What is the difference between a home and a cage? Perhaps only the ones inside can tell. The Menagerie is a story of longing, love, and the fragile line between being welcomed and being claimed. Set against a backdrop of beauty and impossible expectations, it explores what it means to belong, and what it means to be unable to leave.

Naniniwala si Valentine na kung hindi ka mahal ng taong gusto mo, pilitin mo. To her, it is that simple. Every decision anyone makes should come from a solid desire to follow what they want. Kahit anong sabihin ng iba, gawin mo ang gusto mo. After all, happiness should come first. That's why when her mother, the queen and the most powerful witch in Ravenna, allows her to temporarily wander into the human world, she grabs the chance to show what she is capable of. Something different from her mother's legacy... different from what others expect her to be. Gusto niyang patunayan sa kanyang ina, at lalong-lalo na sa mga Anghel ng Pag-ibig na kaya niya ring maging instrumento sa kaligayahan ng mga tao. Na taliwas sa tungkulin at paniniwala ng mga anghel na ito na sundin at protektahan ang nakasaad sa Libro ng Pag-ibig, nanaig sa kanyang misyon ang tumaliwas rito. In short, love only remains unrequited if you don't do something about it. Determined to prove herself and love principles, she proudly turns to an unspoken method: her homemade love potion. ONCPH 2026 - Fifth Placer (Top Finalist) Wattys 2026 Entry Date Started: February 14, 2026 Date Published: February 16, 2026 Date Finished: April 30, 2026 Book Cover Sources/References: - the pink, cloudy background: from Pinterest - the person: Avatar maker app (Google Playstore) - badges: stickers from Ambassadors PH - primary app/editor used: Canva

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