Onc Stories

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.

Everyone can read minds except for Ethan Langdon. And Ethan Langdon has the dumbest (and cutest!) thoughts Lukas Hoffmann has ever heard. ____ Lukas Hoffman's life in Brambleburg is about as boring as you'd expect for a town where everyone can read minds. He's used to his routine of dusting the LPs at the record store where he works and helping out his grandma around the house. Nothing in Brambleburg changes. No one in Brambleburg changes. Until Ethan Langdon stumbles in with the soggy remnants of a paper map, asking for the quickest route to Berlin. Ethan, it turns out, doesn't have telepathy, and as aggravatingly inane as his thoughts are, Lukas hasn't felt the excitement of meeting a stranger since.... well, ever. And the more Lukas listens, the more he starts enjoying Ethan's cute thoughts about life, the universe, and Lukas's dimples. ____ Might bring to mind: "Cherry Magic" but set in a fictive European town where everyone except the love interest can read minds. ____ Written for the Open Novella Contest 2024 using prompts 8, 75, 82, and 85. 8. You start singing along to a movie soundtrack late at night forgetting that your window is open. Someone from the outside starts singing with you. 75. You awake in the middle of the night to a voice saying loudly "May the force be with you..." 82. You wake up on a seemingly ordinary day to discover that your thoughts are not private. There is someone else in your head with you. 85. "If you do that again, I'll throw you out that freaking window. What are you doing?" "Checking how high the drop is to see if it's worth it."

- A slow-burn romantasy with fae courts, false identities, and dangerous choices - "I was taken from my world to replace a girl who was already dead. They dressed me in white, gave me her name, and promised me safety if I stayed silent. I was meant to be a bride. A symbol. A lie. But the prince I was promised to doesn't see me the way he should. And the man who brought me here is watching, waiting for me to break. I am not the girl they think I am. And if the truth comes out, it will destroy us all." #fantasy #fae #fairies #romance #slowburn #enemiestolovers #royalty #forcedmarriage #fakeidentity #darkfantasy #forbiddenlove Note: This story is taking part in the Open Novella Contest 2026 #ONC #OpenNovellaContest Court of the Fae Rankings: #1 ONC2026 out of 1.22K stories #15 aesthetic out of 32.4K stories #13 fairytale out of 19.1K stories #5 fairies out of 14.9K stories

Jareth Coppersmith and Pol Flynt have one thing in common. They kill for a living. One works for GAME, the powerful Guild of Airship Mechanics and Engineers and the other, for the Royal Spymaster. But what happens when they are unknowingly sent on the same secret mission? At best they are rivals, at worst, mortal enemies. SciFi / Thriller/ Steampunk/ LGBT

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

The stars whispered to amateur astronomer Levi, and to his alarm, one by one they disappeared within the abyss. But when he witnessed one such disappearance, the star fell to him and took a human form. Explaining Celesta's sudden appearance to suspicious townspeople became an insignificant problem when a Darkness threatened to consume the universe, one star at a time, including the one that warmed his world. A fantasy story written for the 2026 Open Novella Contest, utilizing prompt #69: The stars are disappearing one by one, and only you can hear their whispers.

When Brie lands a spot on Cheese Whiz, a cheese-themed cooking competition, the last thing she expects is to run into Colby Jackson, the man who left her heart with more holes than Swiss cheese. ~~~ It was supposed to be simple. Enter the contest, win the prize money, open her own restaurant. Easy peasy, extra cheesy. So of course Colby freaking Jackson and his smug, entirely too sexy face just had to come back into Brie's life like an extra stinky wheel of limburger cheese. Surrounded by fierce competitors and legendary amounts of dairy, Brie and Colby exchange barbs sharper than any cheddar. Yet, as the competition heats up, Brie quickly discovers the mozzarella isn't the only thing melting. Against her better judgment, Colby is once again worming his way into her heart. Will Brie find a whey to make things work between them, or will he leave her feeling bleu? 🧀 Rivals to lovers 🧀 Second chance romance 🧀 All puns are fully intended Using prompts 29 and 89 for ONC 2026! Cover by @-DeeIsDead-

‎ ‎Paris finds herself in a strange shop after learning of her sister's illness, and she makes a hasty purchase due to uncontrollable circumstances. ‎ ‎Once she leaves the shop, she gets ambushed by a mysterious figure. ‎ ‎When she learns the object in her hand is more important than she'd thought and she might have just landed in the middle of a battle of forces she never knew existed, she has no choice but to return the object back to its rightful place herself... And she has less than two days. ‎ ‎But what happens when she learns that her purchase could be the one thing that saves her sister? ‎ ‎ ‎ONC 2026 ‎Prompt 41 - You never thought an impulse purchase from a magic shop would catapult you into the middle of an intergalactic war.

Book Two Evie O'Doyle didn't come to Oxford to fall in love. She came to build a life that was hers, away from where she grew up and the parents who told her she wasn't worth much. She's done that. Against every odd, she's done that. Archie has spent his whole life stepping in front of his father's fists and taking it. It's the one thing he knows how to do. But this time his father is taking it too far, and messing with the one thing Archie won't back away from. For the first time in his life, he's going to have to fight back. Evie has survived harder things than a man in an expensive coat who doesn't think she's good enough. She knows how to hold herself together when everything is falling apart. She's been doing it since she was a kid. What she doesn't know how to survive is watching the people she loves most pay the price for who she is. Some storms you can outrun. Some you have to stand in.

When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful. - Malala Yousafzai We share our emotions through art. Through writing, painting, and composing. In a world where no one shares their inner music anymore, some begin to lose themselves and become Muted. When Solveig's brother becomes one of them, she refuses to accept his silence. To save him, she must find not only his lost voice, but her own and discover that even in the quietest world, a single voice can awaken many. Prompt 36: You're told to choose a weapon before battle, but when you approach the table, the only options laid out are musical instruments.

The human body, by nature, is an item on this earthly plane that can succumb to the most impossible of capabilities. Yet, it is nothing without the mind that resides within it. Simply, it is the mind that controls the body. But it is the heart that leads it. The heart that pumps blood through the veins, which enacts each and every muscle that the mind says to move. And still, it is the nervous system that detects every single touch. The lingering of the fingers that stay on your arm after the owner of them has left. It is the combined mix of these items that fractures the perception of one Daniela Avanzini. -------- ONC 2026 Prompt: 24. Staying as friends feels safe, but that doesn't mean it's the path you're meant to take. #1 in #Hands 02/13/26, 02/18/26, 02/21/26, 03/02/26, 03/08/26, 03/18/26, 03/24/26, 03/28/26, 04/12/26 #1 in #pathways 03/12/26, 03/14/26, 03/22/26, 04/02/26, 04/10/26

Emily never planned on ruining a wedding. She only wanted to stop the man she thought got away from marrying someone else. One dramatic "I object!" later, she's mascara-streaked, heartbroken, and sitting on the curb with a suitcase full of regrets. The problem? She objected at the wrong wedding. Now Noah is away on his honeymoon, and Em is left wondering if timing will always betray her. But when a stranger steps into her disaster, she begins to realize that wrong weddings lead to the right beginnings. . . . !!This is my submission for the Open Novella Contest 2026!! Prompt 50: You sneak into a wedding to declare your love for the groom, but you're a day late.

After Travis McPherson dies, his fiancée receives a voicemail, recorded an hour after his passing. *** Candace and Travis have known each other their entire lives. First as best friends, and later, high school sweethearts. As far as anyone in their small town is concerned, these two were meant to walk down the aisle together. But when a flash flood takes all that away, Candace is left grieving and heartbroken. All she has left of him is a mysterious voicemail recorded an hour after his confirmed death. It's impossible, yet she plays it over and over again, desperate for the sound of his voice. And a sign. Something, anything to ease her aching heart. All as their lives flash before her eyes. Travis always told her he loved her to Heaven and back, and beyond the grave, sends a final, heartfelt message moments before his death. The only remaining mystery is how as death parts two halves of the same heart. *** (Prompt 90: You receive a voicemail from someone you love, recorded one hour after their confirmed death). Wired for the Open Novella Contest 2026

"Do first, think next" would be the single statement to describe Scarlett, a nineteen-year-old walking bad decision. When her bestie (and patner in crime) goes missing, she creatively investigates and unknowingly abducts a literal crime lord, Augustine. What could be the possible outcome when a chaotic crackhead crashes straight into a calm, controlled crime lord? ONC 2026, Prompt 51.

In life Nothing is quite what it seems. Through the years and the challenges of life this women realises that she choose to become a mother, a wife, a drug addicted, a survivor of domestic violance, a women. She realise she didnt know she choose... She didnt want to choose all that... Then why did she do it...?

Waking up in a new world is shocking, even for a robot. Silver, on the other hand, has known nothing else than this. She has been an outsider her entire life. Zer0 was created as a promise for the future. Silver is surplus, trying to stay unnoticed. Both struggle with expectations that don't fit who they are. But is what they've been told true, or must they discover their own truth? Together, they explore what they want and what the world truly needs. Because more of the same is what created their current situation. It is time to rewrite the system. Together. According to prompt 28. Self-love often starts small, like planting a single seed. With time, patience, and a bit of light, it will blossom.

The mansion watches. The shadows whisper. Willow Heather thought she was a guest-but in the Atticus Estate, survival comes at a deadly price

The dream always ended the same way: with the salt-spray of an ocean I'd never visited and the warmth of a hand I couldn't quite grasp. He never had a face-just a silhouette cut out of the moonlight-but his voice was a low rumble that vibrated in my chest. "Find me," he'd whisper. "Before the clocks stop." When I woke up, the silence of my apartment felt like a physical weight. I checked my pulse, my skin still buzzing from a touch that didn't exist. I told myself it was just stress. I told myself that "Thorne" was a name I'd probably seen on a billboard or a dusty law book. But then I saw him.

When her office burns down an editor must work together with the most infuriating man alive or risk the promotion she's been working her entire career for. **** Chielozonam 'Elo' Williams is doing great. All things considered. It doesn't matter that the job she loves as editor at PerfectRomance, the publishing imprint she's been working at for the past five years has started to feel more like a chore these days. It doesn't matter that her judgemental father might be right about her wasting her life away by not using her full potential. What really matters is getting her dream promotion and enjoying the prime years of her youth. That is until the unthinkable happens. After Elo's office building burns down overnight she's forced to share an office with the one person that makes her blood boil: Connor Price. Archenemies since their days at college Connor makes getting under her skin an art form. He's brash and rude and irritates her like nobody else can with his scathing looks and contemptible behavior. It's not long before they're locked in a battle of wits, neither willing to back down or give up. When they have to work together to acquire a potentially lucrative manuscript, they are forced to put aside their long-standing animosity for an adventure that will blur the line between hate and desire until neither of them can tell where the fighting ends and the falling begins. PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION meets ANYONE BUT YOU meets THE HATING GAME in this contemporary rom-com about resilience, self-discovery and two sworn enemies who can't tell the difference between wanting to kiss or kill each other. An ONC 2026 story inspired by prompt 40. THIS NOVEL IS ONLY AVAILABLE ON WATTPAD AND INKITT. IF YOU ARE READING THIS ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE INFORM THE AUTHOR VIA WATTPAD, AS YOU MAY BE READING FROM A MIRROR SITE WHERE IT HAS BEEN PLAGIARIZED AND YOUR DEVICE MAY BE SUBJECTED TO A MALWARE ATTACK.

(First draft - unedited) Evangeline Winterbourne thrives on the unknown. Driven by an unrelenting curiosity, she has spent her life chasing what history tried to erase. Unearthing ancient knowledge, deciphering forgotten languages, and dragging buried civilizations back into the light. Discovery is what she does best. It has never failed her. Until one expedition does more than leave its mark. Deep within a dense forest, Evangeline and her team uncover an ancient temple tied to a lost civilization. What they find inside refuses to stay buried. Whatever stirred there follows her home, settling beneath her skin, awakening something long dormant. Because Evangeline is not entirely human. Drakonian blood runs through her veins, a fractured legacy passed down through generations. Heightened strength. Accelerated healing. A heritage she never fully understood. Until now. As strange coincidences begin to stack and ancient artifacts whisper of memory and chaos, Evangeline realizes the past isn't finished with her. An ancient presence is stirring, one bound to her blood and to the choices her curiosity keeps leading her to. And it wants to be found.