Onc2026 Stories

Aunt Mabel is dead, found lying amongst her daisies in her garden. Two eyes anxiously watch over her. The police arrive, but questions soon crop up. Is it actually Aunt Mabel? And who or what did it? A wild animal? A person? A baby dragon? Something strange is afoot in the Auntie's garden and it's up to Officer Holt Martinez, Estelle, and her cousin Julia, to figure it all out before it's too late. Little does she know that an unplanned trip to the Dragon's Lair Bookshop will upend everything she thought she knew about life, this world, and those beyond. *The Novella Version was a Open Novella Contest ONC 2026 Long List Winner!

ALIEN AMONG US is a small-town sci-fi novella filled with humor, heart, friendship, and enough secrets to make you wonder what-or who-might be hiding in plain sight. ************************************************************************ Entered into the Open Novella Contest 2026 | @OpenNovellaContest - Rules & Guidelines: here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/406004197-open-novella-contest-2026 **Main Prompt** 25. You live with four other housemates, but one of them is secretly an alien trying to learn how to act human. ©2026 E. S. Elias, All Rights Reserved. Book Created & Published to Wattpad: 02.01.2026 Book Marked as Completed: 00.00.2026 Book Cover: Me @DesignsbyEH Word Count: 2,222 / 20,000 Goals: ✔ Round 1 ✔ | 2,000 words ✔ | Round 2 ✔ | 8,000 words ✔ Round 3 _ | 20,000 words LONGLIST _ | SHORTLIST _ Round Winner? _ | Honorable Mention? _ | Ambassadors' Pick? _ Mentioned in Ambassador Newsletter _ Top-5 Winner? _ Rankings: #ONC2026: #ONC #2 02.03.2026

When 15-year-old Izel Aziz gets a note during his last period at school, warning him not to touch any electronics in his home, he thinks nothing of it (or at least thinks he doesn't.) That is, of course, when he goes to log into his and his sister's co-op save of Moonwillow Hollow, only for him to be sucked into the game upon pressing the save file. When he enters the game due to being sick of having to be stuck in the closet, though, everything seems a lot more real than he thought this pixel filled world would be... ONC Prompts: 8. You wake up inside Stardew Valley with no idea how you got there and no guarantee you'll ever get back home. 79. A letter arrives addressed to you, written by someone who shouldn't exist.

Ian has always had very vivid dreams that feel like memories. Seeing people she's never met before and even places she has never been to before. Her therapist told her that there are just dreams and not memories. She performances hypnosis to help her shut out her memories. But not all dreams have disappeared. The moment she arrives in a town called "Zoey." Upon her arrival, she continues to be mistaken for Anna. But the question is: Who is Anna?

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.

Supernatural | Folklore | Dystopian Girl x Girl Once you gain it, there's no turning. If you want to turn, there will be a price to pay! And this is just the beginning. *** Fear came first. Then came pain. In the end, there was nothing but wrath. And a dying flower.

When a cautious Formula One engineer crosses paths with a damaged comeback driver, she discovers that the most dangerous variable she should assess in the sport isn't speed-but attachment. ✦✦✦ Adriana Santos has always known her place on a championship-winning Formula One team is contingent. Excellence, she learned early, is not the same as security. She works in a role the paddock barely understands-simulating failures before they happen, answering 'what ifs' before they become 'what went wrong', and treating the car like a living thing whose future rests in her hands. Her work is quiet, precise, and easily erased the moment she becomes inconvenient. She is careful because she has to be. She knows Joshua Thomas long before she meets him: the driver who changed his name to fit in, the anomaly on a rival team forever tipped for titles. To Adriana, he's a reaction curve that never quite returned to baseline after last season's crash. His comeback is framed as resilience. Many are simply waiting to see him fail. They meet by accident, in a moment stripped of his usual extravagance and pretence. Adriana notices what she always notices-the face behind the mask, the way he laughs through failure like it doesn't frighten him. Adriana doesn't forget him, though. She keeps her distance but Joshua doesn't, and their reluctant friendship begins to bend into something riskier. And they both know exactly what it could cost them. ✦✦✦ ✦ Open Novella Contest 2026 | Prompts 24, 29, 30, 44 ᴄᴏᴘʏʀɪɢʜᴛ © 2026 ʙʏ ᴀᴜᴅʀᴇʏ ᴀʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛꜱ ʀᴇꜱᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ.

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[ONC 2026 SHORTLISTER] *** In a ghost town where cornfields outnumber people, Lieutenant Gianna Park arrests the new arrival, Nicolae Badea, for biting her on their first date. When bodies begin to surface-young men found mummified, bitten, and strangled-Gianna suspects the man she once handcuffed. Yet the evidence refuses to align. The wounds are wrong. The hunger is too controlled. Eighteen years ago, a boy was killed and forgotten. Now the dead are returning the same way. As Gianna uncovers a hidden world of vampires who police their own kind, she learns that monsters are not defined by blood, but by what they choose to feed on. Nicolae Badea insists it was never desire that restrained him. It was faith. He survives by restraint, faith, and silence. The killer survives by power. Only one of them hunts humans. The Coffin of Nicolae is a gothic crime novel about addiction, faith, romance, and the violence we excuse when it wears a human face. It asks what justice means when the law has no language for the truth. And what waits inside Nicolae's coffin. *** Content Warning: This novel includes strong, explicit language and depictions of violence, sexual scenes that some readers may find offensive.

William Grombo is a librarian who tries to forget the fact that he has super powers, but then he meets Kaya Ravens, who is just as obsessed with super heroes as he once was. But like William, Kaya hides a secret she doesn't want anyone to know.

One moment, Avery was the author. The next... she woke up inside her own novel. Her characters are alive. Her plot is wrong. And Aiden-the man she wrote to break hearts- is looking at her like she's his. The scariest part? She's no longer the one holding the pen. Every page pulls her deeper, every twist makes her question who's really writing the story-her, or something else entirely. And somewhere between fiction and reality, she'll have to decide... does she want to escape this world? Or rewrite it forever? [New chapter: Every week on Monday.]

After the War of the Fractured Crowns, the kingdoms built Aurevane Academy; a gilded institution where royal heirs are trained in warfare, diplomacy, and control. No ruler would ever rise uncontested again. Athelia Payton Verdanor was never meant to attend. Hidden from the world as the secret daughter of a forgotten throne, she arrives as the first female heir in five decades, determined to reclaim what was stolen from her kingdom. Standing in her path are two princes: Lionel Lysander, the golden Light Prince beloved by all. And Mythias Vindex, the feared Dark Prince sworn as her enemy. Beneath Aurevane Academy lies a forbidden relic, when Athelia and Mythias destroy it, an ancient curse binds them. Their wounds mirror. Their fates entwine. The only way to break it? A true love's kiss. A cruel joke considering their souls are carved with the same vow: Better dead than yours. With kingdoms preparing for ascension and betrayal brewing in every corridor, Athelia must decide... End the curse. Or take the crown. Because in Aurevane, power is forged in gold. And love? Love might be the most dangerous weapon of all...

ONC2026 Short List/ Round 1 Embassadors Pick Summer Peterson and her best friend Whitney are both pulled into their unfinished script, a romanticized 1932 crime noir. In the script world Summer and Whitney are pulled apart. Though a series of accidents, Summer pulls an unconscious man into a shack. When he comes to he mistakenly thinks he's been kidnapped. He is none other than Sabastian Lorenzo the powerful Don of the Black Orchid Syndicate! So what does a frightened modern girl do when trapped in a 1932 crime word? She becomes a mafia boss herself! And she bootlegs too! Not whiskey, but modern movies turned into money making theater productions! She's not your average crime leader. And he's not your average villain. All Summer wants to do is find her friend Whitney and return home. Yet everytime she meets with Lorenzo, they cannot help but be drawn to each other. Romantic Comedy / Crime Noir / Meta‑Fiction

ONGOING! Couture Magazine: the most prestigious fashion publication in the world, where hemlines are sacred, deadlines are deadly, and the coffee runs are... surprisingly literal. Every intern who walks through those gleaming Manhattan doors dreams of landing a full-time position-complete with vision, dental (including twice-yearly cleanings), and an endless supply of designer clothes fresh off the runway. Sure, the demands from editors, photographers, and even the notoriously temperamental writers can be exhausting. But an intern's day at Couture is pretty ordinary, right? WRONG. Alcide Lancaster is about to discover that his summer internship working for the iconic-yet-terrifying Ellen Montclaire comes with a few... unexpected job requirements. Like why he and a select few employees-including the formidable Editor-in-Chief herself-are the only ones taking mandatory two-hour lunch breaks. Why his thirty-to-fifty-something coworkers look suspiciously athletic, eerily youthful, and are borderline obsessed with eyewear that definitely isn't just a fashion statement. And why A-list celebrities who stop by the Couture offices seem less interested in the magazine's latest cover shoot and oddly fascinated with Alcide himself. But most importantly... What does any of this have to do with Alcide's late family, their disturbingly narrow worldview, and the real reason they wanted him out of their lives forever? All excellent questions for a young man trying to survive a summer packed with Fashion Week chaos, superpowered coworkers who treat the office like their personal runway, and a boss who's less Anna Wintour and more fierce-but-loving grandmother. Between navigating new friendships, an unexpected romance, and enough secrets to fill an entire September issue, Alcide is about to learn that in the world of high fashion... Not everything is just an illusion.

Main Prompt: You discover that the dragon everyone fears is in danger, and you are the only one who can save it from the knight sworn to slay it. In the Empire of the Iron-ridge, humans are second class citizens. To shifters, humans are nothing more then a play toy which they can mend and break in whatever way they please to, leaving them to fend on the streets for nothing but crumbs. So when Cynder is tasked with infiltrating the palace of the grand emperor and killing the prince in exchange for a lifetime supply of her sister's medicine, she knows that this is the very moment she has been waiting for. Until the very first night is tainted with the hints of betrayal...because the moment her eyes meet Prince Aasim, something primal awakens in both of them. History is calling for a change between the shifters and the humans. The way of life between them must be rewritten, and Cynder might be the flame needed to burn down the old to make way for the new. But if she's not careful, all she's ever love will burn in the carnage left behind. .

Nam Min Joon is self-centered, demanding, and currently... homeless. After a disastrous mix of bad press and tax evasion rumors sends Nam Corp's stock into a tailspin, Min Joon is left penniless. Enter Bo Young, the assistant who knows his coffee order, his schedule, and now, his lack of a backup plan. Out of pity, she offers him a place to stay for seven days. But as "one week" stretches on, the corporate boundaries begin to blur. Bo Young is determined to restore Min Joon to his former glory just so she can finally have her apartment back and get some sleepㅡbut the more time they spend in close quarters, the more she realizes she might not want him to leave. #onc2026 prompt 48

A moon ago, one stormy night, Fernpaws and Spiretwist went foraging a foreign territory alone. Only Spiretwist came back... Now, rumors are spreading. Cats believe Fernpaws is alive, but too haunted to return home to the Stormclaws, her tribe. But the question is, who made her fearful enough not to come back? Lilycub is only two moons old. But at her paws is a greater destiny than any grown legionnaire or scout could ever aspire to have. A mystery is unravelling, and she's not sure she wants to be part of it. Oryxlight is the brother of Fernpaws and Spiretwist, and the leader of the Stormclaws, and only wants to know what happened to her. but Spiretwist seems to know little of the fate that befell their sister... or so it seems. He thinks that she is dead... that is, until, one night, he goes foraging where she and Spiretwist went that fateful day, and sees her face to face... and the only way to bring her back is by avenging her, and striking down the one who wronged her... Yasmine was Fernpaws human owner, and she feels something is amis, as Fernpaws has not returned for a month now. what is going on? Yamine doesn't know, but she'll give anything to find out. The line between friend and fiend is blurring. War will break, sides they'll take, and cats of storm, wind, and earth, must come together, or everything shall be lost...

phaser a hero who just want to be recognized with his group of failures who really want wind rider to recognize them I use prompt 14 or smth

'Self-love often starts small, like planting a single seed. With time, patience, and a bit of light, it will blossom.' Abhiradhi Ganesan had gotten out of the hardest relationship she had experienced in her short life, and felt like nothing would ever cheer her up again. With the help and support of her brother and best friend, she tries to plant that little seed called hope, and with it blossoms not just self-love, but also love eventually. Ilavarasan Kumaran was exhausted with the void that had entered his life ever since the fights with his now ex-fiancee. In some ways, he felt it was good that he hadn't married her; they would have been miserable, though the thought hurt. Armed with new ideas, he forges on a new path, finding love in unexpected places. A novella spin-off from Heliotrope, a prequel; can be read as a standalone. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Meredith discovers a tiny prince in her backyard. The prince claims he has been cursed, and to return him to his true size, he must make two people fall in love. She is the daughter of a powerful witch, but she was overprotected for most of her life and barely leaves the house. Now she needs to leave her home and search for love with her tiny prince, who supports her.