Wattys2024 Stories

The sound of pencil strokes filled the silence, a quiet rhythm against the weight of unspoken words. "I don't even like him." The sketchbook lay open, pages curled at the edges, filled with lines she never meant to draw. His face stared back at her-smudged, incomplete, yet unmistakably him. She sighed, pressing the tip of the pencil against his sketched smile. It wasn't fair. She turned the page. Now, in a crowded university hallway, he leaned against the wall like he belonged there. "Still pretending you don't care?" Rivan's voice held a smirk, but his eyes said something else. She hated that she knew the difference. "He was my childhood tutor. Now, he's my classmate. If this is fate, I want a refund." A flicker of silver caught her eye-the handmade guitar pick spinning between his fingers. Her guitar pick. She had made it without thinking. Had given it away without knowing. Hadn't expected it to find its way to him. He was laying down, staring at the guitar plectrum (pick) above in his hands. His fingers closed over it. "I wonder if she knows she already picked my heart." The paper crinkled beneath her grip, her unfinished sketch staring back at her. "Tell me, Nitya..." The whisper lingered like an unfinished melody. "What am I to you?" ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─── ｔｒｏｐｅｓ • Childhood frenemies to lovers. • Friends to lovers. • College mates to lovers. ° He fell first and harder. ° Slow burn. ° Long Distance. ° unrequited ° soft romance ° Bestfriend ArchitectxMusician

A streamer who had thousands of fans in Japan, who loved otome games, reviews them posting online and making a living out of streaming. One day one of her fans sent her a very horrible rated otome game but since she was curious and it was her passion to rate every otome game that ever existed, she downloaded it and played it for the whole day. "What the heck?! All the love interests are horrible on this game?!" The production company who made the game, [Love Lily Blossom Otome Game]. Such a long name by the way, made all the love interest have some sort of distorted personality and even if the heroine does end up with one of them, she'll be either locked in the love interest's mansion, exiled, or will be the love interest's slave?! Only the villainess was the only sensible one but even she got the worst ending too for being engaged with the crown prince- and dying at every route she's on. "The author of this game is... psychotic. Why invest a Millions of Yen in a game like this? I wish I could save the Villainess myself." One day, she suddenly dies and realizes she's not in her own body anymore. She was being pinned down by the Villainess in the wall proceeding to threaten her. "If you don't leave the crown prince alone. I'll have no choice but to use other ways to shut you up." she says coldly, glaring at the cowering girl. Well that was the Villainess thought but the former streamer was just so confused and excited she couldn't help but shout- "I-I'm the Heroine of Love Lily Bloom?!" The Villainess looked at her weirdly once the Heroine was eyed leveled with her gaze. Those pupils dilated and seemed to have formed heart shapes irises. "You-! I'm going to save you!" I, The Heroine Will Be Your Savior! November 2021: First Idea Made. April 28, 2022: Revised. Cover made by: Sage Auger

This is one heck of a Victorian-style fantasy novel. Add a spoonful of steam engines to make that darned technology tree come alive! Add a spoonful of love and hatred, so everyone has good reasons to brawl! Add a spoonful of madness to lighten up this gloomy world, and finally, add a spoonful of natural disasters to play the main boss... and so on! Phew, that's a lot! ... Year 931 in the Engerwick Calendar. The city I reside in has been hailed as the most advanced in the West. The main reasons? The world-shaking steam technology, emerging technologies, and the wellspring of chaos. Can't deny it, but the fact remains that people keep flocking here to live. This city always gives you a glimmer of hope, whether it's lies or illusions, but it's so close, within arm's reach, making you risk life and limb. A city of hallucinations. I am one of those dream-chasers.

The epic novel, titled "MALAKHIM WARS," introduces readers to the character of Heyl'el,who holds a unique position as the Prince of Shamayim and Guardian Keruv among the Malakhim. Possessing exceptional powers and privileges, Heyl'el is revered among his kind. However, his perspective takes a drastic turn when Y'shua, the Word of Aravat (the Father of Creation), creates Adam and bestows upon him honor and significance. Deeply confused and angered by the notion of having to honor a being made from clay, Heyl'el succumbs to the influence of Al Ana, an imprisoned entity of immense power. In an act of rebellion, Heyl'el steals the Black Crystal Orb, which acts as the prison for chaos. In a fit of rage, the Prince of Shamayim shatters the crystal, resulting in the merging of the Darkness and the Prince as one. This transformation manifests Heyl'el as a monstrous red dragon, infecting one-third of the Malakhim population and throwing Shamayim into a state of war. In response to this growing threat, Aravat, the supreme Father, selects a humble Mal'akh named Miyka'el, accompanied by his three companions known as the Hayyoth. Despite their lower ranks among the Guardians, Aravat grants Miyka'el the power to become the mighty Arch-Mal'akh,charged with the task of bringing the renegade Heyl'el to justice and restoring balance to the Kingdom of Shamayim. "So do not fear, for I am with you; for I am your Father. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10) All creation knew him as Aravat (2 Enoch 20:3)

Caleb Sieks joins seven other students at Morpal's Academy. During their time there, they learn of an object that could result in catastrophic consequences if fallen into the wrong hands. They seek it out, but only after Caleb deals with his past demons.

The saga of the Antony family continues as the next generations take up where their forebearers left off.

From the lyrics of the song "Moral of the story" by Ashe. It is said that... "You can think that you're inlove, when you're really just in pain." Love always come with pain, but it's okay. It's okay to be hurt by love, i mean, it's normal. It's part of the process, but always remember the difference between love and pain. Sometimes we tend to mistake "love" and "pain." Although these two terms seem very contrasting, "pain" in your life could easily make you fall victim to the person who gives you a false sense of comfort. Being young and naive, we tend to fall for this trap. But what if... What if his intention is clear? And What if not? What if it's just a bet, you know? for fame. Or What if he really wants to win your heart? But worst of all, what if you're still not ready? And still mourning your past relationship?

16-year-old Blaine Rodriguez has never been in a relationship. He's always been good at hiding his feelings-until three handsome boys enter his life and turn everything upside down. Friends, crushes, and something more... Blaine finds himself caught in a whirlwind of emotions, navigating the chaos and beauty of love. But the real question is... who will be his happily ever after?

Publishing May 2026 Full draft currently available on Ream. When Ella Gillard finds her high school sweetheart across the country and in bed with another girl during her freshman year, she makes a promise to herself to never date another hockey player--no matter how tempting it may be. Law school is complicated enough without the distraction of a relationship. But her plan proves to be difficult when she's met with the very persuasive goalie of the Fenton Falcons. Fenton University's hockey team is full of pre-game rituals, and their starting goaltender, Hendrix Tate, is as superstitious as they come. When the team's losing streak is broken after he finds Ella's bracelet minutes before a vital mid-season game, Hendrix is adamant on keeping his good luck charm around. Especially with his position being threatened by the team's new pickup. The question is will Ella break her promise to herself or shut him out? CAN BE READ AS A STANDALONE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Copyright of Luisa Dituri © All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. ONLY AVAILABLE ON REAM!

Salvatore Smith meets a woman with whom he shared few nights after loosing his wife. It was 12 years ago, she was way younger than him, from a different country. He is a powerful man, Don of the American Mafia, leading his businesses with his 6 sons. What will happen when they find out that from that a little girl was born from that short relationship? -What is this thing? -She is your sister... -I guess you drank too much last night, we don't have a sister! -Now you have one...

Descendants of Triumvir Mark Antony through his little-known first wife, young cousins, Victoria and Marcus, have always known they were heirs to a mixed-blessing heritage. Roman men were expected to brutally dominate their families and the world around them. Roman women were required to obey husbands and fathers, bear children and keep house, never drawing attention to themselves. Antonys found it impossible to fit the mold, instead using the opposite sex to further their own power. Victoria and Marcus were no different. They could command respect on their own merits with no need of deceit and intrigue. Intelligent and driven, with a flair for languages and a love of horses, the cousins set out for a life on their terms. With the support of their fathers, uncles and comrades, Victoria becomes a respected healer and later is named a medica to her father's legion, the Thunderbolt Twelfth, based in Antioch. Through insurrections, battle and garrison duty, she binds their wounds, births the camp's children, and becomes their Domina Victrix, Lady Conqueror. Marcus pursues his dream of becoming a skilled cavalry commander, scout, and tracker, the living embodiment of the Legion's eagle standard. But enemies are never far away. Men such as Herod of Judea and Pontius Pilate, who exploit the cousins' talents as it suits them, placing Victoria and Marcus as witnesses and key players in an execution that will leave its mark on them and the men of their family's Legion. Then, they face an even bigger threat from a crazed Emperor with scores to settle against them, their family, and their great-grandfather's legacy.

Astrobiologist Dr. Zephyre Edevane and his team of scientists find themselves in a dire situation when an unknown alien specimen is brought over to Nexus Dwelling (a station built for space exploration) from a recently dead planet called Corvus. Due to a dispute between Edevane and one of his close friends -- Alisa and David Quinlan, the Corvus was accidentally set free from its protective enclosure and fused with Dr. Edevane's DNA, causing a catastrophic mutation which turned the astrobiologist to a six foot humanoid hybrid with an insatiable thirst for death, killing almost everyone at Nexus Dwelling including his friends, the Quinlans... With news regarding the downfall of Nexus Dwelling, Shier Quinlan -- a trainee scientist prepares himself for a hurried expedition towards Nexus Dwelling in hopes of saving his parents and bringing them back to Earth. But instead of finding his parents alive, he finds their mutilated remains and soon meets Dr. Edevane in his human form. Unaware that it was his parents' killer, he helps the doctor find a way to escape Nexus Dwelling and get themselves back to Earth. There, Edevane meets Zeni Quinlan -- a regular farmer and Shier's sister who seems to have supernatural abilities to heal, regenerate and revive living things. Together, the trio embarks on a journey of self discovery and truth where they soon realize that the Corvus inside of Edevane is merely the surface level of a colossal threat that will possibly end all of mankind...

12 chòm sao không phải là vô địch,thần,quỷ dị thường...họ đều mang cho bản thân những số mệnh riêng và cố gắng hoàn thành bản mệnh.Bối cảnh trong truyện cũng vô cùng đen tối,bi kịch và khắc nghiệt càng làm nổi bật lên nét tính cách lẫn vai trò của từng người trong cốt truyện.Các 12 chòm sao không đại diện cho một định kiến hay cá nhân nào,hoàn toàn dựa trên sự xây dựng của tác giả. Mở đầu:từ thuở khai thiên lập địa đấng sáng tạo Kaloi đã tạo ra nhiều thực thể quyền năng để phụ giúp ngài kiến tạo vũ trụ,trong đó ngài đăc biệt ưu ái nhất mười hai thực thể đầu tiên được tạo nên từ những ánh sao sáng ngời nơi bầu trời... Ngài nhận thức được bản thân đang chết dần nhưng đồng thời cũng tiên đoán được về ngày tàn của thế giới mà ngài dày công gây dựng,về 'huyết nhục' của ngài sẽ phá hủy thế giới này,vì thế ngài quyết định giao phó nghĩa vụ bảo vệ thế giới phép thuật cho mười hai thực thể kia.Ngài biết họ sớm muộn cũng quên mất lời ngài,bởi suy cho cùng ngay đến những thực thể bất tử cũng sẽ tới lúc trở về hư vô,ngài đặt vào số mệnh của những thực thể ấy mối liên kết với mười hai tinh đồ sao nơi bầu trời. Để họ dẫu có quên mất số mệnh của mình,những tinh đồ sao lấp lánh ấy vẫn sẽ nhắc nhở họ khi ngày tàn thế giới đến gần. Giờ đây thế giới đã bắt đầu đứng trên bờ vực diệt vong mà chẳng ai hay biết gì,đã đến lúc những tinh đồ nhắc nhở cho cá thể 12 chòm sao nhớ ra số mệnh của mình.

Long before time had a name, the first spinjitzu master created Ninjago, using four elemental weapons, but when he passed a dark presence sought out to collect them all, Lord Garmadon, so I, sensei Wu, his brother sought out four ninja to collect them first, but an unexpected turn happened to me while I hid the weapons, I found a baby boy on the door step of the monastery, taking him in, I adopted him, and raised him as my own, but I found out that there is more to the boy then meets the eye...

What happens if Napoleon Bonaparte is resurrected in a fantasy world to save a whole continent from a Demon Lord? A moment after his death, the former ruler of Europe receives a visit from the mysterious Faucheur, who proposes him to reborn in another world to protect the continent of Erthea from the imminent arrival of the Demon Lord and its army. The challenge is by no means an easy one, as Napoleon finds himself reborn as Daemon, a human orphan, with nothing to accomplish his mission but the memories of his former life. This is the story of how the Emperor of the French will have to reunite under his command a continent divided and at war with itself and prepare it to face the threat that awaits it.

In a universe where cultivation holds the key to power, our main character - the son of the strongest god, seeks to become the strongest being ever. With the help of a unique constitution, the legendary "Body of Nature"-the origin of all existence, he aspires to attain a realm that has not been reached by anyone. Witness his journey to greatness as he faces challenges and achieves remarkable feats. Brace yourself for an epic tale of cultivation, strength, and the pursuit of becoming the ultimate being!

The Heeler family are back in a new adventure where humans and anthropomorphic dogs coexist. After they met the Snack Pack on tour in Sydney, they know one thing they have in common is that they can be friends with each other even if they are different. Join them and their new group friends as they go on adventures and learn life lessons along the way.

"Memories have the ability of unlocking new emotions. They allow you to relive moments with surfacing feelings you were unable to experience then. It's your choice to let these feelings live and take hold or tragically, or in this case, delightfully die." Makenna Adams can remember the first and last time she's ever been frightened of anything. That moment had turned her life into her daily nightmare. She would've never guessed that an English boy, Atlas, would be the second. The same boy who can't seem to stop thinking about what had unfolded the last time they were in the same room. He had certainly left her bruised. UPDATE: Saturdays

Romano De Rossi was never meant to notice her. Wandering into a world where women don't last long is Xenia Beaumont. The New York Outfit, during an inauguration steeped in dark politics and blood-bound secrets, is no place for a spineless bystander. She's not just an outsider. She's uninvited. Unarmed. And unaware that her very presence is a death sentence. This sentence comes knocking in form of Don Morelli ordering her painful execution, but Romano does the unthinkable when he lowers his weapon. The enforcer who built his name on loyalty and ruthlessness suddenly and secretly defies his Don for a woman he doesn't know and shouldn't care to know. He tells himself it's the right thing to do. It isn't. Right doesn't exist in their world. And Romano is reminded of that when Xenia resurfaces weeks later, no longer as the terrified girl he once spared, but as a sharp-edged infiltrator working for the Knights, a rival Family. She isn't innocent anymore. She's dangerous. She's a walking threat to his life. The man who swore to forget her is now tasked with breaking her. It becomes a war of the mind, one that strips away more than secrets each time he peels back another layer of her identity. There's no armor underneath, just survival. No motivation, just compliance. And he needs to know why. So, he stops at nothing to uncover the truth of her role as his would-be executioner and knows she has to remain dead to the world, even though she's very much alive and in love with him. But some secrets only stay buried if you're willing to kill for them. And Romano De Rossi will do far more than kill to protect the one woman who could destroy not just his place in the Outfit, but his heart.

[Season 1- Ended} {Season 2- Ongoing} A life of ridicule, humiliation, misery, and tragedy. One fateful day, Qing Lin decided to put an end to everything after losing what kept her alive. Unexpectedly and inexplicably, she was reincarnated into the body of a vicious young lady- Esperanza Ilamas Distruzione, as an infant. A simple deal- never get attached and be granted with death. She lived up to this conviction. However, the longer she stays, the further her feelings intensify as things start turning over while she gets wavered by the affection of her friends. All of it seemed too good to be true. PS: The cover is not mine. Started on: 6 Feb 2022