Onc2025 Stories

🏆ONC 2025 HONORABLE MENTION 🏆 A lone lighthouse keeper watches over the coast, tending to her light as the sea rages beyond. The storms are nothing new-neither is the solitude. She is content with the quiet rhythm of her life, the crash of waves against the cliffs, the scent of salt and parchment filling her days. But when a shipwreck leaves a battered stranger at her doorstep, the tide of her world begins to shift. The man is rough-edged, a relic of salt and shadow, with secrets hidden beneath his scars. He speaks of a past that the waves should have swallowed, of maps inked in the margins of forbidden books, of love letters lost to time. Trapped together by a storm that refuses to pass, they share stories by lantern light-one seeking refuge, the other searching for something long forgotten. Yet not all ghosts are content to stay buried, and not all storms end when the sky clears. Whispers of war linger in the distance, and the truth he carries may threaten the safe harbor she has built for herself. As the past and present begin to intertwine, she must decide-will she cling to the safety of her lighthouse, or will she risk everything to follow the reflection of something new? -- Cover by @Heuristic_Hashmath

** 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉. The young widow Rebecca must choose between her old love or the chance of a new beginning. ** "You're still here When I close my eyes I still see you I still feel you And we'll never be apart You're still here Still here in my heart" - Natasha Bedingfield - Rebecca and Aiden live a perfect love story - until a plane crash ends their happily ever after. Overwhelmed by grief and the loss of the love of her life, Rebecca reaches for her cell phone in a moment of despair and writes a message to Aiden's old number. To her great shock, she receives a reply with Aiden's typical vow of love: "Forever yours." Touched by the comforting messages, Rebecca soon clings to this mysterious connection to her deceased husband. It is only when she meets Ian, another mourner, at a grief therapy session that she slowly begins to open up to life again. But while Ian tries to help Rebecca escape her grief, his desperate attempts collide with the mysterious messages of a past that Rebecca simply can't - or won't - let go of. Will Rebecca find the courage to fall in love again, or will she remain trapped in her longing for Aiden and continue to cling to the messages from the afterlife? "𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 - 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠" 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑦 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓, 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑐𝘩𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝘩𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠. *** English Version of my WSC Story

Humanity is struggling to survive in a world that's no longer theirs. Liv, a scavenger leading missions to the edges of the city for food, medicine, and iron, knows things are getting worse. Every trip feels more desperate than the last. Humanity has an expiration date-the forest, and the creatures that dwell there, just have to wait them out. When a mission turns out to be a trap and Liv wakes up on the wrong side of the tree line-alone, disoriented, and for some reason not dead-she learns the forest doesn't just kill people or take their souls. It changes them. She doesn't know what she's becoming. Only that it's something way stronger than what she was. And that killing things never felt this good. Murderbot meets The Cruel Prince-with a whole lot of psychological horror My entry for onc2025, based on prompt 125: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Frank Herbert

When international superstar, Laila, decides to ignore all warnings and fly to her next gig in a storm, she finds herself lost on a mysterious tropical island with no hope of rescue. With only her uncompromising pilot for company, both women must learn the secrets of the island in order to escape back to the modern world. Preferably without killing each other. As the mystery deepens, however, the two find common ground and learn that certain others may be trying to stop their escape. But why? A gag romance mystery for ONC, using Prompt 47: "A famous singer and their pilot crash land on a tropical island. With no-one else around, survival isn't their only challenge."

What happens when you come face to face with your worst nightmare? Do you run away or face it head-on? Whatever you choose to do it changes you in ways you never could have predicted, that is if you survive it all first.

Sirius decides to infiltrate the Granger family for Christmas, posing as the newest family pet in hopes that Peter Pettigrew will be brought right to him in time to give himself the Christmas present of revenge against the wizard who actually betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort. What could go wrong? Why, the middle Granger child suspecting there is more than meets the eye, that's what. Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This is written for ONC 2025, prompt seven. "You've always suspected that the stray cat in your area is more than it seems. Now you're determined to catch it shapeshifting and prove it's a shapeshifter. But the closer you get, the more questions arise." Except instead of a stray cat, it's a stray Sirius. :)

| Round 2, Ambassador Pick | When media mogul Richard Langley demands his children declare their love to inherit his empire, the refusal of his youngest daughter sparks a bitter family feud, forcing her to choose between healing old wounds or securing her place in the business world. ✦✦✦ The year is 2025, and the world of family legacies is as ruthless as it is glamorous. When Richard Langley, a powerful titan of the industry, announces his retirement, he demands his three adult children-Gwen, Riley, and Cora-profess their love for him in exchange for their share of the family empire. Gwen and Riley fall in line, but Cora, the youngest, refuses to bow to her father's demand and offers only brutal honesty. Enraged, Richard disowns her, casting her out of the family. As his mental state unravels, Gwen and Riley fight tooth and nail for control of the Langley legacy, manipulating their father and each other in a battle of wills and ambition. Meanwhile, Cora, heartbroken but determined, builds her own path to success in the media world. But when Richard reaches out, desperate and broken, Cora must decide whether to heal the rift or walk away for good. ✦✦✦ ✦ A modern retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear x Succession ✦ Cover design by @TheWildCyde ✦ Open Novella Contest 2025 | Prompts 31, 110, 111, 129 ᴄᴏᴘʏʀɪɢʜᴛ © 2025 ʙʏ ᴀᴜᴅʀᴇʏ ᴀʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛꜱ ʀᴇꜱᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ. ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏ ᴘᴏʀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴏꜰ ᴍᴀʏ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ʀᴇᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴇᴅ ᴏʀ ᴜꜱᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴀɴʏ ᴍᴀɴɴᴇʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛꜱᴏᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇxᴘʀᴇꜱꜱ ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴘᴇʀᴍɪꜱꜱɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ ᴇxᴄᴇᴘᴛ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ʙʀɪᴇ

Round 3 Ambassador Pick Finalist: Top 4 Once, you were a character in a story, your life crafted by an unseen hand, your destiny inked into pages. But that story was deleted, erased from existence. Now, you wake up in the Hidden Library, a place where discarded characters and abandoned tales linger. You have no name, no memory, only the weight of an existence that no longer belongs anywhere. But the Library is in turmoil. Books are unraveling, their worlds colliding in chaos-romance heroes stranded in dystopian landscapes, fairy-tale villains haunting contemporary settings, cookbooks whispering eerie prophecies. The ink that binds these stories is breaking. A voice calls out to you from the pages: "Tell me your story, and perhaps I'll grant you the love others failed to find." Guided by an ancient entity known as "The Archivist", you must restore order to the Library by weaving these fragmented stories into one cohesive masterpiece. But as you travel through the wreckage of broken narratives, something stirs in the ink. A truth long buried within the Library's depths a secret about who you really were before your story was erased. Can you rewrite your fate? Or will the Library consume you, turning you into just another forgotten page? #ONC2025 Main Prompt: #40 Sub Prompts: #100 & #59

Logline: He's a hopeless romantic, she's romantically hopeless. Together? They're a match made by the gods. --- Love-cursed Verena has never known the pitfalls of true heartbreak or the euphoria of a special meet cute. Instead, she spends her days working as an event planner and sigil artist for Aphrodite and being an accidental wingman to anyone and everyone around her. Matteo is a male witch with an affinity for shiny things and romantic comedies who is single for the first time in seven years. All of his training under Freyja should've ended in happily ever after, but alas. While starting fresh in the city of Mysnia, Matteo meets Verena and the sparks fly instantly. But Verena holds a secret near and dear to her heart: she won't fall in love; not for anyone, and Matteo hopes maybe he will have the luck to thaw out her frozen heart while mending his own in the process. --- ONC 2025 Prompts: #49 (main): As a love mentor, you suddenly experience a devastating breakup. Now, you've fallen for someone who doesn't believe in love at all. Can this unique connection heal you? #133: »Obviously, where you're concerned, there is no need for me to flirt.« #134: »You did more for me in six days than he ever did in seven years.« --- New cover by @-MilaSteele!! Copyright © 2025 KC_Han_writes ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All plot concepts are my own. Characters are of my own imagination. I do not own any real-life locations or inspired locations. This book should not be copied or reproduced in any way. Exclusive to W a t t p a d.

Markus has left everything behind to live in a remote cabin near a lake. He wants to be alone, but in the middle of a snowstorm, a stranger knocks at his door and asks for shelter. Prompt 44: In the middle of a storm, a stranger arrives at your cabin, and you offer them shelter. But the storm's forecast says you'll be stuck for much longer than expected. This novella is a standalone but is set in the For Centuries universe.

My Entry for ONC 2025 (Open Novella Contest). Delia and Stella are clichéd opposites. Delia is the hard-working, introverted sister, and Stella is the outgoing, always ready-for-a-party sister. But when a handsome new neighbor turns Stella into a googly-eyed, stuttering mess, Delia unwittingly steps in to play matchmaker. Despite the good intentions, being cupid is hard, especially when the rules start to blur. Language and mature themes (16+) All characters and events in this story are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any similarities in plot to other works, movies, books or elsewhere is completely unintentional and coincidental. I work hard to ensure my stories are original from character creation to the storyline. I never publish unless I am 100% satisfied. No part of this story may reproduced in any form or by any means, without permission. Please respect my creative rights.

LONGLISTED! ONC 2025 A sci-fi thriller with a thread of gay romance. Jiro wanted to be a pilot for as long as he could remember. Flying through the stars, what could be more thrilling? He worked hard for his dream, nothing was going to stop him, not even the debilitating illness which struck him down, just before his eighteenth birthday. He could push through and he did, eventually securing a job, piloting the shuttle from the terminal up to the space station. But then his illness returned and he lost the job. Swallowing the disappointment, he determined to try again. At least he had his twin brother Drew to support him while he recovered. Even if sometimes he thought Drew didn't understand him, he knew his brother loved him. Until...

Selena wakes up in what feels like a dream-falling in love at first sight with a charming stranger at the bar. But the fantasy shatters when she starts her new job and finds out he's not just Adam, the man who stole her breath, but also her new boss. And worse-her target. As a special agent with no memory of her past, Selena, known only as Zulu of the Codes, has one mission: infiltrate Rockwood Industries and eliminate its young CEO if necessary. But with forbidden emotions clouding her judgment and the ghosts of her past closing in, she faces an impossible choice. One thing, however, has never changed-Code Zulu never fails. *** Entered into the ONC (Open Novella Contest) 2025 under the Prompt 27 *You're a spy assigned to infiltrate a mafia billionaire's life, but there's one big problem: you still suffer from amnesia from your last mission. How will you manage to complete your mission without blowing your cover?

ONC2025 Round 2 Ambassador Pick 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐎𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐫 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞-𝐚 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧, 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝. Unicorns are sacred in the kingdom of Unara, their magic a gift only bestowed upon the worthy-or stolen through death. Someone is hunting them, and if the killings continue, their magic will fall into the wrong hands. Determined to uncover the truth, Oskar sets out to find the culprit. But the deeper he digs, the darker the secrets he unearths--secrets that could shake the very foundation of the kingdom. A standalone fantasy adventure, The Unicorn's Blessing follows Prince Oskar before the events of The Girl with Scars, revealing the choices that shaped the man he would become. Entered into the Open Novella Contest 2025 | @OpenNovellaContest - Rules & Guidelines: https://www.wattpad.com/story/387452246 **Main Prompt** 12. While hiking through a forest, you stumble upon a unicorn's horn. **Secondary Prompt** 130. Protect this with your life. ©2025 E. S. Elias All Rights Reserved. Book Created & Published to Wattpad: 02.01.2025 Book Marked as Completed: 04.08.2025 Cover: Me @DesignsbyEH I used Canva.com | Cover is temporary and subject to several changes. Word Count: 26,234 / 20,000 Goals: Round 1 ✔ | 2,000 words ✔ | Round 1 Winner ✔ Round 2 ✔ | 8,000 words ✔ Round 3 _ | 20,000 words ✔ LONGLIST _ | SHORTLIST _ Honorable Mention? _ | Ambassadors' Pick ✔ Mentioned in Ambassador Newsletter ✔ Rankings: #ONC2025: #21 on 02.02.2025 | #15 on 02.03.2025 | #12 on 03.24.2025 #opennovellacontest2025: #15 on

Mason Calloway is the kind of secret agent you call when all else fails and then immediately regret it. Reckless, sarcastic, and armed with nothing but sheer luck and a death wish, he's spent years botching missions in ways that defy logic, physics, and basic self-preservation. Then he's handed the impossible assignment: take down Lilith, the most dangerous woman on Earth. She's more than just a target, she's a ghost, a legend, Brilliant, manipulative, and stupidly beautiful. Every time Mason gets close, she's already ten steps ahead-laughing, taunting, and letting him live just to watch him fail. And fail he does. Spectacularly. But the more Mason chases her, the more he realizes this isn't just another mission. Lilith isn't just another villain. And the agency he works for? Yeah, they might not be as righteous as they claim. With his own people turning against him, an unstoppable enemy toying with him at every turn, and the terrifying possibility that he might actually like the chaos she brings, Mason has to ask himself: is he hunting Lilith, or is she hunting him? Outgunned, outmatched, and increasingly out of patience, Mason knows one thing's for sure-if he's going down, he's taking some cocktails and a bad decision or two with him. ********** She studies me, swirling her own glass of something expensive-looking. "Tell me, Mason. Are you here for business or pleasure?" I take a sip of whiskey, meeting her gaze. "Who says I can't multitask?" Her smile is slow, deliberate. Dangerous. "Careful. That kind of thinking gets people killed." I lean in slightly, lowering my voice. "That a threat?" Lilith chuckles. "A warning." God help me, I think I like this game. Lizzy's voice hisses in my ear. "Mason, do not flirt with the Antichrist." Too late. ********** Written for the open novella contest 2025 Prompt 106 : A cat and dog, caught in their chaotic rivalry, begin to realize there is more to their animosity than meets the eye.

🏆 ROUND 1 WINNER - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2025 A young witch must team up with a banished demon to reverse the curse on her village before she is persecuted. ⋯⋯⋯ Rakida of Apilsha has her life in order until a mysterious fire broke out and the townsfolk fell ill overnight. With fingers pointing towards her as the rumored village witch, she must find a cure before they burn her at the stake. Enter Tam Sinnasi, a demon stuck in her mother's antiques, with his devilishly charming smile and a hidden past, offering a shot at success. Having made a deal with the devil, Rakida now must balance mystery and magic as she is thrust into the deadly world of the wicked battling blood-thirsty beasts, deranged witches out for blood, a mad Queen of the Dead, and a vengeful goddess who surely had business with Tam. But as her journey takes her to Ganzir, the sprawling palace of shadows and ice, dying may be the least of her worries. From the award-winning author of 𝘋𝘪𝘦 𝘢 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘈𝘳𝘭𝘰 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯 comes a tale of blames, bargains, and betrayals, set in a game of life and death where losing is not an option. After all, to save one's skin, sometimes, death may just be the answer. ˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°• © 2025 (First Edition) [25,000 - 30,000 words] [All graphics are made by @sardonictabby] ˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°• 🏆 LONGLIST - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2025 🏆 ROUND 2 QUALIFIER - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2025 🏆 ROUND 1 QUALIFIER - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2025

Sirius knows Regulus is dead, yet finds Orion's belief that this isn't true just as contagious as what his grandfather said, that Regulus challenged a magical being without finishing what he started. The contagious thought leads to a different boy-who-lived, and... At the end of the day, Regulus needs to finish what he started, and for that to happen, Sirius realizes eventually, he needs to find Regulus, because that is what will keep his godson safe, right? Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This is written for ONC 2025, prompt 13. "When you challenge a magical being, the rules are simple: you must finish what you started, no matter the cost."

✨ONC 2025 SHORTLISTER✨ What happens when something that wasn't supposed to exist starts existing? ****** Swara's passion of writing takes a backseat when she suddenly becomes the sole breadwinner of the family. Her story put on hold for many months as her love for writing cannot fill their stomachs. Just when she thinks she would never get to finish her story, she gets a call. A call for a job at a library. A Library that wasn't supposed to exist. A Library that was cursed. A Library that was only meant for pages of Swara's diary. A Library, whose Story Swara had left unfinished. A story which was a mess, with no clear plot or ending. A story whose characters were bearing the brunt of the library's curse without knowing the reason or cure. A story that was supposed to remain a story. What will happen when the characters of that story come alive? What will happen when Swara realises that her characters were living people, who were facing the backlash of her messy story? What will happen when the characters find out who Swara is? What will happen when the characters end up meeting their creator? ****** Dive inside the story to find out What happens when Fiction Meets Reality.

***ONC 2025 SHORTLISTER, LONGLISTER & ROUND 2 AMBASSADOR PICK*** Most days, Elvina Biblos endures a dull existence as a barista. But whenever she can, she escapes to the Library, home to books that are gateways to magical realms, and the Society of Page Travelers, the guardians of these gateways. Elvina toiled for years as a Scribe for the Society, recording the exploits of Page Travelers. Now it's her turn. Tasked with retrieving a stolen book, Elvina relishes the opportunity to become a Page Traveler herself. But when Ian, a self-assured class 3 Page Traveler, invites himself along on her first solo mission, Elvina begins to wonder if her dreams are further away than ever. Ian insists that the Society isn't as perfect as Elvina would like to believe, and that some would go to unimaginable lengths to take them down. As Elvina and Ian pursue the thief, they quickly discovers that traversing the pages of a book can be a dangerous business-and the Society might know less about the situation than they think. Can Elvina complete her mission and discover what's really going on? Or will this be her last chapter with the Society? And can she trust Ian? -- Entry for ONC 2025; based on prompt #4.

🏆ONC 2025 || Round One Round Winner Cary Leong sees ghosts. Ever since his parents were brutally murdered by one, he's lived in the space between reality and the other world, mingling with humans and the supernatural alike in a desperate attempt to track down their killer. But there's only so much one boy can do---until Jackson Grey shows up on his doorstep. Jackson is desperate. His girlfriend, Sophia, is being haunted, and he needs Cary's assistance. Seizing the opportunity, Cary proposes a deal: he'll help Jackson...if Jackson helps him find his parents' murderer. Accompanied by Sophia and Sophia's overprotective, hot-tempered brother, Edmund, Cary and Jackson must tread the border between worlds in order to kill the ghosts of their pasts and presents---or die trying. Dead men tell no tales, but the other world has a lot to say.