[ONC 2026 LONGLISTER] Have you ever wondered who your soulmate is? In the world of 'Moonlit Dreams, Moonlit Fate', you get to meet them in your dreams, right after you turn twenty years old. However, you do not know what they look like. As Yvonne Blythe keeps dreaming about her soulmate on the nights following her twentieth birthday, she becomes determined to find them. During her relentless search for the person of her dreams, she meets Reid Wells, a senior at her university. The encounters do not stop there - Yvonne and Reid keep running into each other at the most unexpected places. But, these encounters make a realization dawn on Yvonne - Reid was not just a random guy, he felt like the very person who had appeared in her dreams for the first time. Entry for Open Novella Contest 2026. Prompt used: 21

Every group of friends has at least one person who can turn the simplest situation into a disaster. Ours has more than its fair share. One overthinks everything. One doesn't think. Ever. One is convinced that feelings disappear if you simply never talk about them. And then there are people who are living proof that IQ doesn't add up. Naturally, we somehow decided it would be a brilliant idea to spend two weeks together in a villa in Thailand before a wedding. On paper, it was a holiday. In reality, it was more of a social experiment to see how long so many completely different personalities could survive under one roof without someone throttling someone else. The answer: surprisingly long. Because no matter how much we get on each other's nerves, none of us can really imagine life without the others. Sometimes family isn't the people you grow up with. It's the people who turn your worst decisions into your favourite stories. This is one of those stories.

Paedyn never asked for a crown, nor for the life growing quietly inside her after the war ended in ash and blood. An Ordinary girl in a kingdom that worships power, she once fought only to survive. Now, she must learn how to rule-while her body battles the price of love, legacy, and life. After discovering she is with child, Paedyn and Kai navigate a delicate and dangerous balance between hope and heartbreak. Haunted by the death of his brother and the ghost of a throne built on cruelty, Kai clings fiercely to Paedyn and the daughter they never expected but now cannot imagine losing. They name her Adena-after the friend Paedyn lost to the Trials, a name carved from pain and memory. But even with the corrupt council dismantled and Lord Calen dead, not all enemies have been exiled. The people remain restless. Their Queen has no powers. Her body is broken in recovery. And still, she rises. As Kai stands guard over their fragile family, and Jax returns to witness the quiet strength of a mother defying every expectation, the palace becomes a crucible of secrets, sorrow, and slow healing. In the quiet spaces between pain and peace, love must become something more than survival-it must become a revolution. Because the greatest battle isn't against an enemy at the gate-it's learning to believe that you deserve to stay.

She merely saw him in a ballroom. He had engaged in conversation with her, even held her hand, leading her through the dance. But, she never knew who he was. But at that moment, she wanted nothing more than to see the face of her heart's captor. 'Beneath Your Mask' is the story of Carmela Hale, Count Leonard Hale's daughter, and a mysterious masked man who had only ever appeared in ballrooms to dance with her. Join Carmela in a journey of uncovering the identity of this mysterious enigma. Also published on Inkitt, under the same name.