Onc26 Stories

The Open Novella Contest is back for 2026! Join fellow storytellers and plant the seed of a tale that will blossom into a 20,000+ word novella within 12 weeks! Your epic quest begins February 1st, 2026, so mark your calendars with this date!

A solitary retreat. An endless night. A fear that refuses to stay buried. In a remote cabin, cut off from the world, isolation offers escape. But when the polar night descends, solitude twists into a waking nightmare. As darkness stretches across the sky without end, shadows begin to move in the deepest corners.

How do you find your future soulmate whom you have yet to meet? Better question; how do you find them within the week? Any ideas? All you know is that if you don't, you will lose them forever. So wouldn't you drop everything and try anything to find them? ONC Prompt: 90. You receive a voicemail from someone you love, recorded one hour after their confirmed death. Started: Feb 1, 2026 Ended: ~ Book Blurb/Author Notes can be found after the last current chapter ~ Cover created in Canva ***This book might contain occasional colorful language***

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

In the Republic of Amica, everyone is promised a soulmate. At eight-teen, your wrist reveals the name of the person you're destined to love. Ari Vale's mark reveals a countdown. And time is running out.

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.

The last thing Maya wanted was to get caught up in a rivalry within the underground world. Mason, her childhood friend, was supposed to be the one she brought home. Not a crime lord with eyes too calm for a man in handcuffs. She didn't plan to start a war. She didn't plan to be hunted... And she definitely didn't plan to fall for him. But some disasters don't destroy you. Some look at you like you're the only thing in a burning room worth saving. And she's starting to realize... she might be his disaster too. #ONC26 #No. 51

"You were my brother Zain..." "Exactly... Were!" Kenji the Lucario lived happily with his parents within the Bolryn clan. He came from a long family of mighty warriors and was next in line to take his place serving under King Brindim as one of his loyal soldiers. That all changed in one night Now he finds himself in the wilds with only his unborn egg sibling to keep him company. He can't return home, at least not now... Not while he's being hunted... by someone he once considered family... Update: I did not make it past round 1 of Open Novella so if you're here because it's a tag, please keep this in mind so this story will probably be not as good. You have been warned please do not criticise me, I entered out of pure boredom and clearly some people didn't like what I wrote. Enjoy!

In an empire scarred by the haunting Nitara Lake Incident, the Meteor Earth institution becomes a volatile crossroads for those destined to shape the future. Ren Starlight, the Crown Prince, arrives under a veil of secrecy, struggling to balance his hidden identity with the realities of ordinary life. Alongside him are his cousins, Aaron and Tian, whose loyalty provides a thin shield against the growing chaos. Ren's heart is tethered to Emmy, his girlfriend, whose mysterious past makes her a target of evil. The delicate balance of Ren's life is thrown into turmoil by Ishaan, a shameless and roguish troublemaker whose presence masks a hardened past. As monsters emerge from the shadows and the weight of empires threatens to crush them, an unexpected and complex connection sparks between Ren and Ishaan. Bound by a brewing love triangle, they must navigate a path through betrayal, family duty, heartbreak and forbidden feelings to claim their own fates.

When a lottery decides she needs to marry the crown prince, Adaley realises this is her only chance to kill the royal family and end their bloodline for once and all. When she arrives at the palace, she meets a stranger who seems to know her very well, but when she wants to get to know him as well, he is nowhere to be found, and no one seems to know him. As if he never existed. A search for the stranger begins, and in the meantime, Adaley learns that the crown prince isn't so bad as she always thought. Can she change the kingdom where they live without killing him? Or is it too late to save everyone from their death?

Fifty years ago, the sky broke. A city fell from the clouds, and from its ruins came the Refractors - humans who resonate with the power of the fallen world. Now, when an underground researcher surfaces with a link to the Glass Horizon event, two assassins from rival factions are deployed to the same kill zone. Rhodian is precise, methodical, a weapon tuned to the pulse of the fall. Ash is chaos incarnate, chasing a past that won't stay buried. When they collide in the same kill zone, their clash ignites something neither faction can control. As they realise there is more to the mission than they originally thought, Rhodian and Ash are forced into a deadly orbit around each other. Two halves of a catastrophic resonance. The only ones capable of stopping what's coming. If they don't destroy each other first.

Elijah Matthews was dating Adrian Skyler; that was well known, and everything seemed perfect. But one day at the carnival, it is revealed that Elijah will love two people-one will save him and the other will destroy him. Elijah eventually finds the new boy, Silas, the most perfect boy ever seen, and they begin to like each other. But as more and more signs point to the fact that Silas will eventually destroy him, Adrian starts getting more hot-tempered and secretive. But when the time comes, will Elijah be able to know which one to choose? This story is a part of the Open Novella Contest 2026 and is based on prompt #115. This story has a character from a culture that I do not know much about. If I have written their accent wrong, accidentally made the character too stereotypical, or anything else, please write to me in the comments immediately and it will be fixed as soon as I can!

OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2026 ENTRY All that was left of him was one voicemail she couldn't delete. She wanted to keep it, just to remember his voice - but every time she pressed play, something changed. A different word. A car honking. A way-too-long pause between words. There were details that didn't belong. She was not sure if she was revealing the truth about his death... or if the message was leading her somewhere she didn't know she could go.

Vanessa Lee only needed a temporary place to stay while her dream home was being built. She didn't expect a penthouse. She definitely didn't expect Kendall Knight. Tattooed. Arrogant. Infuriatingly attractive. Kendall hates sharing his space. Vanessa hates being told what to do. From the moment they meet, sparks fly-but not the sweet kind. Their sharp words turn into heated stares, their arguments into electric tension. Kendall treats his penthouse like territory. Vanessa refuses to be intimidated. And neither of them is willing to back down. Forced to live under the same roof, they're trapped between hate and desire, pride and vulnerability, late-night encounters and accidental touches. Vanessa is independent, self-made, and determined not to fall for a man who thinks he owns the world. Kendall is closed off, controlling, and hiding more than he lets on. But when walls start to crack and secrets come to light, hate begins to feel dangerously close to something else. Because living under his roof was never supposed to change her. And falling for him was never part of the plan.

The king has been betrayed and his throne taken from him, locked away withno hope... So he thought unknown to him, the spirit did send hope in form of Princess Emeralda... "what are you doing so far, deep in the forest" startled Emeralda looked around but saw no one.. "down here....beside you....come closer...don't be afraid" the voice kept speaking And so Emeralda walked gently towards the voice , this act took all of her courage,but she kept going, slowly till she got to the flower, so sure the voice came from there, she looked into the flower, to her amazement she saw the most handsome moon face she has ever seen In awe of his beauty and shock of the situation she asked "what are you doing in there!".....

Cass has learned to live in reverse. While the rest of the city sleeps, her day begins under fluorescent lights on a night-shift busy ops floor. Work. Sleep. Repeat. Romance feels impossible when your body clock belongs to a different timezone than the world. Then she discovers a new otome game app - Love Bugs: Debug My Heart. At first, it's just another distraction, a harmless digital escape. But a flashing notification changes everything: a limited beta test. Selected players will be invited to experience an immersive version of the game - and get paid for it. Curious and thrilled, Cass signs up. Zoe, her colleague and friend, isn't convinced. It sounds too good to be true. Paid to play a dating simulation? There has to be a catch. But when her own weekends blur into endless sleep and mindless streaming, Zoe gives in to curiosity and downloads the app herself. What begins as a simple game slowly becomes something more - an experience that feels too real, too precise, too personal. A game of hearts, choices, and charming chaos - who knew a weekend could feel like the start of something unforgettable?

An ONC2026 entry Magic is law and every mage is bound by Summon Cards; anchor tools used to call beasts, spirits, and even gods. The gifted train in Terra City where they must choose to either serve Creation, Justice, or Death. But Amara breaks every rule. She can summon without a card; even moreso she can summon Annatah, the god of creation. To the Order of the First, she is a miracle. To the Brotherhood of Night, she is the perfect vessel to incarnate Althera, the goddess of chaos. When eight year old Cassandra Apollos is kidnapped after awakening her abilities and calling forth Python, a rare divine protector, Terra City teeters on the brink of war. With enemies closing in, Amara must shape her own destiny before chaos takes form. An ONC 2026 entry

While going for a job interview that he is woefully unprepared for, Brice is startled when his reflection in the mirror smiles at him. When the interview turns sour, Brice finds success when he receives help from the figure in the glass. Soon, his reflection starts accomplishing the life that Brice, his friends and society thinks he should achieve. However, once Brice begins questioning whether this is what he wants for himself, he realises what he really should be asking is whether he is already too far gone. ONC 2026 Prompt used: 76: Your reflection smiles before you do and then begins mimicking things you never did

Cursed storms have been tearing through the port cities, and the constellations are shifting in ways no map can explain. When a stowaway girl is discovered aboard a merchant ship, Elias, the crew's bookish young cook, can't stop watching her. Olive is a mystery in every way. She barely eats or sleeps, and seems determined to get herself thrown overboard every time she opens her mouth. Yet when she somehow navigates their vessel through violent weather, Elias realizes there is much more to her story than he could have possibly imagined. ONC prompt #69: The stars are disappearing one by one and only you can hear their whispers. Percy Jackson meets Pirates of the Caribbean meets astrology (I do not use AI to write my work. I will sometimes use it to research historical details for accuracy but no AI is used to generate creative materials)