Opennovellacontest2024 Stories

𝐎𝐍𝐂 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 - When Eventyr spirals into war, three young foxes from its divided kingdoms must discover themselves and their united purpose if they wish to save their home from being destroyed. -❈- A reluctant heir. A living mistake. A misguided ambition. One knows nothing but violence, one knows nothing but deceit, and the last is blissfully ignorant to the war that draws them all together. They all strive to be part of something bigger. And each has their secrets. Colborn is next in line for a role he isn't sure he can take. The burden he bears-and the sacrifice he must make to stoke his father's embers of pride-is all too much to handle. Skadi is scorned and broken. She was never meant to be born, much less, to live. All she wants is to belong, even if it means going against everything she believes in. Trygve just wants to make something of himself, to prove to his family that he isn't just a kit anymore. With passion driven by curiosity and stubborn determination, he's bound to land in the paws of trouble. As pressures rise and the war reaches a breaking point, each fox must face a decision that's bound to weave their threads of fate closer together. Either they accept their role as a force to fuel the conflict-or risk their lives to save another. But there's only one key to stopping the war. They must find the truth before Eventyr is destroyed. -❈- Entry for the Open Novella Contest 2024 Based on prompt 20: Three strangers, two secrets, one key. Final Word-count: ~38,000 Cover by: @avadel

A tale about a cat and a crow in search of their witch. Asha, a black cat, and her friend Kyrell, a hooded crow, are living their best lives as the familiars of the town witch Cybele. But as Cybele goes missing, their peaceful lives are threatened and they need the help of a mysterious boy to find her. My entry for the Open Novella Contest 2024.

Open Novella Contest 2024 writing prompt #83: Earth's climate is becoming increasingly inhospitable. Humans have located another planet to live on, but there's not enough room on the spacecrafts for everyone. Who stays and who goes? One wrong question has the power to condemn . Following the Martian discovery of a jump drive, the United Nations of Earth formulated a plan. There is a rumored list of seventeen crimes - modeled after the nineteen crimes that could get one sent to Australia. It seems a very similar one would get white collar corporate criminals, fringe political activists, terrorist operatives, bigots and climate law violators sent to Mars. Publicly, it's all denied. Then Brie Reyes (nee Hodges), finds herself arrested after a contentious briefing with the United States Climate Initiative Czar. Researching her absent father - who long ago left to be among the first settler of the Martian colony Selah - caused a cataclysmic shift in her life and her thinking. Meeting the half-brother born to her father after he settled on Mars may either bring her salvation or condemnation. Either way, Brie Reyes is going to Mars. Its either as a political prisoner. Or political refugee.

A vampire named Citlali receives an email from an old lover who broke her heart centuries ago. The message says the immortal is dead and she left a key for Citlali in a bank in New York. But the same message had been sent to two other persons whose identity Citlali ignores and the safe can only be opened if the three of them are present. Dear Citlali is a queer polyamorous paranormal romance. This story is set in the For Centuries Universe but can be read as a standalone. Cover by Bartholomé Girard

Alego enjoyed the night time stories her parents told her. They helped her get through the night especially when her mother wasn't around.

**AVAILABLE ON AMAZON (Paperback AND e-book)** What will Elijah do when A-list movie star, Aria Sterling, crashes his well-earned vacation? As a lawyer fighting for the rights of LGBTQ youth, he doesn't have much sympathy for some spoiled actress who is trailed by paparazzi wherever she goes. But, surrounded by aggressive photogs, they'll realize they have more in common than first meets the eye.

ONC Entry based on Prompt #90: You were officially dead for 2 minutes. Ever since then you can see guardian angels, and not a minute goes by in your daily life that you don't see an annoyed angel doing their job.

The 20s are back and the Prohibition is in full effect. Only this time the only spirits that are being outlawed isn't alcohol - it's powerful potions, endangered magical creatures and living souls being confined into bottles. These illicit spirits are coveted by criminal organizations that want to take over the underworld. One dangerous concoction could decimate an entire city to oblivion. Some of these spirits can be used to power engines, regenerate the tissue of a cadaver or make someone glow like a firefly, but the most dangerous of them all is to use the vessel of an imprisoned spirit to use mind control. Aster Rhodes was just a homeless lad who travelled across the states playing an old violin in the park when he got discovered by Daisy Ray. The young violinist has a penchant for bad poetry and soliloquys though it didn't deter the widow from introducing Aster to the frontman of the once-nomadic band called the Daisy Dukes - Darrell "Zib" Zibulon aka the Dandy Lion. After passing the rehearsal, the real head honcho of the speakeasy, Blaise Ray shows Aster the ropes of the business operates, though he didn't know the real extent of what his job would entail after the owner of the Dandelion speakeasy gets murdered one night. The business starts to sink and the only way to keep it afloat is to procure the illicits spirits, no one else is willing to take the risk to go bootlegging except for Aster, and Blaise's goddaughter - Ivy Taylor.

Amesh is the fourth and youngest child of the Suriname family, a family of well known superheroes that protect not only their world but others that surround it. While his siblings are out saving the world, Amesh is at home playing Mango Life. Unlike his siblings, Amesh has no interest in being the hero of the story, he prefers to be normal. And like all normal teenage boys he locks himself in his room and plays video games all day and night, only to come out when the dinner bell rings. The only family member you don't want to piss off is Momma Suriname, and dinner is always reserved for family meal time. It was a normal family dinner time, the Powerhouses were relaying their adventures of the day, Father and Momma Suriname gleamed at the tales, and Amesh drank his strawberry mango smoothie. That was until the tales became a little too similar to the gameplay Amesh had experienced earlier that day. ======== Written for ONC 2024 Main Prompt: 50 Sub Prompts: 49, 87 Fun Fact: Amesh means "Sweet like a Mango"

Sometimes, the known roads we take in life bring us to unexpected turns that alter the course of our lives. When Jahan Fatima decides to give up her job to travel the treacherous mountain roads of Northern Pakistan, she isn't expecting it to involve murder and mayhem. Soon, Jahan's quest for justice will take her down a dangerous road where myths and legends come alive. It's Book One and a standalone novella in the "A Murder Mystery on the Road" series. *** Based on prompt 12 on ONC 2024: "A stroll in the midnight and meeting a frantic stranger." Round Two Winner of ONC 2024 Top Five Finalists of ONC 2024 © 2024 Fizza Younis - storieswithsoul Exclusively on Wattpad

2024 ONC Prompt 21 : A dragon, an elf and a dwarf embark on a quest to find the lost heir to the kingdom. What happens when a young elf, a grumpy dwarf and a baby dragon leaves the city behind to look for the lost heir to the throne? And what will happen when they find him and the young man gives the elf an offer that will change his life, but is also hard to refuse?

The Horcades and the Horcanes are family names in a fairytale. Nobody thinks the present Horcades have any connection with it. People don't even believe the tale. The idea that the tale is based off a true story is only a speculation by few. However, the truth is scarier than people think. And when this tale turns out to have some truth in it, the Horcades realise that some stories are best when fictional.

#47 A seemingly normal day ends with the disappearance of every adult on the planet, and it's up to the most unlikely of heroes to bring them back. #52 "And that is how that world was lost and a new one, our world, was born." #80 "Meet me next life." ~ The battles with demons were so commonplace, and their world shrank so much that everyday prayer changed. No "Give us this day our daily bread," but more "Can there be bread, tomorrow?" The former Commander 1st Class of the Holy Knights and Laypriest of Arden, Valentine Auger, fought these monsters that spilled into their realm for 2 decades. In his last battle, the Rapture began, taking any native creature bigger than a beetle from the face of his world--except for him. For another 2 decades, he evaded the demons he once fought, until even they were gone. He was facing his 60s when he discovered there might be a way to restore the world he once knew. It was a long shot, but it would be better than the years spent with two silent ghost dogs, seeing his memories collapse under rot and ruin, until the day he'd walk into his grave, left alone by the Goddess Arden. Little did he know that this task was riddled with the mistakes of the other times he chose this path, making the entirety of his existence an exercise in a living hell.

He can climb the tower, but can he win her heart? Victoria Grunell loved her job as a personal assistant. Or at least she did, until her absentminded boss of five years decided to suddenly retire and disappear, without leaving even a current phone number, the jerk. And it's the day before her best friend's wedding reception. At the party, she meets Trenton Lloyd, drummer for the hit cover band Aspire, and wonders if her luck is already turning around. Unfortunately, they have no time to explore the sparks between them, as Vicky is kidnapped by an evil organization hoping to coerce Trent to join them. Trent will have to keep his cool to get Vicky home safe from the tower of terrors, but will he be able to show her his heart, to earn her love in return?

This is a story in which some may believe fairytales are all make believe, and just all a fantasy. But, hang on!! They're actually real! Read any further, and I will have to gouge your eyes out! Only kidding, but don't say I didn't warn ya! 😈 Prompt #36 "Fairytales are real," and there couldn't be anything worse.

The world is in a threat of imbalance. Countless children and young people are murdered, all to obtain supremacy in the upcoming era. In the midst of this bloodshed, the only human town with no child victim suddenly welcomes foreign visitors. It is a mysterious town, one that has been closing off its gate from outsiders for many decades. However, the town doesn't welcome just anyone. Only those with an invitation are allowed to visit, and one of them is Aryan. Burdened with moral duty as a historian, Aryan accepts a job offer to teach in a high school. Together with his assistant, he investigates the town not only to find a clue about the evil force behind the murder, but also to help save the world from the threat of war between two races.

A dark family lineage. Secrets hidden away within rotting walls. And a mysterious Book that binds it all together... Oliver Wendell was only ever meant to write stories, lost within his own worlds of imagination. He was never meant to be a soldier. He was never meant to see his brother die. Yet in the midst of the first World War he finds himself caught within the wreckage of both grief and carnal destruction that has torn such worlds away. Seeking refuge from it all, the disgraced boy soldier hides himself away within the decaying seaside manor of his grandparents-- finding there a mysterious and unfinished book that has reignited his passion for the written word. Yet amidst the house's ancient bones lay the unexplainable, and beneath its foundations lay unimaginable horrors waiting to be awakened with a few strokes of a writer's pen... Written for ONC 2024 using prompt 66; A grim fairytale is unfolding before your eyes. As its author, it's up to you to put an end to this nightmare. And prompt 5; Horror is in the eye of the beholder. CW; This book contains graphic scenes, descriptions of war and PTSD, and details of eldritch horror. It is intended for readers ages 16 and up.

Blurb On a dark and stormy night, Mia is running along the road, unable to handle what has just occurred, which shouldn't have been logically or scientifically possible. As the storm intensifies, a strange lightning bolt strikes her. She miraculously survives the strike but is split into two people unknowingly. Unaware of each other, one continues forward and the other turns back. #An 'Open Novella Contest 2024' entry. #Prompt 23: It's a dark and stormy night and you're running along the road, unable to handle what has just occurred. Then a strange lightning bolt strikes you, which causes you to split into two people. Unaware of each other, one continues forward and the other turns back. #All places and people are fictional.

Torn between following a family tradition of being a bounty hunter-one that he's not particularly fond of-and following his dreams of being a private detective, Niel has always struggled to land himself a job and put the food on his table. Few people were willing to hire an untraditional bounty hunter like him, so when he gets an urgent invitation from the eldest son of the wealthy Ravillet family, he is more than surprised. Enticed with the promise of a generous payment, Niel is determined to find the runaway young lady of the Ravillet family despite the lack of clues. With the help of an eccentric adventurer, he follows the trail of mysterious Kasena and her accomplice all the way to an esteemed swordsmanship tournament. But with no clues to go off of, can they really find someone who seems to have vanished into thin air? ⁕⁕⁕ STARTED: 2/17/2024 FINISHED: 11/15/2024 Word count: 27.8k words

Four girls, one destiny: Hacker, Arsonist, Recluse, Thief. Cara, Siouxsie, Red and Jenna may appear to be ordinary teenage girls, but they're anything but. As delinquents, their paths collide when they're given up to an experimental juvenile rehabilitation program known as The Pandora Project. However, upon arrival, they quickly realize that things are not as they seem. Strange occurrences begin to unfold: bizarre tests, mandatory 'Vitamin' shots, timeslips, combat and weapons training. The girls soon discover that The Pandora Project has ulterior motives, far from the rehabilitation they were promised. Uncovering the truth only leads to more questions, putting their lives at risk. Could it be possible that the organization is turning troubled teens, unknowingly, into genetically modified super-powered assassins? And what fate awaits assets who dare to defy control? In a race against time, they must navigate the shadows of deceit, relying on the extensive training provided by the program to take it down. The stakes are high, and the girls are about to discover that their unique skills may be the key to exposing the dark secrets of Project Pandora. But will it be enough to survive?