As the daughter of the most powerful and feared witch in Ravenna, Valentine believes that her fate isn't defined by her mother's grim legacy. She knows in herself that she can be more than what others expect of her-that like the love angels, she can be an instrument to humans' happiness. But unlike the love angels, she wishes to push people to pursue the love that they desire instead of letting the Book of Love dictate it. Determined to prove that she's capable of helping people by her own means, she proudly turns to her own secret weapon: the forbidden love potion. ONC '26 entry. Date Started: February 14, 2026 Date Published: February 16, 2026 Date Finished: April 30, 2026

When a classified military experiment fractures reality, Alrescha Sterling-a rural physician-is torn from her world and cast into another: a dying realm abandoned by its goddess and left to rot beneath the weight of human greed. The skies are fractured. The land is poisoned. Civilization survives only in fragments, clinging to its final breath. Rescued-then claimed-by the enigmatic Inquisitor Ariston, Alrescha is given an impossible role: to become a priestess capable of healing a god on the brink of extinction. The promise is simple-restore the god, and her deepest wish will be granted. But instead of a path home, Alrescha is given a task. To gather the last remaining divine herbs: Each one tied to forgotten miracles, dangerous relics, and the fading memory of a forsaken god the world itself seems determined to erase. Now hunted by the desperate Seclyr Order, she is forced into a role she never chose: The Apothecary of a dying god. Yet the deeper their journey takes them, the more reality begins to fracture. The herbs respond to her touch. The world begins to heal in her presence. And the Inquisitor-always smiling, always watching-feels less like a guide and more like something waiting to be remembered. Because the cure for this broken world is not merely the herbs. It is a ritual. A bond. A choice. One that could restore everything- ...or cost a god what little remains. The Cure for a Dying God EllenKnightz, 2026