Onc2023 Stories

Are you wondering what prompts we've used in past ONCs? You can find them in this book as we gathered all the prompts used in the past installments. You may use these prompts as inspiration for any story you want to write - no credits necessary! Have fun!

Fate decided that their paths should cross. | For friendly, hard-working Sua, the only things that matter in life are the happiness and safety of her friends and family. She's more than content to manage her late father's inn with her pet antula by her side. However, being an innkeeper in a small town isn't always easy... or safe. There's danger lurking in the woods, and only she is allowed to stop it. Through a twist of fate, a mysterious traveler comes along and distracts her from the threat to her home. Sa Gin's new, handsome face becomes the talk of the town overnight. What's more, he has a charming personality, a purse full of money... and a weapon on his back. Can Sua trust this stranger with her burden and her heart? Or does the newcomer already have enough secrets of his own?

Olivia wasn't supposed to see Regulus on the bus, leaving him flumuxed by the Muggle girl who spoke to him as he was trying to visit his older brother without anyone in the family find out he was doing so. Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This is an alternative universe written for ONC 2023 using the prompt "you finally build enough courage to talk to that cute someone you see every day on the bus. Their face turns dark as they respond 'You shouldn't be able to see me.'"

Constance meets a hot man named Beom on a bus. She always sees him on her commute to her new job, but is too scared to say anything to him. One day, she decides to talk to him. He is surprised when she can see him. After all, he has invented a way to be invisible to everyone, saying he's done with other people's expectations. Constance has to slowly coax Beom to stop doing that by convincing him of the value of being seen. |One of my entries for the 2023 Open Novella Contest| |Cover designed by @EstelleKnightrise| |Description is under construction| © Sherly Holmes 2023 (All Rights Reserved)

[DUO spin-off, prequel to Codename: DEMON]  In the city of Portia, the government has a small branch called the Special Connections Division. On the outside, they serve as a way for for the government to keep an eye out for non-government funded organizations. On the inside, however, their job is different: they operate as a black ops, weeding out criminal organizations and gathering enemy information from the shadows During the night, Lucinda Saffirus works for the SCD as an assassin who uses her blood as a weapon. But during the day, she's a private detective working to solve the major crimes, especially murders, in the city. Juggling new jobs isn't new to her, but raising her eight year old son as a single mother changes a lot of things. Life isn't already easy, but a new threat makes things more difficult--one of the top members of the city's most powerful criminal organization has figured out her identity, and she's given one rule: play their game. And she has no choice but to accept. Otherwise, her family, friends, both jobs, and especially herself will be at risk.

Las Vegas. Now I know why it is named the city of sins. While on a business trip, I drunk-married my boss. Drowning in tequila and the lust for the hots for my boss seemed like the best idea on my week off. There was no undoing except that my boss didn't do soulmates, fate, and marriage. Especially an impromptu one. Very well I didn't do it either. I had a list to tick it all. Many more cities to still visit. Although I never got to know why one would name their hotel REVERIE but joining as their art curator was such a daydream. And no fool would risk it all. Love or lust. Doesn't top the race. Nothing much changed until his ex thought it was the right time to claim a fine man back. Making things difficult in extravagance was her memo. The only hitch in my perfectly webbed play to not acknowledge this marriage was when she tipped it off to the enemy. With those damn wedding photos. Which I thought didn't exist until now. That is when our undone becomes the only lie that can save the Reverie in Venice. [MONDAY & THURSDAY Updates!] #ONC2023 Prompt Number 39: On a blind date with a complete mismatch, you're increasingly uncomfortable but too polite to leave. Then an attractive stranger comes over and gives you an out.

When the two best thieves - self-proclaimed - in the entire continent decide to take on the same target at the same time, unaware of the other's involvement, it can't go as planned. Two massive egos, an even more massive mission on a flying city in the clouds and as if things weren't complicated enough, a group of cyborg cultists also enter the tense chemistry between the two rivals. A fast-paced heist adventure with some kind of romance, humor and lots of flying stuff... ---------- My contribution for the Open Novella Contest 2023

Canadian Piper Ouellet is going to Paris. She knows the language, she knows the city, and most of all, she knows her ballet. Offered a place in the corps de ballet in the most prestigious ballet in the world, Piper and her best friend Rafael don't even think twice before they accept. They cannot wait for the grand adventures they'll have. Only problem is they can't afford them. The house hunt in Paris is cut-throat and impossible. In their price range, even on a good day the pickings are slim. And they've left their search for the last minute, so they have no other option than to rent the small one-bedroom flat operated by a grumpy old woman who only speaks Spanish. The catch? She'll only rent to one of them. Unless they are married. A coin flip will decide their fate. Heads, he gets the apartment; tails, she does. But what happens when the coin gives them an answer they don't want? ~ * ~ * ~ This is one of the novellas I'm writing for ONC 2023. You can find the rest on my profile! For this story, I've selected prompt # 5. "Flip a coin and make a life choice with it. Two choices, one coin, and no turning back. Do you dare?"

It's referred to by several names: the ghost frequency, the haunted frequency, the fear infrasound. You can't hear sound at 18.98 hertz, but your body feels it, and when it does, some believe you've opened yourself to the world of the supernatural. Liv used to believe the ghost frequency was real, and so did her friend, Helina. While Liv came to shun this notion, Helina went in the opposite direction, becoming obsessed with using the ghost frequency to access a paranormal plane of existence. Now, Helina has gone missing, and her brother, Graham is convinced the ghost frequency has something to do with it... and Liv is the only one who can find her. Liv agrees to help Graham search for his sister, but she brings with her memories of a fraught relationship and a great and unforgiveable harm done-a harm so deeply scarring, she's willing to do something terrible to gain revenge, even if it means losing Helina, and even herself, forever.

After more than thousands of years of hibernation, the infernal god Calu is reawakened - by a child. He resigns himself to a monotone future, until the opportunity for him to get rid of Lach arises. But what Calu doesn't expect is for him to care about his young charge, and when Lach goes missing, Calu is ready to raise hell. Hopefully, before it's too late. Unedited

** When a wish brings devastating consequences, Pan must join forces with a fallen star to stop the walking dead before Neverland sinks into eternal darkness. ** "We can sail away tonight on a sea of pure moonlight We can navigate the stars to bring us back home In a place so far away We'll be young; that's how we'll stay Every wish is our command When we find ourselves in Never, Neverland." - Neverland, Zendaya - Everyone knows the stories and adventures of Peter Pan, the boy who didn't want to grow up. But hardly anyone knows that this story did not end the way it is told. After his most significant victory and worst loss, the boy who never wanted to grow up has to give up what is most important to him. What he does next, however, not only changes the course of Neverland's history but could also mean the island's demise under the two stars. So the future of this dreamy isle rests once again on the shoulders of Pan - and those of a fallen star. **** ONC2023EN SHORTLIST/HONORABLE MENTION The NanoWatt Longlist 2023 - Highlights 6 x WATTPAD FEATURED **** 🥇 1st Place Sunflower Award - Fanfiction 🥇 1st Place Laurel Wreath Award - Fanfiction 🥈 2nd Place Phoenix Award - Fanfiction 🥈 2nd Place TCR Awards - Adventure 🥉 3rd Place Starlight Mini Awards - Best Title 🥉3rd Place Fluorescene Awards - Fanfiction

Who let the ghosts out? Ian thinks he's getting the hang of his supernatural powers but a surprise encounter with Melody, a professional psychic medium, forces him to put his skills to the test in a friendly psychic duel. It's all fun and games until they accidentally break the fabric of reality and the Grim Reaper gets involved. Ghosts aren't the only ones with unfinished business. Ian's approach to moving on is to not think about the past, but what he really needs is someone to guide him through the darkness, someone who understands his gift. Too bad he pissed her off. * ONC 2023 Prompts #40 and #20 * **** ONC SHORTLIST ****

A curse. A century-long betrayal. A dark secret threatening to tear apart the world. Asha Lethe thought she had lost everything when her pack betrayed and killed her. But a century later, she revives and finds her way back to her pack. However, things have changed. Humans know about werewolves; huge bridges connect her isolated pack land to the mainland; the members of her pack, the Letharia clan, are leaders amongst the wolves. Asha has to face a changed world, new pack dynamics, dark magic and even darker secrets. It might be just too much, even for the eternal alpha. (Cover Generated with the help of DALL·E 2)

The Seven Vices have aged, only one of them is too greedy to pass his power to someone else. However, it didn't prevent the other Vices to take him down the by force. Marco Montana, the Vice of Greed, has no choice but to find a candidate to pass his power. The original vices of the Seven Deadly Sins need to pass their position and power to their sussccessor, or let their cardinal sin consume them from the inside out. By refusing to pass their sin to someone else dies an agonizing death, either by getting killed by the other Vices, or gets destroyed by their own vice. That is why the current Vice must find seven candidates to distribute a fraction of their power in order to determine which of the seven candidates are worthy to take on the deadly sin; Pride, Envy, Wrath, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, or Sloth. Forty nine candidates are elligible to play this game but only one out of each vice can become one of The Deadly Seven.

After seeking sanctuary in Harl for almost nine hundred years, Herbert Fletcher Zaeheri, the legendary vampire sets out on an exigent journey with Rao Yueru, the one and only prince of Roa to assist him in relieving his lost memories and to discover Roa's concealed enigma. Along their journey, Herbert discerns the silhouette of an old enemy in Zhea. Old memories began to resurface as he kept the secret only to himself to prevent the ultimate goal of this journey from going sideways. Herbert enjoys the sight of different creatures thriving under one kingdom, but one night, when Yueru did not return to their room, Herbert began to feel sceptical about the sovereign of Zhea, and he uncovers the anecdote of his greatest nemesis. 💥Featured on ONC 2023 | Honorable Mentions on 1 July 2023 💥 Featured on ONC 2023 | Shortlist on 28 June 2023 💥 Featured on ONC 2023 | Longlist on 20 May 2023 💥Featured on ONC 2023 | Ambassador Picks Reading List Round One on 28 March 2023 ||This story is written in conjunction with the ONC 2023, and can be found on Wattpad. Story can also be found on Webnovel beginning April 2025. ||

If rocks could speak, they would be the best storytellers as they have forever been around us like muted spectators. ************************ Graduates with honours from the best Culinary school in Switzerland, two arch-rivals find themselves stuck in the kitchen of a soon-to-be-opened five-star resort. Jayveer a.k.a. Jay was a Head Chef surrounded by flavours and everything relishing except his tongue, which rained tedium. He was a rank higher than Priya a Pastry Chef who was surrounded by sugar and everything sweet except her tongue which rained acid. She was not obligated to report to him. She was her boss, and for that, he couldn't thank his stars more. Former judges of the famous cookery show, Master Chef India, didn't know the challenges they threw at the participants will be theirs to face. They were used to the hustle and bustle of a restaurant kitchen, but the real task was working together as a team while dealing with revenge from an unknown enemy. Result? A lot like love, where even the salty pastries and bland curries taste supreme. Or A lot like hatred, where even the apple pie and caviar taste blah. ************************** Written exclusively for ONC 2023 prompt number 63- A rivalry between two coworkers has unforeseen consequences.

Fade is on an elevator in space, and he doesn't know how he got there. The last thing he remembers is stumbling out of his 2023 grad party. He's a trainweck of a human with zero skills or talents, and it's very clear he has no business being in space, or in an elevator full of heavily armed people. As it turns out, they're professional space cleaners responsible for removing space problems. They've all been given a mission to figure out why a research station went dark. Fade is informed that yes, he is part of the team, and actually, he's the guy in charge! If Fade is going to have the slightest chance of surviving this, he's going to have to do his best to fake it till he makes it. That is, if his own secrets don't get him first. ONC 2023

"Music is the bridge that can connect people together despite their differences." A slogan that the Brutius Sanahiva theater was built upon. A theater with an honorable reputation spanning centuries and galaxies. A theater with a phenomenon called "The Ballet of The Birds." Once every decade to hear the newly elected Celestial Songbird sing with her mysterious Alto. Legends spun throughout the years that perhaps the Alto was nothing but a recording as the voice never faltered, never wavered. Impeccable, impossible. Aqulia Barbosa, a curious halfling (half- human, half-alien) finds herself uncovering secrets of the theater as she accidentally befriends the custodian. A large lizard-like creature who seems to know a lot more about Brutius Sanahiva than most people. What will she uncover? Will she find the reason behind the Ballet of the Birds? Will she find out who this mysterious Alto is? Or will her curiosities be snuffed out by Brutius Sanahiva's security before she can?

Regulus had had enough of the loud screaming matches between his mother and older brother as they left him with a headache while also preventing him from hiding. In what felt like sheer madness, he left the house unnoticed and found a Muggle library, a sanctuary from noises that would bother him as he tried to study. Of course, in his delight to find a quiet place to study, he forgot one important thing. Muggles. Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This is written for ONC 2023, prompt seventy-six, "You're poring over spellbook in the local library when a human discovers you."