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.

A slipstream in time. A cloak of eternal night. Something stirs in the dark. [ ✶ ] Upon returning from a weekend getaway to celebrate their last time together before college, a group of friends discover the residents of their hometown have vanished without a trace, leaving behind a shroud of mystery, sunless skies, and an unshakable horror. [ extended summary inside] original novel / all rights reserved olivia siobhan © 2026 onc prompts #97, #44 and #24 [ ✶ ] open novella contest 2026 round 1 winner

When betrayal fractures the kingdom of Averon, Prince Cassian escapes into exile with only one loyal protector at his side. Rowan was raised as the sworn blade of the Crown. He knows the prince is the only man capable of saving their broken homeland. As they rebuild power in the shadows, they build an army unlike any the world has seen. They will restore the throne. They will end division. They will avenge the betrayal. But when unity replaces doubt, Rowan must confront a terrible truth: A kingdom without division may no longer be a kingdom of men. ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── DISCLAIMERS ✎ a work of fiction (historical, psychological) ✎ this book might have dark/mature themes that could be upsetting for some readers. please proceed with caution ✎ characters and plot are all a product of imagination. resemblance to real life people, dead or alive, is entirely coincidental ✎ technically not proofread ✎ personal work (this is an entry for the Open Novella contest) ✎ PLAGIARISM IS CRIME

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲... 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭. For most of her twenty-one years of life, 𝙍𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙮𝙣 has lived in a gilded cage. Though as any young woman would, the princess longs for one thing only; freedom. Freedom to run into the sea, to dance under the sun... to be her very own. Sadly, as merely a pawn in a king's game and with war looming on the horizon, she is asked to put aside desire for duty. Destined to wed 𝙎𝙚𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙣. A rakish brute of a prince from a heathen country without summer, in need of an heir and a broodmare to produce it. However, when an attempt is made on her life, Rosalyn is assigned a sworn-protector. 𝙎𝙞𝙧 𝙂𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙩 The Butcher; a faceless knight of the Faith and retired crusader with haunted eyes and a penchant for gardening. The soft-spoken knight is unlike anyone she's ever met. A grumpy enigma always hidden beneath a helm. 𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦... When the threat of war increases, The Butcher is tasked with transporting the princess in secret. A perilous journey that will test not only Geralt's skill as a knight, his faith, his patience, but perhaps even his self control as a mere man. For when forbidden desire blooms, two questions arise: 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦... 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩?

TORIN Orphaned as a child, I've relentlessly carved out a name for myself in the Royal Naval Academy. Now I serve as the youngest lieutenant aboard the HMS Dartmouth. Then I received the bittersweet news that I have an uncle who is still alive...and he's sentenced to hang for piracy. I, Lieutenant Torin Damaris of the Royal Navy, is related by blood to a pirate. It's disgraceful beyond words. To make matters worse, my uncle left me a treasure map, of all things. And X marks the spot where a wealth of riches have been hidden, on Dead Man's Isle. I'm convinced it's nothing but pirate nonsense, tall tales brought on by rum. But the promise of so much gold is impossible to resist. It haunts me. And I'm hungry for it. As I set sail, guided by the map, there's a nagging worry in the back of my mind. This doesn't make me a pirate...does it? - - - BRYNN That map belongs to me and I want it back. I won't let some stuck-up, spoiled sailor boy claim it for himself. There's more than gold hidden on that map. The story goes that Poseidon himself buried a vial of his tears on the island and anyone who places a drop of that precious salty water on his tongue will rule the tides. But Dead Man's Isle earned its name for a reason. It's treacherous sailing in the rough shallows. Many ships have been gutted on the jagged rocks, or smashed to pieces by the powerful waves. And if that wasn't enough to deter any man of sound mind, legends abound of monsters that roam the island. With a ravenous appetite for human flesh. Can Torin and I work together to claim the treasure and split it amongst ourselves? Or will we become one more set of bleached bones on the shores of Dead Man's Isle? - - - #ONC2026 Prompt 34: You will have to sail the seven seas to find the lost treasure. But treasure means different things to different people, what treasure will you find at the world's edge?

Working as a bookseller's aide was not Solys' job of choice. But when an extremely attractive sailor opened the town's first bookstore, Solys found herself rethinking all her decisions and signing up for the job. Just as things are getting cozy, trouble enters in the form of a tiny red dragon. Solys adores it at first sight, but just the thought of getting it through Inara is enough to make her want to roll through a field of cacti. And so ensues hilarious mishaps and coverups as Solys perseveres on her mission with a secret dragonling in tow. But when Inara discovers her secret, it turns Solys' world upside down, and she realizes that she has so much more to lose than she did when she began. Will Solys miss out on more than her chance with Inara, but on her adoring dragon, as well?

In a ghost town where cornfields outnumber people, Lieutenant Gianna Park arrests the new guy, Nicolae Badea, for biting her on her first date. When bodies begin to surface-young men found mummified, bitten, and strangled-Gianna suspects the man she once handcuffed. Yet, the evidence refuses to align. The wounds are wrong. The hunger is deliberate. Eighteen years ago, a boy was killed and forgotten. Now the dead are coming back the same way. As Gianna uncovers a hidden world of vampires who police their own kind, she learns that monsters are not defined by blood but by what they choose to feed on. Nicolae Badea claims it was not desire on his part, but restraint. He survives by restraint, faith, and silence. The killer survives by power. Only one of them hunts humans. The Coffin of Nicolae is a gothic crime novel about addiction, romance, and the violence we excuse when it wears a human face-asking what justice means when the law has no language for the truth. And what waits inside Nicolae's coffin. *** Content Warning: This novel includes strong, explicit language and depictions of violence, sexual scenes that some readers may find offensive.

An ordinary woman is torn from her failing modern life when a thief botches an escaping spell, dropping her into the middle of a fight in a world that was never meant to be hers. The Marrowbound clan mistakes her for their long-lost Holy Lord of the Temple of Shadows, but clearing this misunderstanding would result in a tragic death. All she wants to do is to survive long enough in this world to find a way to return home. But as time goes by, strange things happen, leaving her questioning if this is a case of mistaken identity or if she is really their long-lost Holy Lord. Was she pulled into this world by chance, or was she always meant to return?

LONDON, 1848. Apprentice to the elusive portrait artist Henry Glass, Saskia van Asch spends her days in the studio sketching studies of vain aristocrats. Dreadfully boring, she might complain, but the monotony suits her just fine. And then the mysterious Lady Helen Blackwood commissions a portrait. Saskia takes an immediate dislike to the new sitter, with her evasiveness and quirky mannerisms, not to mention the odd hours she forces Saskia to keep. But the more time she spends with Lady Blackwood, mapping out all the details of her portrait and her life, the more her misgivings transform into a fascination that she finds hard to resist. But giving in to its pull might mean that she has everything to lose. Because Saskia is hiding a secret of her own. -- Main prompt: 117. You're a portrait artist for high-profile clients, but one night a pale, uneasy stranger arrives, asking for a painting. They haven't seen their own face in a century. Secondary prompt: 78. You begin to realise that nothing is quite what it seems.

Jeremy has three problems: he sunburns way too easily, his glasses keep falling off, and, according to his mother's prophetic vision, he should have died today. When the moment comes, his best friend, Silas, dies in his place as a sacrifice to a cult. Jeremy soon realises he's not the only one with secrets when he receives a post-mortem voicemail from Silas with a single instruction: make a wish. His desperate request glitches the universe, bringing Silas back to life. But the cult demands its proper sacrifice, forcing the duo into a deadly cat and mouse game across different stories against killers who don't care how bad they are at running. Jeremy's time and the number of pages are running out. Can he rewrite his fate? Or is his story doomed to end a tragedy? ******** PROMPT USED: 90