Onc2024 mga kuwento

[ONC 2024 Round 2 Ambassador's Pick & Longlister] Zjahn Zjmit, AKA Sean Smith, AKA Psycona. Alien refugee from a destroyed world. Peacemaker. Superhero. The life of a superhero isn't everything Psycona thought it would be. He feels unappreciated, undervalued, and sits in the shadow of other heroes. Heroes that he could beat with little trouble. Though he remains committed to the life of a hero, something is missing. When the world's greatest hero, Principle, must go off-world to save his loved one, Psycona takes the opportunity to prove to the world that he is its greatest hero. All he needs is a villain only he can defeat. As a plan formulates, Psycona will become the world's greatest hero, even if he has to become its greatest villain to do it. ONC 2024 - Based on Prompt 49 - Being a superhero is just too boring. Let's be a villain! Cover created in Canva, using an AI generated picture and text through Logokit

In a ruined world, what traces of humans remain? In an overgrown corner of a once-intact room, nestled in the roots of a young tree, a barely functional camera watches over the decay. Maintenance calls go unanswered, leaving it to conserve power, turning on its lens only when things get within its proximity range. Its largely monotonous world gets disrupted when a family of birds make the tree it rests on home. Mysteriously, their presence stirs a torrent of memories within its circuits, some intact and others corrupted. However, recalling memories comes at a cost, and its power, gleaned from the sun, gets drained faster than it can recover. Despite the risk, the camera cannot cease. It is compelled to observe and document the intertwining of past and present unfolding before its lens. As it continues it realises why the family of birds recalls seemingly unrelated memories. ? It was bound by a promise of the past, one that was corrupted beyond repair until an overlap between its owner and the birds were found. Now, repairs of core memories are underway and soon, the bigger picture reveals itself. The battery falls, and the past gives way to the present. *Longlister of the 2024 ONC*

|PUBLISHED AND 2026 GLOBAL STORY SELECTION VERSION| |13X FEATURED · AMBYS 2025 FAVORITE · INKITT HQ FEATURED · AUDIOBOOK NOW AVAILABLE!| Two years after her older brother's tragic death, anxiety-stricken Maisie and her emotional support cat, Milo, attend the Disney College Program, where they must discover a new life meaning in the most magical place on Earth. *** Milo, an orange tabby, has always wanted a little sibling, but after the tragic loss of his owner's older brother, adoption was put on hold, and he became her Emotional Support Animal. Now, two years later, Maisie's determined to grant Milo's long-overdue wish; however, she's still grieving and overwhelmed with anxiety, leaving Milo to tag along with her for the famed Disney College Program. Nevertheless, when heartbreak catches him, too, Milo must push past his grief to save himself and his wish. Maisie Claire is ready to move on but not prepared to leave her family after two years for the DCP. She would've never accepted that offer letter if it hadn't been for her parents helping her get an ESA. Now trapped in an unfamiliar world, Maisie must find new meaning in life while still keeping her brother's memory alive. It starts with discovering the courage to befriend her mysterious suitemate and thanking Milo for everything he's done. After all, sometimes moving on just takes a little bit of courage. *** *A clean, second-chance sapphic college story inspired by my brother's death in 2021, my experience in the Disney College Program, and cat videos on Facebook.*

The 20s are back and the Prohibition is in full effect. Only this time the only spirits that are being outlawed isn't alcohol - it's powerful potions, endangered magical creatures and living souls being confined into bottles. These illicit spirits are coveted by criminal organizations that want to take over the underworld. One dangerous concoction could decimate an entire city to oblivion. Some of these spirits can be used to power engines, regenerate the tissue of a cadaver or make someone glow like a firefly, but the most dangerous of them all is to use the vessel of an imprisoned spirit to use mind control. Aster Rhodes was just a homeless lad who travelled across the states playing an old violin in the park when he got discovered by Daisy Ray. The young violinist has a penchant for bad poetry and soliloquys though it didn't deter the widow from introducing Aster to the frontman of the once-nomadic band called the Daisy Dukes - Darrell "Zib" Zibulon aka the Dandy Lion. After passing the rehearsal, the real head honcho of the speakeasy, Blaise Ray shows Aster the ropes of the business operates, though he didn't know the real extent of what his job would entail after the owner of the Dandelion speakeasy gets murdered one night. The business starts to sink and the only way to keep it afloat is to procure the illicits spirits, no one else is willing to take the risk to go bootlegging except for Aster, and Blaise's goddaughter - Ivy Taylor.

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ She wasn't meant to be in Mosukoshi. Hisashi works six days a week, making sure his tavern is always ready to serve the souls that visit for one final drink. Paid in silver, he eases their transition, providing comfort before they pass onto the afterlife. But when Momoko, a young girl with no recollection of her memory, appears one day at his tavern, questions arise about how a living human had managed to enter the land of limbo. Forced to be a guide, Hisashi takes Momoko under his wing, and the two set out on an adventure in search of answers about Momoko's arrival; all while Hisashi is forced to confront his own past. Journeying through the wondrous yet dangerous lands and waters of Mosukoshi, its up to Hisashi to help bring Momoko home, and find solace in his own history. ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ Hey, it's my first novel! Thank you so much for reading this. Cover credit to me! #ONC2024

🏆 SHORTLIST - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024 🏆 A young journalist must navigate a war-torn country and the intricacy of first love in order to save herself and her family. ⋯⋯⋯ In 2042, invaders crossed Philippine waters and marked the start of the war. Two years later, Maian Dizon, a displaced Metro Manila journalist, navigates the war-torn streets in search of a way out of the country. However, when her path crosses with Kian Lucero, a reservist medical doctor, doubts creep in. With the guilt he carries, the foreboding loss on her shoulders, and the pressing needs of her family, her calling points her back to her homeland with no promise of salvation. But the attacks crawl closer every day, and Maian must devise a plan to save the people she loves, even if it means sacrificing herself. From the award-winning author of 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘌𝘯𝘥 comes a story of love and life, and how they fade and thrive at the face of war. There is an end to peace, memory, and glory, but there are things that will live forever. We only have to find them. ˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°• © 2024 (First Edition) [30,000 - 35,000 words] [All graphics are made by @sardonictabby] C/TW: Some scenes in this story contain graphic physical violence, disturbing themes, or character introspection that may upset or trigger the reader. Please read at your own risk. FEATURED ON @IdentityandCulture's API VOICES MAY 2026 AMBASSADOR PICKS 🏆 LONGLIST - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024 🏆 ROUND 2 QUALIFIER - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024 🏆 ROUND 1 QUALIFIER - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024

🏆 HONORABLE MENTION - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024 🏆 PREVIOUSLY "DEADLY WICKED" A witch has to pretend to be the wife of the Prince of the Dead in exchange for resurrecting her lover. ⋯⋯⋯ Mavyn of Krauss has everything under control until her rich and influential fiancé keels over and abandons her. Now with no place in society as a witch, she moves to the next best option―summon an immortal from the Land of the Dead and strike a deal to resurrect him. Enter Valen Nox, a prince of the Underworld, bringing along an irresistible deal to the table. She will have a chance to comb through the Underworld's domains for her fiancé in exchange for being Valen's date for his sister's wedding. But when the truth comes out with the promise of a conspiracy, Mavyn is thrust into the wicked world of the Kathari, the Underworld's immortal rulers, and their schemes for dominion. Now, she must play by their rules while crafting deadly plans of her own―plans that may endanger more than what Valen bargained for. After all, the most logical thing to do in a court deep in chaos is to use it to one's advantage. From the award-winning author of 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘌𝘯𝘥 comes a tale of the deadly and the wicked, set in a world where life and death are not so simple, and there may be more to lose at the edge of the void than at the end of memory. AN INSTALLMENT OF THE WICKED DEATH SELECTIONS. ˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°• © 2024 (First Edition) [22,000 - 27,000 words] [All graphics are made by @sardonictabby] 🏆 SHORTLIST - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024 🏆 R1 AMBASSADOR PICK - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024

🏆 WINNER (2ND PLACE) - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024 🏆 A misfit of an aristocratic family must find out who is behind the murder at his university before he is disowned and falls victim to the murderer. ⋯⋯⋯ Arlo Crowhaven, a student of the prestigious Lyllan University of Magic, is poised to uphold his family's elite status. That is, until a classmate is murdered, and all of the clues point to him. With little time to clear his name, he must take the investigation into his hands, find the killer, and stop an even bigger secret from leaking out. After all, while Arlo likes keeping his hands clean, he may be entangled in a scheme even his family is not privy to. Now, Arlo must pull all the strings he can to foil the murderer's plan and save his skin. From the award-winning author of 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘌𝘯𝘥 comes a story of privilege, wealth, and the divide between the elite and the common. Ideals are a salvation for many, but in the quest for freedom and power, sometimes, they are the first to go. AN INSTALLMENT OF THE LYLLAN UNIVERSITY OF MAGIC AND MISFITS SERIES ˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°• © 2024 (First Edition) [20,000 - 30,000 words] [All graphics are made by @sardonictabby] 🏆 SHORTLIST - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024 🏆 ROUND 1 WINNER - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024

Keep your happily ever after - it ain't mine. Evan, a chronically underprepared college freshman, is forced into a magical journey to save his school from the Corvidae Conspiracy. If he can't, this could be the end of life as he knows it. Background image by Эльвина Якубова from Pixabay

Magic runs thick in the veins of every creature in the woods of Iryndor, in one twisted way or another. It could be beautiful, it could be benign. It could be breathtakingly evil. Rhae has lived in these enchanted woods all her life, a loyal member of the Sisters of Breath. She is familiar with the cold winters, and the looming threat of what lurks in the dark. But one day, she finds something else: a stranger, lacking the ever-present hum of power that hums through her own veins. Though at first wary, Rhae is soon enthralled by his tales of the mundane and ordinary. But in a world of magic, there is no place for the earthly. While an enchanting tale of love and its strength, "A Melody of Ice" also provides a chilling reminder of betrayal's sting, and what it can awaken within us all. ONC 2024 entry under prompt #95. Cover images retrieved from Pixabay.

Straight out of uni, Lynn is glad to have secured a job as a replacement in a library. But soon she finds out the place is haunted, and not only by a blue cat. Juggling the upcoming vernissage of a photo exhibition and the trouble with her coworker, she has to learn fast - to trust her instinct-and the magic of the stories. Once 2024, prompt #15: "Why are you glowing blue?"

An ONC 2024 entry A regular museum worker one day, Raul Mendez finds his life turned upside down when he gets dragged into a supernatural grapple for power that threatens to plunge the world into eternal darkness.

Rachel worked hard, looking forward to the vacation she saved up for, a break from family troubles, only for troubles to find her as the paparazzi take an interest in a certain pop idol and some of the other things going on at the Pokemon Resort, including her brother's friend group which includes a not-friend but rival who believes his mother is an alien. Because while Pokemon exist, aliens don't, right? Disclaimer - I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender or Pokemon Concierge. This is one of my Open Novella projects for 2024. The main prompt is prompt nine, "After some long months of working harder than ever, you finally get to your well deserved vacation getaway but when you arrive at the hotel there is this one star that brings all the paparazzi and trouble with them and makes your vacation a one to remember." I'm also working with prompt four, "When life gives you ballons, you fly up into the sky," prompt thirteen, "Every family has that one member of whom no one speaks, and that's you, prompt thirty-one, "'Your Mom was an alien.' Exactly what a child needs t hear from their father as a bedtime story," and prompt thirty-four, "You wanted to go to the moon, see the silvery white glow of it for yourself. Instead, the moon came to you. One day, at your door."

84. A witchy tale from the perspective of the familiar. 81. The town's witch has gone missing and no one is looking for her but her two familiars - a crow and a black cat, plus the teen who has always been scared of her. ~~~ Eclipse is a raven familiar, an invasive Corvus splendens in small-town coastal Louisiana. He serves an outsider called Mamman Simbi, a witch hidden between a Catholic and Voodoo culture, when a new witch is born into Cajun bloodlines (Tammy Broussard, b. 1977). Being overburdened in soul leads to the new witch having dangerous fevers that Eclipse and Simbi protect her from until she's old enough to take over as Mung Bean's witch (Simbi's rescue cat the same age as the girl). Familiars take on that excess spirit and help manage their partners health and daily work, becoming as human as their masters. The process of protecting Tammy leaves her frightened of Mamman Simbi, and parents in denial don't push children to stray outside their culture. But the world has never been safe for their kind, and just as the deep south starts to recover from a painful recession, the witches hiding in their culture start disappearing, leaving Simbi too distracted to reach out to a fearful child. Then Simbi disappears from a gathering during the worst years for murders in New Orleans (1994), with police corruption running rampant. Mung Bean and Tammy, both now 16, run away from home soon after, leaving Eclipse to sort out how much is safe to tell the young witch's parents, Rafe and Dinah Broussard, and Simbi's boyfriend, T-Beau LeBlanc. Can Eclipse find his master, ride herd on two teens (a witch and her familiar), keep mere humans safe, and not lose himself to the humanity he's avoided as a crow? Life wasn't supposed to be so complicated for a bird brain.

| ONC 2024 SHORTLIST | Nikolas Hoffman just wants to lay low. After coming out as transgender in high school, he made a vow to draw as little attention to himself as possible, diving headfirst into his work as a copy editor as soon as he graduated college. Now, Nikolas has finally decided to give himself a much-needed vacation to a small beach-side town in upstate California. However, everything takes a turn when an all-too-familiar face shows up at his hotel. Axel Reed is the well-known guitar player and lead singer of The Kissing Teeth - and just so happens to be Nikolas' ex-friend. Much to the latter's dismay, Axel has a nasty habit of drawing crowds of paparazzi everywhere he goes and is always down for a little mischief. It's safe to say that Nikolas' vacation just got interesting. ◦✭◦ Written for ONC 2024. Keep in mind that since this is a contest entry, this is an unedited draft and, as such, there may be some grammatical errors I've missed. This story was inspired by the following prompts: (Main Prompt) 9. After some long months of working harder than ever, you finally get to your well deserved vacation getaway but when you arrive at the hotel there is this one star that brings all the paparazzi and trouble with them and makes your vacation a one to remember. 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. 33. A broken heart beats with all its pieces. And it still wants the same person. Word count: 29,030 words Current status: Shortlister

He can climb the tower, but can he win her heart? Victoria Grunell loved her job as a personal assistant. Or at least she did, until her absentminded boss of five years decided to suddenly retire and disappear, without leaving even a current phone number, the jerk. And it's the day before her best friend's wedding reception. At the party, she meets Trenton Lloyd, drummer for the hit cover band Aspire, and wonders if her luck is already turning around. Unfortunately, they have no time to explore the sparks between them, as Vicky is kidnapped by an evil organization hoping to coerce Trent to join them. Trent will have to keep his cool to get Vicky home safe from the tower of terrors, but will he be able to show her his heart, to earn her love in return?

The girl who can't be killed. The ultimate super power. All she needs to do is work out how she's supposed to use it to save the world. But of all the people that could have been given such great power, Amelia was probably the worst choice. A story for the Open Novella Contest 2024. Using the prompt #6; Your life as you know it has ended. Somewhere in Limbo you're met with the message: "Something went wrong. Please try again." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trigger warning: mentions of self harm, thoughts of suicide, drug use, and alcohol.

Bon is a war priest though he hadn't done much of that since the Marshes Rebellions ended. These days he took confessions and gave blessings on Reflection Day until the day he was summoned to court by the King. King Vishen Algiovann had lost his only son and made a grief-induced decision to make the son of his cousin his heir. Bon finds himself in a whole new war, one that was primarily fought with secret meetings, schemes and poison needles under pillows.

When the towns local Witch goes missing, her two familiars set out to find her. Matias only really likes one person, his witch, Eve. So when she goes missing one day he's determined to find her. Even if that means putting up with the annoying crow of hers. But there's only one problem, Matias has no clue where to start. Logical, the only right thing to do is blame the girl who's always hanging out around their cottage. Selene has been told to be scared of the witch that lives at the edge of town, and she is. Or at least she thinks she is. The witch is the only one who really stirs something in her gut, and it has to be fear, right? When a cat and a crow come to ask her to help them find the witch she's hesitant. How could she possibly be able to find her? But when no one else in town seems to be searching and the cat seems almost desperate she decides to help. How hard can it be to find someone who disappeared without leaving anything behind? *** An ONC 2024 Novella

(ONC 2024 Longlisted) Not all fairy tales have happy endings, which Arthur is about to discover in a big way. After an especially bad day of work, he makes a wish on a star that all of the magical stories his Nana used to tell him when he was a boy were real. Life in the mundane everyday world might not always be great, but fairy tales might not be all they're cracked up to be either. Can Arthur get things back to normal or is he going to be stuck in a fractured fairy tale world (not so) happily ever after?