After a year spent healing at St. Francis Mental Hospital, Neillah must piece together the life she was forced to leave behind without getting caught. ⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆ When Neillah Thomas is released back into society she expects her family and friends to have moved on--not believe she's dead. Convinced it was for the best, her mother assures her temporary grief was better than long drawn hardship that could only end in pain, keeping her wellbeing a secret from everyone, but also single-handedly cutting off Neillah's entire support system. Sworn to secrecy, she attends college at her dream school only to find her former friend group in shambles. Between the cold stares, scathing retorts, and literal evasion, Neillah is shocked to find her first crush is a loner and that hot-headed best friend of hers? He seems to be staring in her direction a little too long. Clinging to her promise to remain out of sight, Neillah stubbornly fights for the closure they all deserve and answers she never got, no matter the cost. | An Open Novella Contest Longlister | | Cover by the Amazing @Caralogues |

There are strange creatures in the water - and TEMPEST RAERIR is tasked with keeping them there. The gods have long since abandoned the Queendom of Khaedel, letting monsters of the deep plague the land with sickness and death. She defends the shores and kills anything that dares to step onto the sand. When one of the queens of Khaedel - Tempest's mentor - falls ill, her duty switches to saving who she cares about most. And she just might be the key to saving everyone. The deeper you go into the Arnstar Ocean, the more powerful the creatures become, and THE WARDEN'S duty is to keep them all in line. For centuries, the magic keeping the most depraved monsters at bay has been waning. Now that cracks have cut through the surface, the Warden faces no choice but to obtain the help of the beings that despise them the most. Tempest and the Warden must band together and venture as far down into the Arnstar Ocean as they can to seal the fissures. Only, getting there might not be as easy as they thought. Can they survive the battles with the leviathans that lurk in the darkness? Or will they prove the gods right that the land is hopeless? ONGOING 2026 © -DeeIsDead-

Ki Centauri is a man with many faces. The life of a military peacekeeper is not a kind one, and the people he's lost are nearly as numerous as the ones he knows. Time and time again, lives slip through his fingers, and all he is left with is the black skies of people now gone. Yet human beings cannot live without connections. Somehow, there must be a way to find friends beyond the limitations of Crest and Clan and forge connections that last and truly matter. But is the pain of finding love in an often bleak and broken world worth the cost of of threading a family across the stars? An ONC 2026 story based on prompts 29 and 69: "You will meet many people in your life. Many will come and go, but some will leave footprints on your heart." "The stars are disappearing one by one, and only you can hear their whispers." New cover by @toruinagod!

Born to the immortal, fickle aes sídhe, Lorcán Ó Miach pays little heed to the turning world around him. His only concern is a strange, nagging boredom that follows him like a second shadow. So when a mortal child stumbles upon the home he and his two brothers share, he delights in the chance to learn about the odd girl. But humans are fearful, delicate creatures, and they are not the same. Careless, selfish, and perhaps broken, Lorcán must confront his very nature. The line between good and evil is a blurred one; if he cannot decide which path to walk, he will lose the only thing he holds dear-his family. ☽❇☾ ~ Standalone prequel to The Sun Sídhe (same world, different characters!) ~ ONC 2026 entry | prompt 46 & 80

ONC 2026 THIRD PLACE WINNER An entry-level cartographer, Liadan is the least interesting, least important member of the Nautical Guild. Well, that's what she needs everyone to believe. When a warning at sea forces Liadan to flee the Island of Tirisea, she must choose if she returns to safety or trusts a stranger who promises her the impossible: a life where she is free from a duty that was inflicted on her at birth. No matter what, she must not let the mist find her, nor allow the key to fall into malevolent hands. One wrong move, and the world will crumble. Cover by @raizelrose3 ONC 2026 Prompts: 7. One morning, the ocean washes up a message. One you've been waiting your entire life to hear. 62. They say every door has its own key. Except for one, a key said to open them all. 79. A letter arrives addressed to you, written by someone who shouldn't exist. ONC 2026 Round 1 Winner Word Count: 26,177

*Note: This is based off an old and discontinued story that had its outline scrapped and reworked to fit the prompts for the ONC. Essentially, a new book for this competition. Only the core concept, title and the protagonist's name are kept the same.* ----- A ribbon, a hair-clip, a pen, a notebook and a radio, held in the arms of a sixteen year old girl... ... It's been four hundred of years since The Rot ravaged the world and sent people downward with its decaying touch, four hundred years since humanity has inhaled even a breath of fresh air and twenty years since the first fifth-generation child was born in the shelters deep underground. And now, beneath the poisoned earth at the edge of the world, only six of them remain living in the last surviving shelter, the last surviving Lifelight illuminating a darkened board. For the rest were claimed by The Rot. Protected at all costs, older generations shields the worst of the consequences, the worst of the panic, but truth cannot be hidden forever. With increasing tensions and increasing crime, it becomes clear that there are only two outcomes: to die in strife or to die in silence. That is, until an inexplicable hope presents itself in the form of a radio transmission originating from the single most uninhabitable place on Earth, the surface. But it's too late, too late for most, other than the most protected, the youngest, the fifth generation. The waiting game is over and now it's a race against time. Before The Rot reaches them, before they run out of supplies, the handful of survivors must reach out and find the source of the transmission. From this, there are only two possible results: death or a secured future. *Cover done by the amazing @toruinagod*