•ℜ𝔲𝔫 𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔟𝔲𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔣𝔩𝔶, 𝔟𝔢𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔩𝔞𝔱𝔢• "Love starts with a spark and turns into a bonfire. But the way I experienced love with him, had the same definition but a different outcome. Is love supposed to harm your surroundings and discover mysteries?" Lara Sequiera is an interior architect in California, who tries to move on with her past. Continually searching for a person to give her the care and affection her brother could never give. Everyone decided to leave her without a reason except one. Matteo Díaz, a Puerto Rican CEO, is the man who decided to turn her life into a mess. In contrast to the others, he never treated her badly and gifted her mentally and physically everything she desired. But why do his business opponents want to see them dead? Why is there a room in his house, she's not allowed to enter? Why does she still have visions of people in red robes and him being frightened of knives? Until a life-depending situation happens, which makes her trust those who hurt her and despise those who got her back the whole time. -MATURE!-

Hi, my name is Melissa. I've never considered myself a strong person, but I didn't realize that at the time. I always struggled to keep a job, never really understanding why happiness seemed so elusive. I thought I was content, unaware that I was, in fact, struggling. I know what you might be thinking, but please, keep reading. Something happened to me during my first year of working at 16 that changed my life forever. It hurt me in ways I couldn't fully comprehend, and while that pain has lessened over time, it shaped the person I've become-someone stronger than I ever imagined I could be. What I thought would destroy me instead pushed me to move to another country, a place where I barely knew the language. At just 24 years old, despite my parents' concerns and their insistence that I shouldn't go alone, I embarked on this journey by myself. Up until then, I had often hidden behind my parents, relying on them to face the world for me. But the events of my past forced me to confront life head-on. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was hiding from the world, keeping my head down, and avoiding the challenges that came my way. But now, I'm ready to share my story, lift my head, and face the world with courage. It's been a journey full of unexpected twists, and I promise you-it's going to get interesting.

When college student Celine Marlowe finds a piece of a shattered unicorn horn in the forest, she doesn't expect it to contain ancient magic connecting her to its owner Soren, the exiled prince of the Velkeros. With Soren's magic trapped inside her and the remaining pieces of his horn still scattered around the world, Celine is pulled into a centuries-old conflict between a corrupt scientific empire called the Argent Accord, and the once mythical beings they exploit. The Accord wants Velkeros blood for immortality, Soren wants to reclaim what they stole from him, and Celine just wants to make it out alive. Magic was never supposed to end up in Celine's hands, but the more she learns, the more she realizes that her and Soren's connection might be the key to saving everything. This story is my entry in the 2025 Open Novella Contest! Follow @OpenNovellaContest to be notified about the next one! The prompt I chose: #12. While hiking through a forest, you stumble upon a unicorn's horn.

ONC2025 Round 2 winner, Ambassador Pick and Long List Selection Entry based on Prompt 110. 20 days of freedom and Prompt 77. In a world where art and entertainment are forbidden, you're born to challenge the system and change the world.

1893. In Victorian London, a world marked by deep class divisions, young worker Henry Hops stumbles upon a secret manuscript by an unknown thinker. Fascinated by the radical ideas regarding the liberation of the working class and the contradictions within society, Henry embarks on a quest to find the mysterious author. A handwritten invitation in the manuscript leads him to an exclusive book club. Henry must decide how to navigate these ideas and how to fight for the rights of the working class, all while grappling with his own emotions, relationships, and the tension between aristocracy and social justice. ONC | 2025

When a fellow witch is accused of a heinous crime, Rowburta Copperbottom. A witch of minimal magical ability but a thirst for knowledge, must investigate the allegations and then prove at a trial the innocence of her colleague. But, with mysterious enemies trying to thwart her at every turn, Rowburta must rely on far more than her witchly magics to aid her in a race against time to prove that justice isn't just blind, but not averse to a little monetary tipping of the scales, either. Rowburta has more than magic to help, she has the lore. A tale in the Terry Pratchett inspired Godworld, where people are about to meet the world's first Witch Loreyer. An ONC novella, based on Prompt 14: "Not everyone in your coven becomes a witch doctor. But you? You are the witch lawyer and take care of the mystical laws of the magical world."