Three months ago, Press Gregor was the most popular mage influencer at Vale College. He had the brand deals, the enchanted content and the boyfriend everyone envied. Then came that stupid garden party. Now Press can't remember what happened that day. All he knows is that his magic combusted, taking his reputation with it. And Mateo, the boy he loves, won't even look at him anymore. When a blackmailer gives Press seven days to leave Caldera Heights or else they'll leak footage of his combustion to the blogs, he realizes the day that ruined him might not have been his fault. Someone wanted him gone. Someone may have even cursed him. Now Press has five days to clear his name, uncover the truth and figure out if the boy who broke his heart might take him back. The closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous his questions become. Because whoever did this to him is still watching. 2026 Open Novella Contest. Based on the prompts "After being cursed, you go from being the most popular socialite to becoming a nobody" and "You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems". Updates weekly.

Ryazan, one of the grandest cities in all Rus', lays along the war path of thousands of Tatar warriors eager to seize the spoils of a short-fought campaign: the women of the city and gold from its treasury. Having set up camp just beyond the city, they await a reply from the envoys of Grand Prince Yuriy. As the Grand Prince deliberates, his boyars both caution and counsel him. If Ryazan falls, the rest of Rus' may be next ─ an outcome his people grow ever more wary of, turning to priests and heretics alike as rumor and fear run rampant inside the city walls. Finally left untended, the Polovtsian princess Yanay, conquered once before, now betrothed to one of the Grand Prince's brothers, quietly observes these developments. She prays to her old gods when she can and aligns herself with a young Tatar captive and quick-thinking kinsman, all the while secretly seeking her freedom and revenge. ──────── ☽ ◯ ☾ ──────── A retelling of the Siege of Ryazan complete with rageful women and warrior princes; gods both kind and cunning; and tragedy aplenty. Copyright © 2026 Elle Chaika Open Novella Contest 2026 | Prompt No. 45 »Kings have honor, soldiers are brave, poets have heart, and all I have is rage!«

25-year old Lee still hasn't figured out why they could not form any long-lasting relationships, even friendships for that matter. Aside from family members, which they are obligated to talk to, there is no one else Lee had even come close to calling a friend. Well, maybe except for one. -------- Submitted for ONC 2026 @OpenNovellaContest Using the following prompts : 29. You will meet many people in your life. Many will come and go, but some will leave footprints in your heart. 104. While wandering in the woods, you dismiss the rustling behind you as nothing more than wind through the trees until you turn around and realize it isn't the wind at all. 106. After waking at 3AM to a freezing room and a door you're certain you closed, you find wet footprints and melting snow leading from your bedroom into the hall. Realizing someone or something is inside your home, you follow the trail to uncover the truth. ------------- © 2026 J. Lee Kennedy. All rights reserved. Cover design © 2026 J. Lee Kennedy. Images used in this work belong to their respective copyright holders and are used under license or in accordance with applicable Creative Commons terms. Edited or altered images are copyrighted by the author in their final form.

AN OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2026 ENTRY To revive the fallen God of Spring, the God of Winter must journey to the sky's end with the God of Death, only to realize that bringing back Spring may cost him his own soul. ⋯⋯⋯ ❝ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɢᴏᴅꜱ ᴄᴀɴ ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ.❞ Muli, the God of Winter, is a threat. His touch brings death, and Xua, the God of Spring, learned this too late. With the Star of Spring gone, the mortal realm is trapped in an endless winter. To bring Xua back to life, Muli must reach the Edge of the Stars, and he cannot do it alone. With the help of Ansa, the elusive God of Death, Muli's journey through the seven kingdoms forces him to face his past, present, and future. As they approach the Edge of the Stars, the cost of their mission becomes clearer. To save a life, Muli must choose what he is willing to give up: his soul or the god he loves. The gates are open. The stars are watching. And Muli is about to discover the ultimate truth. ❝ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɢᴏᴅꜱ ᴄᴀɴ ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ.❞ ˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°• © 2026 (First Edition) UPDATES WEEKLY ON MONDAYS, 8:00 AM (GMT+8, SGT) [All graphics are made by @sardonictabby]

At the height of her fame, Haerin Moon has everything-wealth, talent, beauty, and a name that opens every door. Then she wakes up with a strange mark burned into her skin after a night she cannot fully remember. By morning, the world has begun to forget her. Invitations vanish. Cameras turn away. Indifference replaces recognition. What should be impossible becomes terrifyingly clear: Haerin has been cursed, stripped piece by piece from the socialite throne she fought to build, condemned to fade into irrelevance. The curse traces back to a first date she never meant to accept-and the man who sat across from her, elegant, enigmatic, and unmistakably peculiar. Yoru Tsukishima was never just a patron of the arts, nor merely a charming eccentric. He is a doorway into a hidden world. Now, caught between vanishing influence and growing power she doesn't understand, Haerin must navigate a web of secrets and a romance that feels as dangerous as it is irresistible. Because in a world where magic is real and attention is currency, losing everything may be the price of becoming something more. And the question is no longer whether Haerin can break the curse-but whether she still wants to. ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙☾°̩̥☽·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ♡ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ Participant of the || Open Novella Contest 2026. Main prompt: 99. You wake up with a strange mark on your skin after a late-night encounter you can barely remember, and its meaning grows more unsettling by the hour. Secondary prompts: 44. »May I have this dance?« »Seriously? Right now, in this situation?« 52. You're on a first date when you suddenly realize the person sitting across from you isn't entirely human. 39. After being cursed, you go from being the most popular socialite to becoming a nobody. 2026 Umi Moriko Original

** 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 - 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬.** In the dirty mining town of Dragon's Creek, no one believes in heroes. People trust in alcohol, guns, and the fact that death is faster than any prayer. The mountain is rich, the whiskey cheap, and life worth less than a bullet. Madame Scarlet's world consisted of booze, her saloon girls, and the art of making drunk men and penny-pinching dwarves understand where their filthy hands had no right to be. Then the damn mountain collapses. The mine swallows most of the men, spits out gold, and buries any form of order. What remains is grief, greed, and a mining town that is suddenly open to gold diggers, fanatics, and all kinds of scum. Along with the new scum arrives a priest in town - and Preacher Solomon Knight comes not only with his dogs, but also with his own ideas of mercy and order. As he speaks of salvation, he uses dark magic and drowns people in holy water. As if that weren't enough, the nights suddenly no longer belonged to the living. All that can be found are the leftovers: corpses torn apart, disembowelled, and picked clean to the bone. The mountain was sacred. Now it is hungry. Welcome to Dragon's Creek. Those who pray will die on their knees. Those who survive better load their guns.

Kailani and Annaliese Jade (AJ) have known each other for nearly twenty years. At age eight, they became best friends. At sixteen, AJ left Kailani heartbroken when her family moves away. Before AJ left, Kailani wrote her a confession that she burned in their childhood hideout with the hope that AJ would never find out. Now twelve years later, AJ is back in their hometown for the summer and, from where Kailani is standing, hasn't changed a bit. While their time together may be short, Kailani can't forget what she's been hiding for all this time. Even the ocean waves seem to remind her of her secrets. Friendship is safety, but now that she has the chance to rekindle what they could've had twelve years ago, Kailani is panicking. When she learns that AJ has the letter that burned all those years ago, things change-and Kailani can only hope it'll be for the better. --- Logline: Two long-time best friends rekindle their friendship in their beachfront hometown after twelve years apart, but the safety of friendship might just be hanging in the balance when old feelings rise to the surface and the burn of secret confessions ignites the spark of romance in the air. --- Prompts: #7: One morning, the ocean washes up a message. One you've been waiting your entire life to hear. #24: Staying as friends feels safe, but that doesn't mean it's the path you're meant to take. #85: You thought you'd burned that letter years ago, the one with the confession no one was ever meant to read. But somehow, it's back and in their hands. --- Copyright © 2026 KC_Han_writes ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All plot concepts are my own. Characters are of my own imagination. I do not own any real-life locations or inspired locations. This book should not be copied or reproduced in any way. Exclusive to W a t t p a d.

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 🏆ONC2026 Entry Round 1- Passed Round 2- Passed Round 3- ⚠️Rated: MATURE (Violence, Physical Trauma and Psychological Distress) 📍Exclusively on Wattpad. © 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