Onc2021 Stories

A HEIST GONE WRONG. A GANG SHATTERED. Volya Angelov, known by the public as the Priest for his cult-like following, knows how to cut a deal and take what's rightfully his. He and his criminal prodigies have siphoned Gorod Krestov's wealth for years and are slowly draining the city's slums with their profits. Yet when he is arrested and shipped off to an island prison, his empire is left to his closest ally, Mysh, a girl who stands a mere five feet. It's up to her to manage what he's left behind and decide whether or not the syndicate should be risked for his life. But with demons from a haunting past and sinister characters converging all around her: can Mysh pull it off? "SIX OF CROWS" meets "PEAKY BLINDERS" in this twisty, 1920s-set novella with enough suspense to keep you reading until the church bells chime. Honors/Awards: ONC 2021 Top 5 Winner (4th place) ONC 2021 Ambassador's Pick (Round Two) "NOVYYE SAINTS" is 7x featured on: @shortstory's "another time, another place" reading list @action's "thriller" reading list @action's "action spotlight" reading list @historicalfiction's "decade fiction" reading list @badassreads's "the ruffians" reading list @storiesundiscovered's "historically inaccurate" reading list for august 2021 @opennovellacontest's "2021 top five winners" and "2021 ambassador picks" lists Copyright © 2021 Elle Chaika Open Novella 2021 | Prompt No. 29

After being accused of witchcraft, a young girl is forced to run away from her hometown. ( ((o)) ) Aubrey Delacourt was able to keep her magic hidden for fifteen years. But when rogue Wardens invade her town, her powers are revealed to everyone. Charged with witchcraft and forced to run away, Aubrey finds herself completely alone. Beyond the safe bubble of her town, Aubrey is left chasing legends to try and survive. As her magic becomes harder and harder to control, she struggles to hide from the Wardens who draw closer every day. With no other option but death, Aubrey sets off on an epic quest to try and neutralize her abilities. Aubrey knows what happens to wayward souls. But as she starts to drift away from reality, she wanders closer and closer to where the lost things go. ONC Prompt #22 Cover by @Alexan629

Aiden Lockwood. Every girl's dream. But he's Brooke Fox's worst nightmare. Last summer brought them closer together, this school year pushed them further apart. Now Brooke despises Aiden with every fibre of her being. But he doesn't feel the same about her. When these two clash, it's like sparks fly, and no matter how much they wish they could, neither Aiden nor Brooke can forget what happened between them last summer. (Submission for Open Novella Contest.)

"Take a picture princess, it lasts longer." His green eyes pierced into my soul and I bobbed my head up and down. "Left or right?" He scowled. "What do you mean?" "Which one is your good side? If I'm getting a picture, might as well get a good one right?" He scowled before storming off. Hazel: 1 James:0 __________________________________________________ The night sky is how I came to wish to fly. It is the most beautiful art, alive within raw energy, a song for the eyes. At times I felt as if I could feel it vibrating somehow, whispering in a way the ears cannot hear. I guess it felt friendly when the world of people felt so devoid of love. I wanted to see it right, in three dimensions, see the sculpture of divine hands. Hazel Matthews had no intention of attending her senior prom. However constant nagging from her school's very own golden boy made it hard to ignore. James was the kind of person that everyone loved to be around, well if you loved to be in the spotlight that is. The exact opposite of Hazel. He went to parties, played football, and was living out the optimum of the "high school dream." However he too longed for something. Maybe Hazel and James could long for something together. "Life is the most sacred of gifts heaven can bestow, that which is yours and those in the rest of creation. It is for us together to preserve and enhance paradise. Only the sense of love can do that. Only the philosophy of love can build a love-nexus." ~Angela Abraham. #ONC2021 Written by @OliviaSinger748, and @ebay13

Amelia Holte banishes ghosts for a living... and she's good at it. But when she's hired to investigate a haunting at an orphanage, she begins to realize that some ghosts are not so easily cast aside. The dead always return to us, one way or another. With a powerful ghostly threat growing stronger, the only way to protect the children may be for Amelia to relive her own childhood memories and come face to face with the thing that haunts her the most.

|| Prompt #27 || The Hartman Equation had stumped scientists and mathematicians alike for over 70 years. It seemed as though this problem would ultimately go down in history as insoluble. That was until Nova Martinez, an undergrad at Stanford, laid her eyes upon it. However, having solved the world's most difficult problem was the last thing on her mind. After having gone through a traumatic experience, she now questions whether she has been living the way she wants or the way others have told her to. Will the answer to the Hartman Equation give her new meaning in life or will it be the catalyst to finding what it truly means to live?

Cloud Elfari is a sylph with the power over Folka: magic that is created through music. There's only one problem. She can't sing. With the title of Elfidari she is expected to rule as her mother did but without her Folka she is seen as unfit. With no other option, she participates in a race against the other four tribes. Cloud has no doubt she can fly faster than anyone in the Four Sectors but when she is lured by magic she's never seen before, things go off course pretty quickly. She gets forced into a contract by a Traited with a family who does more harm than good. Every sylph had heard the stories of the Traited: the race who were cursed to seek out power but forced to join with another to do so. But when her tribe is at risk and she has no choice but to rely on Swift's power can the two work together to overcome what's ahead? Or will they lose their souls forever?

Hunter McFarland was meant to be the protagonist. Ryan Sandhamn was meant to be the awkward best friend. Too bad it was Ryan who face-planted into the remote archipelago's greatest beach. TW: Potentially triggering for people with water-related PTSD or phobias.

Life was a free fall from which one didn't know when they would hit bottom, but Regulus and Lyra hit bottom at the same time without knowing how a chance meeting will change both of their lives. Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This is written for ONC 2021. The prompt I used is number thirteen, "a storm is raging outside, but you're cozy at home reading a story. When the lights go out, you figure it's the result of the storm, but when they come back on, you've been transported into the alternative aftermath of the book you finished reading. Where are you and what happens?" This is in conjunction with prompt fourteen, "You wake up in the middle of a battle of your favorite game. Who are you fighting and how does the game end?" and sixteen, "The story is finished. The end! Now everyone can go home. By that, there's a world where all the characters live, and guess what? You, dear creator, have stumbled upon it. Now, what's your tale?"

Originally for ONC 2021 ------------------------------ To save their family, Eileen will have to put themselves on the line. The task is simple, but complex at the same time- they just have to infiltrate the Academy, where up and coming villains are trained. It would be pretty easy if it weren't for the fact that their hero descent was a huge problem. Eileen thinks it's no big deal, until they attend the Academy. Things were never as simple as they seemed. ------------------------------ Prompts used: Main prompt: #84: This academy isn't a typical boarding school. No, it's where kids train to become villains- if they pass the entrance test, that is. Nobody at the academy knows you're descended from heroes, and that's the way you'd like it to stay. Other prompts: #1: "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villian" -From The Dark Knight. #4: You're a weapon and weapons don't weep.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 - 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬... Cruel fate has unjustly branded Mortin Cornelius Echser many things: magus, monster, mad scientist, mass-murderer... but Lich Hunter is a new one. Forced against his will into a partnership with Craven, the Scarred Empire's most infamous hunter of ... well, pretty much everything with a price its head, Mortin returns to his home to face the demons of his past. Will he find redemption for the horrors he inadvertently released upon his hometown? Or will the child-stealing horrors that lurk below Morgenheim's graveyard claim him and his new mentor? ----------------------- You should enjoy this book if you liked... TV-Shows: The Witcher Books: The First Law Series, Warhammer Fantasy Spiele: Skyrim, Bloodborne, Dark Souls Comic: Berserk ----------------------- OpenNovellaContest 2021 Prompt No 64 - Long & Shortlister ----------------------- Image Credit: Microsoft Bing AI

Son of a famous hero, a now orphaned Max is forced to come out to the public with his powers. With panic spreading over the nation, it's his job to try finding other super people who haven't been wiped out by the illness for a final stand against rising villains. Prompt #3 "When the world's superheroes are struck down with a deadly and mysterious illness, it's time for the next generation of heroes to save the day." Prompt #4 "You're a weapon, and weapons don't weep."

Here are my entries for the ONC 2021 Winner Sticker Contest.

///On Hold/// Mary Beth has lived in a small town her entire life. Her home life is chaotic, and she's bullied at school. She has a strong inner sense that there is more to life than what she has endured thus far, but it will take a leap of faith to discover the wide world with all its beauty and heartache. The summer of 1996 brings hope and promise. As she turns 18 and graduates high school, she's faced with decisions that will alter the course of her life. **Submission for the 2021 ONC Contest **Prompt Used: #29

Where I brainstorm off old and new ONC prompts utilizing various fandom, I'm familiar with to give an idea of how to use prompts during ONC, and figure out the ins and outs of brainstorming for ONC.

Every year since the second Open Novella I've kept a writing journal and this is the one for this year.

A girl has to live with her grandma after her parents died. There, she finds out that she is promised to the prince. But when a servant also wants her, things get complicated. Who will she choose and who will leave empty handed? ---------------------------------- "You can't just have me. You have to earn me." ---------------------------------- This book is based on prompt 74. "Thanks to your parent's last will and testament, you find yourself living out in the English countryside with the grandmother you'd never met before and an apparent servant whose only goal is to make you fall in love with them. The problem here is that this grandmother has already promised your hand in marriage to a noble in line for the throne. "

Orphaned in the middle of a war, Jeremy is sent to his grandmother's estate in the safer countryside. His fresh start includes a beautiful servant, made more alluring by her refusal to fit into society. When forces beyond their control threaten to tear them apart, can they survive it? Or will they be torn apart forever? --- Word Count: ~20,000 WARNING: Major character death The 2021 prompts #45 and #74 were used in the making of this novella. It was written for the ONC 2021.

[Shortlist | Ambassadors Pick] Alicia DuMont is telling the truth. Unless you count lies of omission, which she decidedly does not. Twenty-four and finally standing on her own two feet as a hairstylist, she is surprised when she and her friends receive an invitation to the prince's Coming-of-Age Masked Ball. Knowing they are right out of the running for marriage to the prince won't stop them from having a little fun, though! Prince Alejandro has a truth he can't share: his country is weaker than it seems. At nearly twenty-one, his dream of marrying for love is tied up in somehow falling for a down-to-earth woman who can strengthen the monarchy. Hoping his Coming-of-Age Ball will throw such a girl into his path, he's determined to make the most of it. And when he meets the mysterious Alicia, he is immediately drawn to her. When Alicia and Alejandro decide to begin a relationship, royal conventions throw them straight into an engagement. They may be the epitome of poise and grace in public, but behind the scenes questions of Alicia's suitability mix with the threat of national unrest. Every day their connection grows deeper, but if they can't find a way to quiet the growing discontent, they risk losing not only their relationship but also their country. *** This story was written for the ONC 2021 based on prompt #87.