Step 1: Find a legendary god-killing weapon. Step 2: Track down the acolyte hellbent on bringing about the apocalypse. Step 3: Use the legendary weapon to kick demi-god ass. Caiwynn Feathervale, a ranger happy to protect the realm if the price is right, has long been at odds with the captain of the Elite Royal Task Force, Kelren Carmaris, who seeks to serve the realm rather than profit off it. When an ancient temple of the god of chaos & destruction awakens, a powerful acolyte emerges, destroying entire villages, carving a path straight into the heart of Empyria, home of the king. When it seems no one can defeat this new threat, the king offers a reward to anyone brave enough to take on this impossible task. In need of funds, Caiwynn and her motley crew take the offer. But there's a catch: they must take Captain Carmaris with them. What's more, a prophecy tells of a relic from the age of immortals, long thought lost; a weapon powerful enough to destroy the evil plaguing the lands. Will they be worthy of wielding such a weapon? Caiwyn and Kelren's pasts have pitted them against each other. Fate has other plans.

One morning, the ocean sends a message one she can't ignore. Once a radiant daughter of the sea, Naia now lives in exile, her once-majestic tail destroyed by a merciless human ship. Rescued through a forbidden alliance between a human and a shaman of her kind, she survives with a formidable bionic prosthetic, forever torn between the world that cast her aside and the one that nearly claimed her life. But when a mysterious trench threatens to tear apart the very fabric of the ocean, Naia is thrust back into a perilous political game as a reluctant pawn. Teaming up with Luan, the formidable King of the Hadal Deep, she must don the guise of his fiancée, knowing their journey into the abyss will reveal truths buried beneath greed and ancient power. As the ocean begins to fracture and treachery looms on the horizon, Naia and Luan find strength in their defiance against exile. In these shadowy depths, survival hinges not just on might, but on trust-and the sacrifices they're willing to make to save their beloved sea. #1 in exile

Two assassins, Cassidy Monroe and Zach Kovac, from rival mafias are sent on the same mission, only to discover the assignment their fathers sent them to complete hides a much bigger truth.

Hailey Aurora had been spiraling for years - fighting, clawing, surviving the rot of an abusive home ever since her mother died. But survival has a cost, and hers came due in the form of a debt she could never repay. The night she almost killed her uncle was the moment everything twisted beyond repair. A single mistake. A single fracture in the fragile line she'd been walking. And then. Him. He said only one word. "Amore." After that, nothing was fine. Nothing would ever be again. Yet something shifts. He doesn't cage her. He watches, yes, but from a distance that lets her breathe. He lets her stumble, lets her fight her own battles, as if he trusts her strength more than she ever has. And sometimes, when he forgets himself, there is a quiet softness in him. A fleeting honesty that feels almost fragile. It unsettles her more than the fear ever did, Because somewhere in that silence, in those small, unguarded moments... She begins to feel again. ONC Prompt #78: "You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems." Also inspired by: #80 - "Monsters don't live under our beds. They live in the recesses of our minds." ✨Twilight✨

If you ask her, Selena was quite content living through her normal, boring life, thank you very much. Going classes, hanging out with friends, looking for new stories and fics to hyperfixate on, taking care of her cactus babies, enjoying her time as a self-proclaimed NBSB (No Boyfriend Since Birth) title holder-you know, normal stuff. That is, until a careening truck put all of those to an end, and got herself isekai'd in a different world. Which would have been fine, really. Any nerd, self-proclaimed or otherwise, would think of this as the greatest adventure to had. Thing is, Selena found herself transported to the universe of the latest novel she'd read as the female protagonist , and it was a generic werewolf novel-complete with a rags-to-power kind of plot, with fated pair and handsome alpha lead-and Selena absolutely HATED it. *** Official entry to the Open Novella Contest 2026! Prompts: - Prompt 36 (main prompt): You're told to choose a weapon before battle, but when you approach the table, the only options laid out are musical instruments - Prompt 3 (second prompt): You don't expect much excitement in your quiet garden until the day a dragon suddenly appears among the flowers

Summer Peterson and her best friend Whitney are both pulled into her unfinished script, a romanticized 1932 crime noir. All she wants is to find Whitney and escape, but instead she accidentally becomes the boss of a fledgling syndicate, adopts three loyal misfits, and starts bootlegging modern movies in a rundown theater to get her friend's attention. Unfortunately, her rising fame catches the eye of two dangerous men: Sebastian Lorenzo, the feared mob boss she once dragged unconscious into an abandoned house (long story), and Henry Glover, the city's most upright federal agent, who sees Summer as the key to bringing down every syndicate in town. Both men are drawn to the mysterious "White Tiger Lady." Summer just wants to find her friend and go home. But what happens when the script's villain isn't as heartless as he seems, and the world starts rewriting itself around her? Romantic Comedy / Crime Noir / Meta‑Fiction

ONC 2026, Prompt 78: You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems ONGOING! Couture Magazine: the most prestigious fashion publication in the world, where hemlines are sacred, deadlines are deadly, and the coffee runs are... surprisingly literal. Every intern who walks through those gleaming Manhattan doors dreams of landing a full-time position-complete with vision, dental (including twice-yearly cleanings), and an endless supply of designer clothes fresh off the runway. Sure, the demands from editors, photographers, and even the notoriously temperamental writers can be exhausting. But an intern's day at Couture is pretty ordinary, right? WRONG. Alcide Lancaster is about to discover that his summer internship working for the iconic-yet-terrifying Ellen Montclaire comes with a few... unexpected job requirements. Like why he and a select few employees-including the formidable Editor-in-Chief herself-are the only ones taking mandatory two-hour lunch breaks. Why his thirty-to-fifty-something coworkers look suspiciously athletic, eerily youthful, and are borderline obsessed with eyewear that definitely isn't just a fashion statement. And why A-list celebrities who stop by the Couture offices seem less interested in the magazine's latest cover shoot and oddly fascinated with Alcide himself. But most importantly... What does any of this have to do with Alcide's late family, their disturbingly narrow worldview, and the real reason they wanted him out of their lives forever? All excellent questions for a young man trying to survive a summer packed with Fashion Week chaos, superpowered coworkers who treat the office like their personal runway, and a boss who's less Anna Wintour and more fierce-but-loving grandmother. Between navigating new friendships, an unexpected romance, and enough secrets to fill an entire September issue, Alcide is about to learn that in the world of high fashion... Not everything is just an illusion.

Rue Domínguez, a twenty-seven-year-old unemployed woman struggling to cure her boredom and at the same time earn some good amount of cash, learns about an app 'ZombieRush' which on winning, promises to reward with $10.5 million. That seemed too good to be true, but with a competitive streak to beat this almost impossible game, Rue decides to test her fate. After conquering the game, she realises it's only the 1st half of the game, and 2nd half is still waiting out there. Rue won $10,000 on completing the 1st half, winning the rest of $10.5 million after completing the 2nd half---now that seemed not too far. But willing to participate in this game that appeared too easy before would have such a horrific result, that Rue never expected. Being forced into a zombie apocalypse while attending a high school reunion and learning that the apocalypse might just be the next half of ZombieRush, Rue realises she very much is 'cooked.' And now she is officially a player, with no way out. * * * Total Word Count: 21,045