🏆ONC2026 Entry | Shortlister | Round 3 Winner 🏆 TheNanoWatt Longlister Two assassins. One royal secret. A lullaby of steel and secrecy. One last assignment to buy her freedom. The final phase of the mission was supposed to be straightforward: slip into the Spanish Royal Palace during the midsummer gala, incinerate the marked documents, and eliminate the crown and its heirs. It was supposed to be easy. At least, it would have been if she hadn't arrived twenty-four hours too soon. Forced to play a role her lethal training never prepared her for, the Royal Nanny, Elizabeth must use her supernatural abilities to navigate a world of silk and secrets while protecting the very heirs she was sent to kill. But she isn't the only one on a mission. Thomas, an assassin from a rival organization known as The Pendulum, is already embedded as the palace's head of security. In their battle to outspy each other, they realize they share more than just a job description. ~~~~~~~~~ ⚔️Genre: Espionage/Dark Fantasy/Romanstasy ⚠️Rated: MATURE (Violence, Physical Trauma and Psychological Distress) © 2026 MiriamElade Main Prompt: 32. Two assassins from rival organizations are sent on the same secret mission, only to realize the assignment hides a much bigger truth. Sub Prompt: 33. It doesn't take long before everything in your life spins out of control. One moment you're a secret assassin, and the next, you've somehow been hired as a nanny and you're not entirely sure how it happened. Started: 1st February 2026 Completed: 20th April 2026

Liz von Althuis has been sent by her mother to negotiate with Tsar Koschei, King of the Fairies. If she fails, her family's life (as well as the lives of all Humans in America) is at risk. To make matters worse, Liz has done the unthinkable. She's fallen in love. Will she be able to navigate her mother's will, her new feelings, and the King of Fairies, or will she lose herself and her sanity to the woods? CW: Arranged, forced & coerced marriage, emotional abuse (psychological manipulation), depression, postpartum depression, PTSD, suicide & attempted suicide (implied), death of an infant (off-screen, never directly shown), grief & loss depiction NOTE: I spell the city of Kyiv as Kiev on a few occasions. Because Liz is an American from 1994 and this is a period piece, she would only know the Russian spelling of the word. I have all Ukrainian characters (and eventually Liz) spell it as Kyiv. ONC2026 Prompt: 16. And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. (Quote by John Muir)

#ONC2026 | 🏆 Round 3 Winner | 🏅 Round 1 & 3 Ambassador Pick | Speaking to the dead is permitted, but raising the dead is forbidden. After discovering an unlikely copy of The Necrotic Guide, budding necromancer Emelie is both delighted and disgusted by the powers the book promises. Will it be enough to speak to her lost love again?

Bee's life is sort of stable: she has a flat, a bipolar diagnosis she's getting a handle on. Well, as much as possible, considering she also has a personality that treats impulse control like a creative suggestion. Theo - her childhood neighbour, moral compass, and lifelong critic - has moved back into the apartment across the courtyard. Now he's in her bar. In her kitchen. In her friend group. And, judging by the way he pointed at the window last night, extremely aware of which bedroom is hers. They've spent the last decade living separate lives on purpose. Different cities, different people, one annual birthday party where they confirm they're still wildly incompatible and leave again. But Theo isn't leaving this time. And apparently, neither is the possibility of whatever they've spent ten years avoiding. Prompt: You will meet many people in your life. Many will come and go, but some will leave footprints on your heart.

Keywords: romance | opposites attract | hollywood | mutual pining | murder mystery | time travel | inspired by a song You time-travel back to 2012, only to be cornered by a celebrity who insists you're "the key to saving their future," and they're determined to take you with them. "Because, you know, there's no end to the hypocrisy of the human heart." Open Novella Contest (2026) @Ambassadors: 🏆 Longlisted 🏅 Round 2 Winner & Ambassador's Pick 🏅 Round 1 Winner © 2026 EmmaJD The views and actions of the characters in this story do not reflect those of the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

She repairs broken memories - but who will repair the truth? ***** Nova Aurion understands how fragile memory can be - she mends it for a living. In a world where memory is currency and abilities define worth, society is divided into Endowments: cognitive classes established to preserve stability. Every three years, the nation hosts 'Project Elite' - a prestigious competition honoring the finest minds from each Endowment. Within the high-stakes arena, they contend not only for victory, but for the recognition to lead their future. When Nova, a Memory Diver renowned for restoring fractured minds, is selected to compete - she enters the Project, determined to win. However, survival demands more than mere intellect; it requires strategy, perception and sacrifice. As alliances shift and sparks ignite, a forbidden dive into a stranger's memory leaves Nova deeply unsettled, leading to a chilling realisation: what if Project Elite isn't designed to measure brilliance at all - but to harvest something far more dangerous? Caught between a charming rival, a skeptical ally, and a system that predicts every move, she must confront a choice that could reshape humanity itself - Is an unpredictable future worth the risk of chaos... or is controlled stability the safest path to preservation? ************************** ONC prompt (main): 111: With a single touch, you can slip into someone else's memories. But when a stranger shows you a future crime involving you, you must uncover the truth before it comes to pass.

All that once glittered was gold until it turned to bitter ash and ruin. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Life has never been kind to the likes of Juliette Laurant. Tortured by flowers with each failure that arises, and a voice or two spewing poison into her ears, she's more well known for her oddities than she is as an artist, but if she had her way, she would seclude herself to the forest and create paintings till the end of her days. But when an eccentric earl comes calling for a well seasoned artist, it's hard for Juliette not to leap into the unknown without questioning his motives first. With years of trauma and a dash of magic lurking beneath the surface, Juliette has plenty of secrets of her own that she'd rather have stay buried, but will the ever persuasive Cole Roswell convince her to leave the past behind? Or will she bury herself along with the life she thought she'd live? Only Fate will tell.

If you dial the number 4444, no one will pick up. But fall asleep afterwards, and a man will visit you in your dreams. He will introduce himself as an assassin of sorts, and you will tell him your darkest desire. After all, the Dreamwalker can become your enemy's worst nightmare...for a price. Nathan Lee is many things: a slacker, a skeptic, and above all, hopelessly infatuated with the illustrious Aurora Kim. But when he accidentally swaps phones with a stranger, he ends up face-to-face with Cyr, a contract killer who travels through dreams. And his next target is Aurora. Desperate to save Aurora, Nathan takes it upon himself to hunt down Cyr's client. But when the bodies begin piling up, Nathan is forced to question who Aurora Kim really is...and what it will cost to keep her alive. (Prompt #56: After grabbing the wrong phone at a busy deli, you discover the stranger's life is far more tangled with yours than you ever expected.)

When one morning, Zabava finds a wounded man in her garden, there is no doubt she ought to help him. But the more she gets to know about him, the clearer it seems that destiny had delivered a gruesome strike with this stranger. For her unexpected guest is Zmey, the dragon haunting the country of Skazoviya with his endless appetite for the hearts of girls. Everyone knows how this would have to end in the tales-a powerful witch in the woods, a terrible dragon, a dashing hero. But this is no tale. Zabava is no witch. The brave bogatyr has failed to kill his enemy. And the dragon doesn't seem to be quite the kind of monster the rumors make him out to be. Soon enough, he spins Zabava a tale of woe about his innocence and traps her in a bargain to rescue him. Caught between plans to trick this beast and the chains of their pact, she slowly starts to believe Zmey's story ... but what if the tales are true and what's at stake is her very heart? _____ ONC 2026 ENTRY: PROMPTS 3, 4, 11

The Eye has seen-the world will end, unless the apocalypse is properly thwarted. Unfortunately, this task has been handed to the two worst people for the job. Gadowyn Harker is a poison-peddling witch of the Gold City with a curse: if she loves, she will lose her powers-and herself. Beau "The Beautificent" Beguile (not his real name) is a smug necromancer who cons the rich and has a lifelong allergy to love, and all its messy bits. Now they must do the unthinkable: bring a dragon and a future knight-princess-sworn enemy of dragonkind-together, romantically. The world would do well to start praying; the chances of success are slim at best. Meanwhile, the Gold City teeters on the brink of collapse, undead roam the streets (entirely Beau's fault), and the end of the world draws ever closer. Somehow, Gadowyn and Beau must save it all with love-without falling prey to it themselves. First draft written for ONC 2026 | Main Prompts 11 & 98