*ONC 2024 entry* **Round Two Ambassador's Pick** **Shortlisted** She's an angel of love; an ill-fitting name, as she's no angel. She strives for a world devoid of pain and sorrow. A world of love; of sex and debauchery without consequences. Unattached forever, she's spent millennia ensuring her world remains free of the chaos caused by heartbreak--a term unknown to the humans she oversees. And she'll do everything to keep it that way, at any cost. Meaning she'll kill any who have malice in their souls, to ensure the survival of those who are pure; their hearts red, the color of love. He's the first of his kind: a demon of heartbreak. New to the world, he's thirsty for love, for carnal relations, but craving to destroy it all once he's had his fill. He seeks despair, but not without having a little bit of fun on the way. He's sent above the surface by his king, to spread his disease, until he meets a feisty, sinfully sexy, devious damsel with immense powers. Her heart is so red, so pure, that he has to have it. To crush it. He makes it his goal to seduce her, trick her, and make her his first heartbreak victim. But she's not an easy one to toy with, as her heart isn't as pure as she lets on. *** ONC Prompts 35, 19, 46

When Zev finds himself on a journey away from his home in Sanctum with only a new friend and his less-than-powerful ability, he must travel a path of hardship and dedication to find his lost older brother. In a tornado of self-discovery and more mysteries about the twelve-layered world he lives in than he can count, Zev must travel down the layers on his own path or die trying. Though, as he knows all too well, death can have many unexpected consequences. My official ONC2024 Entry Prompts 80. "Meet me next life." 95. "I will become as monstrous as I must."

[ONC2024] Everyone can read minds except for Ethan Langdon. And Ethan Langdon has the dumbest (and cutest!) thoughts Lukas Hoffmann has ever heard. ____ Part one complete. Part two updating every Friday until completion (but already fully complete on my Kofi!) ____ Lukas Hoffman's life in Brambleburg is about as boring as you'd expect for a town where everyone can read minds. He's used to his routine of dusting the LPs at the record store where he works and helping out his grandma around the house. Nothing in Brambleburg changes. No one in Brambleburg changes. Until Ethan Langdon stumbles in with the soggy remnants of a paper map, asking for the quickest route to Berlin. Ethan, it turns out, doesn't have telepathy, and as aggravatingly inane as his thoughts are, Lukas hasn't felt the excitement of meeting a stranger since.... well, ever. And the more Lukas listens, the more he starts enjoying Ethan's cute thoughts about life, the universe, and Lukas's dimples. ____ Might bring to mind: "Cherry Magic" but set in a fictive European town where everyone except the love interest can read minds. ____ Written for the Open Novella Contest 2024 using prompts 8, 75, 82, and 85. 8. You start singing along to a movie soundtrack late at night forgetting that your window is open. Someone from the outside starts singing with you. 75. You awake in the middle of the night to a voice saying loudly "May the force be with you..." 82. You wake up on a seemingly ordinary day to discover that your thoughts are not private. There is someone else in your head with you. 85. "If you do that again, I'll throw you out that freaking window. What are you doing?" "Checking how high the drop is to see if it's worth it."

There's no bond like a girl and her first dog. And, once it's all said and done, there's no loss like it, either. Hugo has lived a long, happy life with Bay, his one and only human. When their time together comes to an end, Hugo watches Bay's life unfold from an afterlife designed just for dogs. While Hugo watches from Dog Heaven, Bay makes a grief-stricken wish from the heart and Hugo vows to answer it for her, even if she doesn't know it. Forced to watch the rest of Bay's life unfold from a distance, Hugo plots to bring joy back to her, and he knows just how to do it. Content warning: pet loss ONC 2024 entry, prompt 24: A wish made from the heart is always answered, sooner or later. Total word count: 23,049 Recognition: - 2024 Open Novella Contest Shortlist - Contemporary Lit Experimental list - Ambassador's Slice of Life list - Ambassador's Reads list - Featured in February 2025 Ambassador's Recommendations

For him to live, a witch must die. Driven out of his village for the curse he possesses, Tavor is alone. With nowhere else to go, he must venture into the Eylderfell to hunt down the witch who cursed him. But the forest is dangerous, wild with magic and sinister spirits. And there is something lurking there, a darkness within the forest and within himself, both waiting to get out...

#ONC2024 Round two Ambassadors' pick. :D SHORTLIST ONC 2024 My prompt is number 3: Your greatest fear is monsters in the dark. The last thing you expect is to become the monster in the dark. Arabella Dagon was always afraid of the dark. In the darkness, there are terrible monsters that take away her innocence and her faith in the world. But she never thought that she would become one of those monsters. Will Arabella have the chance to redeem herself?

When Lottie takes on a professional mourning gig for her roommate, she isn't sure what to expect. But with a job that's going nowhere and an unfulfilled need for more, Lottie soon finds herself sucked into working for a family run funeral home and the young man who's taken it over.

One favor, one journey, one game-changing weapon. With tensions between humans and mystical creatures at an all-time high, going on a journey for rare blood was never going to be good. Especially when Vaughn knows he's the only one who can turn it into a weapon. As the journey continues, doubts soon begin to grow - between Vaughn and his companion, his strict manager from work; doubts about the past his family had warned him of; and finally, about the true reason behind this journey. Why exactly did the requester want this blood? Do they know how dangerous it can be? And if they do, what are they planning to do with it? ~ 21.6K words total ONC Shortlist!

A young woman makes the brave decision to flee her toxic stepfather, only to be taken hostage by an escaped convict hours later, but he may just be the key to her freedom. 🔥BOOK ONE IN THE MAYHEM SIX SERIES🔥 *** After stealing money from her wealthy but controlling stepfather, Nataly Collins makes the bold decision to run away with her four-year-old sister. But as she does, she crosses paths with an escaped convict from the local penitentiary, and he plans to keep the sisters hostage until he can safely cross the Canadian border. Of course, the more Nataly spends time with this convict, the more she learns he isn't what he appears to be despite his death-themed tattoos and intimidating stature. Soon it becomes obvious that they need each other to avoid capture. And Nataly can't help but feel the safest she's ever felt around him. Will she be able to fight off her emerging feelings for this dangerous criminal?l? ~ ACCOLADES ~ 🏅ONC HONORABLE MENTION ✨ ONC Shortlister ❤️ AMBASSADORS PICK 🔥 Third ranking in #badboy

It is a truth universally acknowledged that all those who travel to Paris must have a good time. But Dominic isn't having a blast. That is, until his annoyingly attractive roommate Luc ropes him into a daring scheme: visit the city's most famous cemetery at midnight. Illegally. Père-Lachaise is a true necropolis: old, huge and filled with mystery. When the boundaries between life and death begin to blur, Dominic and Luc find themselves in a necropolis unlike the one they expected see. A Paris of the Other Side, a real City of the Dead simply begging to be explored. A city that isn't without its own dangers. This is a ghost tour to never forget. ~ONC Round One Winner~ ~ONC shortlister~ ~Featured on Freethelgbt~ ~Featured on Humor~