|| ONC 2026 Shortlisted || Finn went in expecting an easy jailbreak. Now he's escaping feds, fighting mafia bikers, facing past demons and trying to figure out why the girl with the gum-bomb doesn't return his side-glance. *** Mercenary Finn Spayne's young accomplice King had one job. Crack the code of his cuffs and he strolls out of prison. But the kid ends up sabotaging the whole system. Finn finds himself in a war zone alongside a runaway mafia princess, a ruthless assassin, a goofy heist master and an old friend. Together, they must hatch an escape plan out of Neon City and to safety. But it gets even more dangerous when feelings start to develop. Because in a world where humans are reduced to their utility, feeling is the worst crime. *** CONTENT WARNING: Rated 18+ for graphic violence, strong language and heavy themes.

[ONC 2026 ROUND 2 AND 3 AMBASSADOR'S PICK, SHORTLISTED, HOUNOURABLE MENTION] 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙. ••• Arthur Pendergast is a man who walks with the weight of generations in his shadow. As a Black man navigating the sharp corners of London, he's used to being watched, but as a necromancer, he's the one doing the observing. To pass a rainy Tuesday, he decides to sit in on a fake séance hosted by a local "spiritualist" in a drafty Victorian parlour. He expects cheap parlour tricks, hidden magnets, and the predictable scent of stale incense. And Madame Valeska is pro at it all. But as the candles flicker and Valeska begins her practiced wail, the air in the room turns unnervingly cold. Arthur quickly begins to realize that nothing is quite what it seems. The fraud in the velvet shawl isn't the only one hiding a secret, and the knocking on the table isn't coming from her foot-it's coming from somewhere much deeper. In this dark corner of the city, Arthur is forced to remember a chilling truth: monsters don't live under our beds; they live in the recesses of our minds. And tonight, one of those monsters is finally finding its way out. WC: 20,000 + CC: Inky

Ian has always had very vivid dreams that feel like memories. Seeing people she's never met before and even places she has never been to before. Her therapist told her that there are just dreams and not memories. She performances hypnosis to help her shut out her memories. But not all dreams have disappeared. The moment she arrives in a town called "Zoey." Upon her arrival, she continues to be mistaken for Anna. But the question is: Who is Anna?

𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗢𝗥 𝗗𝗜𝗘!!!! It's just another day for Howard and Vince until their friend Naboo receives shocking news from a shadowy government authority on his home planet of Xooberon - he must get married or be executed. When Howard volunteers to marry Naboo and save his life, there's just one problem: Howard and Vince have been avoiding each other ever since that one night when they kissed. Now they're travelling to an alien world together, forced to pretend their complicated feelings don't exist. Naboo's mentor Dennis is suspicious, the wedding trials are perilous and keeping up the charade is getting harder by the minute. Can Howard and Vince survive preparations for the big fat intergalactic wedding without confronting what's really between them? A space fantasy queer romance absurdist comedy about fake relationships, second chances, and the things we do for the people we love. °︵‿︵࿔.♡.࿔︵‿︵° 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝑴𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒉 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒏-𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒓. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒙, 𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 '𝒏' 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍.

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

Alec Monroe has a gift, and Paul Barrington wants to profit by it. Neither understands the true cost of their arrangement. The Great War casts a long shadow in 1926 Philadelphia. Prohibition is in effect, but largely ignored in the city dubbed "wet as the Atlantic." Séances remain popular, despite the efforts of men like Houdini to reveal mediums as frauds. Class, social, and racial boundaries are razor sharp. Against this backdrop, Paul enlists Alec to help him defraud Henri Deschamps, a wealthy scholar of antiquities from France. Little does Paul know that Henri holds more power than money can buy, and Alec is the key to unlocking it. ONC Prompt 72: A real necromancer sits in on a fake séance. [Author's note/trigger warnings: This story uses period-appropriate language, including terms related to race and sexuality, and discussions of mental health, including suicide.] [All rights reserved. This story is 100% human-generated. No part of this story may be used for the purpose of training A.I.]

. ⟡ HONORABLE MENTION ⟡ . Welcome to Fort GODSLAYER, where girls rule and monsters drool. This trio is fearless (except when they're not) and have always got each other's backs (except when they don't.) ...Well, that's sisters for you! Now off to save Dad from being replaced with the shapeshifting creature from the woods. Open Novella Contest 2026 🌱 47. Your Dad builds you and your friends a fort in the back yard close to the edge of the woods. But when you and your friends play, something stirs among the trees, and playtime becomes more than mere imagination. [Changed 'friends' to 'siblings.'] Wordcount 20k ⚠️CW: Though there is no explicit content, sensitive themes include abandonment and body horror. 🎵 Lyrical playlist 🎶 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3yeiur7qF80kaNcfP6jPcq?si=c7c2fad004bd43cd 🎶Ambient playlist 🎵 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1kcCL6QTj8S6NwQvbZNncI?si=66eea0d8a0274b0d *If you are reading this story on any platform other than Wattpad, you are very likely to be at risk of a malware attack and reading a plagiarized copy of my work. If you wish to read this story in its original, safe form, please go to https://www.wattpad.com/user/QuinceArchFortes

Amaury's debt is to be the Soul Reaper of a hundred souls to the keeper and master of his own. With Nilly, his assistant, he sets off to reap that final soul. But there's a catch - a hidden clause that the demon Graydawn points out on the day he has only one soul left to collect and be free. The hidden clause: The last soul must be innocent AND in love. Your lonely life is about to change with a chance encounter brought about by the escape-artist skill of your service dog in training, Lillysprout, and someone who isn't entirely human. Desperate to be free of his contract with Graydawn, Amaury pursues you, hoping to get close enough to take your soul, but he ends up getting too close. His assistant is thrilled, but Graydawn is outraged! Things just aren't working out in Amaury's favor, but then a slip of a demon's tongue plants a seed of an idea in Amaury's mind; if he is not successful, he risks losing you and his soul forever. Will he succeed and save you both? Despite your disability, will you ever find love? This original version was entered into the ONC2026 contest based on the following two prompts. We were allowed some variations as long as it was basically the same prompt. I use a Soul Reaper instead of the Grim Reaper. #65: On the way to collect a soul, the Grim Reaper is distracted by a stray puppy. Instead of completing the task, he decides to find the puppy's owner, much to the frustration of his assistant. #52: You're on a first date when you suddenly realize the person sitting across from you isn't entirely human. NOTE: If you are reading this story on any platform other than Wattpad, you are very likely to be at risk of a malware attack. If you wish to read this story in its original form, please go to @LAJoyner on Wattpad. Protect yourself and enjoy reading the original story. Thank you =D Cover and Story by LAJoyner Mature for a vehicle accident with injuries and a character death.

For Centuries Grim has been collecting souls. It's what he does, it's his purpose. One day, while collecting a soul in the park, he comes across a lost puppy. For reasons he can't explain, the urge to return the small dog to his owner is overwhelming. He soon finds the animal's owner, a woman in her mid-twenties named Maria. He is struck down by her beauty and realizes that he had once claimed the soul of someone she loved. He becomes even more conflicted when he realizes he has just one year to claim her soul.

Every afternoon, at the same time, her cat slips out of the house. One day, 12 year old Keiko follows it into the woods and finds a small temple that only comes alive at night, when blue lights appear, animals gather, and the stars begin to whisper. With the help of a strange boy who watches the sky through a telescope, she learns the truth: each disappearing star carries the last words of someone who died unheard. But the boy is tired. And to listen, someone must take his place. · · ─ ·✶· ─ · · Prompts: ⚝・┆5. Every day at the exact same time your cat slips out of your home. One afternoon, curiosity gets the better of you and you follow, only to discover it's living a secret life you never imagined. ⚝・┆69. The stars are disappearing one by one, and only you can hear their whispers. ⚝・┆78. You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems.