🎶If you open up your mind, See what's inside...🎶 I was just another guy surviving high school. I played guitar in a band that was just about to take off. A family where the adventures never stopped-and on top of all that, I had the best girl in the world by my side. Felt like I won life's lottery at only 17. Then she hit me some bigs news, and it changed everything. I didn't know what to exactly do- or what to expect, but I knew one thing for sure: I planned to be there every step of the way. For better or for worse, right? I'm Derek Parker- and this is my story.

This is a contest for stories that are just getting started! If your story is ongoing, this is the award for you! ALL SPOT HAVE BEEN FILLED! JUDGING NOW!

For what reason does one wake up every day? People had always thought the life of ISAAC RUIZ couldn't be more perfect. Everything he wanted, he could get with his money and influence. What anyone didn't know was his real motivation to keep on living--something that was silly to others, but a salvation for him. For office employee FLORENCE VILLENA, there was no longer any meaning to his existence. Nothing could fill the void he had been experiencing inside him anymore, and he was convinced the world was better off without him in it. At twenty-eight years old, LAURENCE VILLEGAS had a lot of reasons to wish to just sleep forever. Since losing his home and family, the universe had rarely been kind to him. And yet, he chose to survive, time and again, if only for the hope of seeing his life get a little better. On Friday the thirteenth of January 2023, fates began to entangle as Laurence met with an accident, Florence tried to kill himself, and Isaac lost his reason to live. Nine months after the incidents, a new dawn fell upon those three lives when someone reawakened in a stranger's body. Set in a fictional Asian City called Perlientas. Mature topics: mentions of suicide (actual scene not depicted) and death, mental health and other societal issues, character thoughts that some may find disturbing or triggering, few sexual chapters later in the story Despite those themes, the overall story's pretty tamed. Featured on: @Romance [Romantic Suspense] | September 2024 @Ambassadors [Rainbow Fiction] | April 2025 Recognitions: ❦ Unification: An Awards Show 2025 | Creator Pick ❦ Unification: An Awards Show 2025 | Overall Grand Winner ❦ Moonlight Trove: Astania Awards 2025 | First Place in Mystery Category ❦ Padauk Mini Awards 2024 | First Place in Best Potential

☆ SLOW BURN • DARK ROMANCE ☆ 〜 They burned her kingdom to ash. Now she sleeps beneath the roof of its conqueror. Clarice, last princess of Sahradyn, was meant to die with her family. Instead, she was spared, dragged across enemy lines and locked in a tower by the man who shattered her world. King Caelen of Velmoras is cold, calculating, and ruthless. He offers her only one choice: become his concubine, or rot in the tower. Yet even as Clarice plots her survival, something stirs between them. A pull. A thread. The old texts call it the soul-thread: a bond said to bind enemies as often as lovers, rare and perilous, long dismissed as myth. But Clarice feels it now, in every glance, every silence, every clash of wills with the man she should hate above all others. As war brews on the borders and kingdoms begin to fracture, Clarice must decide whether the thread binding her to Caelen is a curse to be severed, or a weapon powerful enough to change the fate of empires.

There's a simple hierarchy in the world; youkai exist to kill humans and hunters exist to kill youkai. As the daughter of a hunter Lilith knows this well, but she didn't expect her life to shatter at the revelation of a dark secret. She is a youkai. Now, with her life in ruins and facing execution, Lilith must abandon everything she knows. Under cover of darkness, Lilith flees to the port city, searching for a boat headed for Eden, the ringed city at the center of the world. There she hopes to start a new life for herself. But when she sells her spare ticket to a stoic woman named Pandora, she couldn't imagine she was inviting a hunter on the journey with her. Now, Lilith will have to hide her identity if she hopes to live. A task made more difficult when the two women grow closer and Lilith develops feelings for someone she can never be with.

KILL ONE TWIN, FREE THE KINGDOM. On the island of Wyrith, death has a name: Morana. Gifted - or cursed - as the realm's last necromancer and most lethal assassin, her power is a whisper from the grave. However, even she struggles to bridle the magic clawing under her skin. Life breathes through her twin sister, Ilyana. The urge to heal even the smallest of wounds fuels the tips of her fingers, yet not even her blessed magic can bring back the family she's lost. All that's left for her to inherit is a duty of isolation and sacrifice. When an archaic necromancer curse awakens, sealing in Wyrith and taking lives one by one, the sisters face a harrowing choice. After a decade apart, will they unite to unravel the ancient magic before it's too late? Or will secrets and enemies shred their last hope for Wyrith, leaving nothing but an island of corpses? BOOK ONE - COMPLETE || WORD COUNT: 100K - 110K || | x6 ꜰᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇᴅ | 2024 © -DeeIsDead-

Sage Hawthorne has it all- beauty, wealth, intelligence, and the pride to flaunt it. Caleb Baxter is the school's resident loser. Socially awkward, painfully nerdy, and the kind of guy no one notices. She's the queen bee of her school, feared and admired in equal measure. His life revolves around the his Mom, and solitude. But when their worlds collided... It taught them just how much... opposites could attract. ─── ♡︎ ─── Two opposite worlds never meant to interact with one another. What could possibly go wrong?

When starving incubus Dante Agosti lands a job working for hot-tempered celebrity chef Cedric Hale, he can't believe his luck. Working for his idol ought to be a dream come true, providing him with all the culinary passion he could possibly eat. There's just one problem: dealing with the demands of reality TV has given Cedric the worst case of burnout Dante has ever seen. As Dante struggles to reignite his boss's love of cooking, the kitchen heats up in more ways than one. What began as a last-ditch attempt to sate his hunger soon sparks something more as Dante's boundless determination begins melting Cedric's hard exterior. But Dante knows all too well that loving a leech like him could have horrible consequences. If he isn't careful, their love could consume them both. Content warning: This story contains depictions of depression and non-descriptive mentions of sexual content. Cover by @dark_obsessions13

𝙍𝙞𝙨𝙚...𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧. - Oasis Awards 3rd place - Upon nearing adulthood, citizens of Aegia face the choice to risk it all. For some, it's all about the glory, and living up to their family name. For others, it's an offer of security, of knowing where their next meal is coming from. And so they make the choice to enroll in one of several Academies, where they are taught the ancient texts, the history of the realm, and the sacred runes handed down by the gods themselves. At the end of their time there, they face a series of tests to be sorted into two castes: 𝗔𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀, the elite rulers, advance to the top positions in their field, deciding what is built, what is destroyed, where taxes go...and who lives and dies. And 𝘀𝘆𝗹𝗿𝗮, the servants bound by magic to their Aelaris. Seen as little more than an appendage and status symbol, they spend their days following their Aelaris and living for their demands, completely devoted and content in their role. The bond is considered sacred. It prevents the Aelaris from ever harming their sylra while ensuring the sylra is happy to serve. It is the Rite of Ascension that determines who belongs where, a process that measures worth and potential, through the power of the gods. Rian Argon-son has always believed he was destined to join the ranks of the Aelaris, working tirelessly to prove himself worthy. Meanwhile his nemesis Ileana, born into wealth and privilege, has always seen herself as a true heir to power. Their rivalry has simmered in all their time at the Academy, and now the final testing is upon them. They may be both top of their class, but ultimately the Rite of Ascension will decide everything. Both have prepared. Neither are ready. Cover by @Merlyn_Fereira