Valentine never had a lick of magic to his name, but that didn't stop him from becoming high society's darling in the enchanted land of Stellamaris. Until one cunning witch takes it all away... Valentine wakes up five years in the past as a backwater bookseller in Greater Moss-on-the-Wold, stuck in the drab place where he started. Robbed of his status, his looks, and his charmed life, Valentine is determined to find the legendary witch Lilivere and be freed from this horrible curse. Except Lilivere is out of town... and the only witch who can help him now is her taciturn daughter, Luciana. Who doesn't have a single drop of magic. Stoic, brooding Luc couldn't care less about high society, the art of spellcraft, or a sullen has-been cursed to return to his humble past. Outcast and misfit, she lives alone in the woods, preferring solitude to the villagers' scorn. But as they work together to break Valentine's curse and set things right, Luc and Valentine realize there's a greater scheme at play. And that magic, like so many things in life, is never as simple as it seems. Written for the ONC 2026. 39: After being cursed, you go from being the most popular socialite to becoming a nobody. 11: The daughter of the most powerful witch is nothing like her mother. 73. You wake up in a body that isn't yours, living a life almost identical to your own, and soon discover you're bound by an ancient curse forcing you to relive your past until you finally get one thing right. (Slightly modified; the curse is not particularly ancient.)

She is sent to kill the dragon. Instead, she might become his only salvation. *** In a world swallowed by the Ever-Dark, Iva Vernigora is nothing more than a lowly servant in the house of the cruel Voivode Yakub Ivanov, Duke of Highroot. But when Voivode blackmails her with the lives of her parents, Iva is forced to pretend she's his daughter, as she infiltrates the royal academy of magic - Kolegium. Voivode Yakub's order is absolute: poison the Prince Konstantin Veliki. Prince Konstantin is the heir to the throne, the last of the line of Dragons - a Zmey warrior of light, who was blessed with a dragon-shifting gift. At a first glance, he is nothing but a smug, pompous royal, and everything Iva is supposed to hate. Yet every touch, and every shared lesson at Kolegium blurs the line between the enemy she must kill and the man she is beginning to crave. While Iva stalks her prey as a knife in the dark, waiting for the chance to extinguish Konstantin's light, she discovers that the dragon everyone fears is the only thing standing between humanity and the void. As the Ever-Dark Shades rise, Iva must make an impossible choice. Will she carry out her sinister orders and secure her parents' freedom, or will she stand by the Dragon in the battle for the world's last light? *** The Shades are coming. The Dragons are falling. And the Eternal Spark is waiting for its host. © 2026 EvelynHail Exclusively on Wattpad Based on prompts: 97. "When the world slips into endless darkness, something begins to move in the shadows and you must find a way to survive in a night that never ends." 4. "You discover that the dragon everyone fears is in danger, and you are the only one who can save it from the knight sworn to slay it ."

The Open Novella Contest is back for 2026! Join fellow storytellers and plant the seed of a tale that will blossom into a 20,000+ word novella within 12 weeks! Your epic quest begins February 1st, 2026, so mark your calendars with this date!

White. The colour that haunted her entire life. Born into a lineage of warriors and witches, she is the Matriarch's only daughter and her greatest disappointment. In a world forged by blood and conquest, her power does not burn or strike. Instead, she sees what others cannot: colours bleeding through the cracks of reality, a spectrum hidden beneath the violence they worship. They call her weak. They call her useless. But power does not always arrive as a weapon. Sometimes it arrives as perception. Sometimes it arrives as the space between. As ancient traditions close in and the weight of expectation sharpens into a blade, she must choose whether to disappear into the white that defines her-or claim the colours that terrify everyone else. A dark fantasy about inherited violence, quiet rebellion, and the power that exists where no one thinks to look. ---------- Open Novella Contest 2026 Based on prompts: 2. The first flower to bloom in spring isn't just a sign of the season changing. It's a portal. When you touch it, you're transported into a magical world you never knew existed. 11. The daughter of the most powerful witch is nothing like her mother. 16. "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul" by John Muir 28. Self-love often starts small, like planting a single seed. With time, patience, and a bit of light, it will blossom. 63. A forgotten temple appears overnight in the middle of town, but its doors will only open for those who tell lies.

Jareth Coppersmith and Pol Flynt have one thing in common. They kill for a living. One works for GAME, the powerful Guild of Airship Mechanics and Engineers and the other, for the Royal Spymaster. But what happens when they are unknowingly sent on the same secret mission? At best they are rivals, at worst, mortal enemies. SciFi / Thriller/ Steampunk/ LGBT

When a mage is found dead, and, at a rough measurement, at least a head shorter, the only clue to his fate lies in the key gripped in his hand. A very magical key that sets the leaders in the Guild of Mages, Prestidigitators, Illusionists and General Wielders of Magic (not including Witches) in a bit of a quandary, because none of them want to touch it. Thus, the investigation is left in the thoroughly incapable hands of the three mages in the highly dangerous, very almost deadly on a daily basis, Thaumatological Gubbins Department of the Guild. Accompanied by a young(ish, these are mages after all) member of the Guild tasked with recording the progress of the investigation, the three mages set out on a perilous journey that will involve several belligerent doors, a three cart race, and, probably, a number of people wondering what the Hel is going on and why one of the mages continues to shout 'Power!' at every opportunity. An ONC novella like no other.

When a killer feral hog invades Verity State Park, Officer Rylee Harding quarantines the entire area until the threat can be eliminated. She soon discovers doing the right thing isn't easy, because summer has just begun, and the livelihood of Verity's residents depends on the seasonal flood of tourist dollars. Facing opposition from town officials, her neighbors, and even members of her own family, Rylee stands firm in her decision and risks her life and the life of her unborn child to face down the remorseless monster. This story is written for ONC2026 using prompt number 78: You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems. Updates every Thursday. Jowls, Copyright ©2026 by Dennis Royer, @dennisroyer All Rights Reserved. Cover art by Deviant Art / ArtVixen0520. Used by permission.