Onc2023 Stories

Winter Sutton, a trained assassin, is sent to kill a mysterious someone who ends up enabling a whirlwind search for answers about their past. All their life, they have been kept in the dark about much of their past. They've asked questions, but over the years, their silence has proven to have better outcomes. One night, when they're instructed to take down a secretive spy, they gain answers to a couple of their many questions concerning where they came from, but this only makes old feelings resurface. For twenty five years, Winter worked to ignore the gut feeling that something wasn't right. Plus, all they've ever wanted is nearly everything this spy has. Open Novella Contest 2023 Entry. Prompt 33: They had their arrow aimed at their target's back, a perfect shot despite the crowded ballroom. Taking a deep, steadying breath, they pulled the bowstring taut and prepared to let the arrow fly. But then their target turned and looked directly at them, finding them in the eaves as if they'd known they were there all along. The target winked. With a bit of prompt 69: "I had a marvelous time ruining everything" -Taylor Swift.

Aerin Kingsley had thought she had seen the last of Westin O'Bryan after graduating high school and moving on from their petty rivalry to bigger and better things. And after four long years of countless all-nighters, developing a serious coffee addiction, and focusing on nothing but getting perfect grades, she has finally landed herself in New York City at her dream internship. But little did she know what was waiting for her on her first day. Westin O'Bryan had put Aerin Kingsley and his hometown in his past after high school and moving on to play college football. But with a twist of fate, and a little help from his charming personality, Westin finds himself doing a complete 180 and making a move to New York for an internship and hopefully some excitement in the big city. Not knowing the kind of excitement he would be getting was more than he bargained for.

Using the prompts from ONC2023 A young girl experiences a certain dream since childhood. She watches a certain someone whom she doesn't know. She hasn't met the person ever in her life. But she feels an attachment to the person in her dreams. Adding to it, she also gets some visuals which she is unable to decipher. Slowly, she realises that she gets the visuals at certain intervals and there's a reason for the same. When things happen, she feels that the same things have happened to her somewhere but she doesn't know about them. Once she goes deep into it, she realises that it's a past-life connection. She also realises that she's still connected with those people from her past life. How will she solve the mystery of both lives? Get with us on this mysterious ride.

Ezra Grey's only known life beneath the surface. With a war unfolding above the bunkers that began long before he was born, his love for poetry is the only thing keeping him sane. Little does he know, there's a group of people controlling his very reality. And at the center of it all is Ivy Carlisle. She's been the trusted reporter of the war for the last ten years. Having the same nightmare every night about everyone below the surface dying because of her, she can't help but feel responsible for standing by while The System experiments on innocent people. When she decides to try and warn everyone living in the bunkers, everything Ezra's been led to believe is uprooted. The youth are ripped from their communities underground... The truth about the experiment Ezra's been living in is exposed... And Ivy finds an ally in the hopes of saving the lives she once helped sacrifice. ⏳ PROMPTS: #67: The war has been going on for over 100 years now. Not that you'd ever seen it, living in a bunker your entire life. But one day, a news war reporter suddenly says, "I can't do this anymore. Everything is fine! They're lying! Th-" And the signal cuts out. #52: There is someone you dream about every night, but you never imagine meeting them in real life. #49: "Master the rules of the game until you can play it better than they can." - Michael Scott

Lucille Delaney Everson cries in her late grandparents' bedroom whenever her parents quarrel. Until one starry night, when the full moon was out, the mirror in her grandparents' room glistened all of a sudden. The moment she touched the mirror, it began to ripple like water, and before she knew it, the mirror swallowed her up, taking her into the land of her greatest dreams and where truths are revealed.

Two lovers. One is immortal, the other isn't. Aurelia is 1000 years old. A wish that saved her life as a baby turns out to be a never ending curse, as she watches her loved ones leave her, over and over again. Her solution? Give up long term relationships and never be hurt again - nice smiles and cute winks mean nothing but trouble. That proves to be difficult, however, when she meets one special soul and begins to question her 200 year old decision. ONC 2023 entry based on prompt #25: "If he smiled at you, he'll break your heart. If she winked at you, she'll rip you apart."

(ONC 2023 Shortlisted) Shannon Meadows thought he was renting a house in a quiet secluded neighborhood that would allow him to focus on writing his literary masterpiece. Little did he know he was living next door to 80's rock legend Antony LeBon Lacey. Their personalities clash immediately, but soon they are forced to work together to discover what happened when two months disappear overnight and they appear to be the only two people left on Earth. Can they overcome their differences to find an answer to this mystery?

What would you do if you on day awoke from a two-month long nap to find everyone, and everything had disappeared? Well, this is the story of what a fifteen-year-old did. With only a cat and her next-door neighbor to accompany her quest to discover: The Magic of September. prompt #66 (onc 2023)

[Grand Winner ONC India 2023] Bhairavi, a staunch devotee of Shree Ram, is a tourist visiting Kashmir with her daughter. One night she is going through the pictures she has clicked during the day and stumbles across one that shocks her to the core. It's the picture of a girl Bhairavi knows has been dead for almost a year. Scared yet wanting to uncover the truth, she decides to look into the matter and discovers something she couldn't have imagined in her wildest nightmares. Written for ONC India. Prompt No. 26 Rating: Suitable for all ages Start date: 16th February 2023 Date completed: 30th March 2023 Original story written for Wattpad by @GandalfofspaceAnli © 2023

Thalia Petridis, a Greek woman living in America, works at NOVAHER with her best friend and roommate Aqsa Afzal. She is on top of her field, her articles a hit. An almost perfect life. The only annoying detail is Clayton Mayers, who not only works in the same magazine but lives next to them. He blasts his music at all hours, has endless parties, and most of all, he has a way of getting under Thalia's skin more than anyone else. What will happen when their boss ships them off to a different building with a single floor? Will they be able to coexist? Hilarity ensues with petty fights, and feelings emerge.

Born the son of a lowly hunter and abandoned as a child, Zhenxing never expected to be brought to Heaven and become the most treasured attendant of the mighty Tiger Immortal, one of the twelve Zodiac Guardians appointed by the Jade Emperor. But the world is tumultuous and not even the Heavenly Realm resides in peace for long. On the eve of the Lunar New Year, a dreadful discovery is made. The Tiger Immortal is found dead and a grieving Zhenxing flees Heaven, blamed and pursued by the remaining eleven Zodiacs. Abandoned and bewildered, Zhenxing seeks refuge in the one place those of the Heavenly Realm are loathe to tread: the Demon Realm. While in hiding, he discovers shocking evidence that the one who killed the Tiger Immortal was not his most beloved servant, but one of his fellow Guardians! With the help of a sinister and charming demon prince named Lixin, Zhenxing digs further into the mystery hoping to clear his name and avenge his beloved Tiger Immortal. Beautiful cover made by my lovely friend @AriaofStorms

my OpenNovellaContest entry for 2023, with the prompts #43 and #63, with some other cameos. --- blurb in progress.

Eset is finally at peace. But for some, the war still isn't over and old grudges reveal long forgotten secrets.

If you were able to escape every horror you could ever imagine, would you? Alice would. Even if it meant there was a catch? Alice would. Even if it meant losing nearly everything for just a second of pure bliss and freedom? Alice would. *Alice's POV* I've been living like a miserable fool, not attempting once to escape these dusty gray walls. Walls which locked me harshly away from all. My fixed gaze lasted at the mirror, the stress was more than only unbearable, but not long after some seriously intense contemplating, I made the move. After a lengthy, deep breath, and withdrawing my palms which were damp with sweat, many, many times, slowly and tentatively, I allowed each arm, each leg, and so on to enter the other side... I made the move of tremendous question. But how will this end for me?

AU Stranger Things Fanfiction Steve Harrington x Jonathan Byers Written for ONC 23 - Prompt 62 "I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul" - Pablo Neruda _ Trapped in a dark, alternate world with no evident escape, two halves of the same soul are pushed to face their deepest desires and fears, while dealing with consequences of their fates. _ Started: 27th February 2023 Round 1 Qualifier

I accidentally open the door of the unjudged souls and death wants me to help him to catch it all.

Theodore Blackstar is an ordinary freshman. Until he gets married during Spring Break.

Angélio follows a glowing butterfly through a portal to an enchanted world where he'll have to find a way to save himself and an unsuspecting city from destruction. ♧♧♧ All Angélio Moya wants for his thirteenth birthday is to hang out with his papá--like they used to. But instead, his work-for-a-living dad forgets Angélio's big day and hosts a meeting disguised as an office party at their house. Devastated but determined, Angélio flees to the backyard to sharpen his nonexistent fútbol skills in a last-ditch attempt to catch his dad's attention. Angélio's mood brightens when a glowing butterfly appears and leads him through a portal to the enchanted world of Realania. There, the butterfly transforms into a human-like creature named Roende. The two become fast friends after Roende offers to solve all of Angélio's problems. Their exciting adventures, filled with treasure hunts and encounters with fantastic beasts, eventually lead to Angélio discovering Roende's dark secret. Angélio will have to decide if he is willing to risk the fate of an entire city to make his dreams come true. ♧♧♧ This is an ONC 2023 novella based on Prompt: 29. "When you touch a mirror, it ripples like water. You dive in."

'Death is coming in the Autumn.' That's what Tira tells Verity. But Verity is stuck in her life, and doesn't understand just what's at stake, until it's much too late... A novella written for ONC23. Guidance: mild horror, sex references.

Determined and quick thinking, Amelia Conti is okay on her own. She's also an expert in outdoor sports. So when her boss offers her the winter hike of a lifetime, she says yes even before she knows who she'll be guiding. Or how much it will pay. If she'd taken the time to research the man who bought the last-minute premium tour, a demanding CEO named Damien Serrano, she might have reconsidered her answer. Well, maybe not. It is an absurd amount of money. He's grumpy to her sunshine, Christmas-lover to her Christmas dread, and the kind of man used to getting what he wants. Arrogance might work in a boardroom, but on the side of a mountain in the middle of winter, it's a hazard. If Damien can't learn to relinquish some control, they might not make it to the end of the hike alive. But everything comes to a head when an unexpected weather event pushes them even closer together. Water meets fire and something has to give. The question is, who will bend first? ~ * ~ * ~ This is one of the novellas I'm writing for ONC 2023. You can find the rest on my profile! This story is based primarily on prompt 13. "You were at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and now you are running for your life!"