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

The stars whispered to amateur astronomer Levi, and to his alarm, one by one they disappeared within the abyss. But when he witnessed one such disappearance, the star fell to him and took a human form. Explaining Celesta's sudden appearance to suspicious townspeople became an insignificant problem when a Darkness threatened to consume the universe, one star at a time, including the one that warmed his world. A fantasy story written for the 2026 Open Novella Contest, utilizing prompt #69: The stars are disappearing one by one, and only you can hear their whispers.

She wakes with missing hours, a burning imprint carved into her shoulder, and no memory of who put it there. Nyxara Blackvein is an assassin who survives by control. Control over her body. Her blades. Her choices. But the mark beneath her skin has a will of its own, pulling her toward Stillreach-a city protected by an impossible shield and a power no one dares to name. Torin Cross was never part of the plan. A half-elf bard with a charming smile and secrets of his own, he's headed in the same direction for reasons that don't quite add up. When violence forces them to fight side by side, trust forms before either of them is ready for it. Whatever waits in Stillreach is already watching. ONC 2026 Prompts used. 32. Two assassins from rival organizations are sent on the same secret mission, only to realize the assignment holds a much bigger truth. 86. A wasteland hides pockets of thriving communities protected by mysterious shields. 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.

Genevieve Moore isn't exactly a failed author, but when her sapphic romance debut novel, set in 1920's America, performs poorly, her publishers turn down her second novel and even her agents begin to turn away from her, she starts to wonder whether she should simply return to a life of even more obscurity. When she sees a woman on, the train to a literary festival, reading her novel, Genevieve wonders if the smiles the woman is wearing are through enjoyment of the book or amusement at Genevieve's failure. It's a long journey and there's plenty of time to ask, but does Genevieve want to know the answer? And the woman being extremely attractive has no impact upon how the conversation goes. None at all. Unless ... A gently humorous sapphic romance novella for ONC.

Seventeen-year-old Aemilia, an orphan raised at a secretive Scottish academy, becomes obsessed with an ancient arch hidden in the nearby woods. When she deciphers its forgotten inscription, it opens a portal to a magical medieval kingdom. There she meets Brian, a young prince she cannot forget. Back home, the young man she had been enamoured of for years, Francis, finally returns her affection-but Aemilia's heart is divided between two worlds. As she continues crossing the portal, Brian's hidden destiny awakens: he is a dragon shifter whose power threatens both realms. When he is declared an enemy, Aemilia must choose-destroy the dragon to save her world, or protect the boy she loves. My entry for the ONC 2026.

In a dark Benedictine Abbey, high in the cold mountains of Helvetia, where stone and earth remember older laws than kings, a legendary weapon rests in silence. It lies within the Kloster Einsiedeln, a mountain abbey sworn to the Cantors of the region of Oath Fellowship, its fresco painted walls with tales of a history that is much different than the truth it conceals. For generations, the weapon has slept beneath legend, its purpose misremembered, its history softened into a heroic myth. But weapons do not forget. When the lies that bound it begins to unravel, and the abbey's sealed records stir, old borders awaken. Wolves who once feared only the glint of steel begin to fear something else as the weapon reveals what it was never meant to be. Not an instrument of slaughter, but a measure of law. What rises in its wake is neither hunter nor monster, but something the world has not known for centuries. The Wardens of the Limes. Some weapons are forged to kill. Others are forged to decide. This weapon requires HEIRS. And Miteinander; working together. Or it won't work at all... The surprising heirs of the weapon, rivals since childhood, staunch upholders of the lies believed throughout family generations, must now overcome, to step into their chosen destiny. "They stand at the Threshold." ✠ ✠ ✠ ONC26 Prompt # 1. Two rivals discover they're the chosen heirs to a legendary weapon that will only activate if they work together. Some Historical references: The Kloster Einsiedeln Abbey was first founded as a Benedictine monastery in 934 CE on the site of a former hermitage. Its origins, however, date back to approximately 835 CE, when the hermit monk Saint Meinrad first established a small cell in the "Dark Forest" of the region. LIMES definition: Latin. Originally meaning a path or boundary line. A limes (plural: limites) was a fortified border or frontier system of the Roman Empire.

Bronhini, the storm queen, sends out her pet dragon to turn the skirmish her men are losing. A lone warrior stands up to the beast - a brave, but useless act. When Laiàn learns about the courageous last stand of her brother, she is devastated. But not everything is as it seems... Based on the prompt #29: "You will meet many people in your life. Many will come and go, but some will leave footprints on your heart."

An ONC2026 entry Magic is law and every mage is bound by Summon Cards; anchor tools used to call beasts, spirits, and even gods. The gifted train in Terra City where they must choose to either serve Creation, Justice, or Death. But Amara breaks every rule. She can summon without a card; even moreso she can summon Annatah, the god of creation. To the Order of the First, she is a miracle. To the Brotherhood of Night, she is the perfect vessel to incarnate Althera, the goddess of chaos. When eight year old Cassandra Apollos is kidnapped after awakening her abilities and calling forth Python, a rare divine protector, Terra City teeters on the brink of war. With enemies closing in, Amara must shape her own destiny before chaos takes form. An ONC 2026 entry

Saera Kyorin is Empress of Nethralis, a kingdom where dragons decide who is allowed to rule. She has survived court politics by believing control and careful alliances are enough to keep her children safe. That belief shatters when her son Aeron is claimed by Vaelzryn, a rogue dragon so powerful its very bond marks him for death. Aeron's bond makes him the heir and the empire's most dangerous liability, drawing enemies from within the court and beyond its borders. As whispers spread of a creature capable of killing a bonded heir and stealing a dragon's power, Saera is forced into a war she cannot win openly. To save her son, Saera must decide whether to obey the empire's laws or break them before they claim Aeron's life. And as Vaelzryn's presence stirs something ancient in the dark, the question is no longer who should rule Nethralis, but what will remain when the dragons choose to burn it down. Copyright© 2026 Ririzzaly. Cover by @Nightenghale

When Elora comes back home one afternoon, she discovers her mentor dead-just another in line of her recent nightmares that came true. With his final message telling her to find a reclusive researcher, as well as the traces of corrupted obsidian powers at the scene of the crime, she quickly realizes that there is something much larger behind her mentor's death. Something has been corrupting Obsidians, and Elora is one of the few people who are seeing that. And now that something has killed her mentor and forced her on a journey she never desired to go on. With the help of an enthusiastic alchemical apprentice-to-be, Elora will have to find Arcani and put an end to the corruption that is trying to catch up to her before it's too late.