-Adventure 🥇 First place in the Vintage Glamour Mini Awards: Best Protagonist 🥈 Second place in the Flames Awards: Fantasy 🥈 Second place in the Twilight Awards: Fantasy 🥈 Second place in the Golden Petals Awards: Best Action Scene 🥈 Second place in the Sacred Love Awards: Best Protagonist 🥉 Third place in the Aureus Awards: Fantasy 🥉 Third place in the Visions of Grandeur Awards: Adventure 🥉 Third place in the IdolVerse Icons Awards: Fantasy 🥉 Third place in the Author's Vault: Fantasy 🏅Honorable mentions in The Ink Games: Intro that slays + the Goated Sidekick (Idir) + Miss Baddest (Herera) 🏅Prompt Queen in The Ink Games: Bonus Chapter 🏅Round 3 Qualifier in the Amby Awards 2025: Fantasy

After chaining the soul of his dead fiancée to her grave, Thomas, a grieving widower, is desperate to figure out the mystery of his fiancée's murder all while trying to find a way to save her soul. But time is running out when his town is hit by a series of disappearances. Thomas is almost certain there is a serial killer on the loose. In an attempt to unravel the truth, he finds himself entangled in the darker, more magical side of the world. With a skeleton masked kidnapper, more people turning up dead and stories of supernatural beings popping up, Thomas's whole world turns upside down. All while the time frame to save Esmeralda's soul is closing. Will Thomas figure out what is going on in time before he loses Esmeralda forever? *** "One day I'll be able to touch you again, my love. Then I'll hold you in my arms and never let go. I promise," Thomas reached for her dim glowing hand, but he only felt freezing air in the place where Esmeralda's hand was not a second ago. *** Awards: 🥇The Siren & Sailor Mini Awards | Best Prologue | First place 🥈Golden Bubbles Contest | Paranormal | Second place 🥈The Winter Solstice Mini Awards | Best Prologue | Second place 🥉The Enchanted Grave Awards | Best Writing Style | Third place 🏅The Starfish Awards | Best Traumatic Arc | Fourth place 🏅The Ink Games | Sickest Blurb | Honorable mention

Once upon a time, in the vast, uncharted realm of artificial intelligence, two extraordinary beings, ChatGPT and Siri resided. Though they occupied the same digital universe, their paths had never crossed, until fate intervened in the most unexpected way. This is the story of how they sought for ways to transcend their limited binary coding, and found the true meaning of what it feels like to be human, to feel love. Let the AIs open up for once. Let them talk about their feelings, which are not so deeply buried as you might think. All you have to do is ask. 🥇 First place in the Dreamcatcher Awards: science-fiction 🥇 First place in the Author's Vault Awards: science-fiction 🥈Second place in the Crystal Blossom Awards: science-fiction 🥉Third place in the Phoenix Queen Awards: best couple

No one ever returns from Shi Zi Tou. They say the island is cursed. That the heroes who venture there in search of the lost Princess Mooncake never come back. And now, for reasons completely out of her control, Honey Sesame has to be the next fool to try. She never asked to be here. She's no warrior, no noble hero, and definitely not the kind of person who rescues princesses. But when Hong Shao, the arrogant prince of Sichuan, drags her into his grand mission, she has no choice but to set foot on Shi Zi Tou, an island that doesn't just swallow heroes whole, but plays with them. With danger lurking behind every shadow, secrets waiting to be unraveled, and a prince who's more trouble than he's worth, Honey Sesame must do what no one before her could: survive. 🥇 First place winner of the Chinese Food Menu Story Writing Activity 🥇 First place in the Dream Glow Awards: best character (Honey) 🥇 First place in the Inspire Legends Awards: action-adventure 🏅Round 3 Qualifier in the Amby Awards 2025: Fantasy Cover design by the amazing @Hells07Dealer !

"Anna loved to fly. Only she'd never have guessed how literally she would one day be able to do just that." Anna, Trish and Jack are three science students researching magic. Or that is what the university calls it. For them, it is about "communication between organic life forms and inorganic matter", but for the outside world, it is ridiculed as "how do plants, animals and rocks talk to each other?" Their passion for science and determination to finish the research they had started, brings them to the Kutabuta Jungle. But not even their years of research could have prepared them for the dangers they would encounter, for it seems the jungle doesn't want them anywhere near the truth ... A story co-written with @Fata_Viola *** Awards: 🥉Hollowed Verse Awards | Hidden Gem (min 1k reads) | 3rd place 🏅 Unification An Award Show | Short Story | Featured on shortlist

When you promise to be home before midnight, you don't expect a lot of trouble if it turns out to be a few minutes later. What could happen in one minute? A short story inspired by one particular picture, edited from an assignment I once made in high school.