Plot Twists Fantasy Short Stories & Novels

Everyone thought my sister, Nyssa, was the cursed one, except me. I knew that on my eighteenth birthday, Death would come to claim me for the Underworld. I was the Dark Elf Death had chosen. But to protect my sister, my family chose to sacrifice me. My parents abandoned me, my kin reviled me, and Caelum, the elven prince I had loved for centuries, chose to stand by Nyssa's side. They said I was a harbinger of disaster. They told me to offer Nyssa my blessing. Little did they know, they were pushing Death's true acolyte toward her awakening. When the Night of the Shattered Moon arrived, I finally met my fate. I died in the mortal realm and was reborn as the Underworld's new emissary. And those who once hurt me would come to pray for my forgiveness, trapped in the eternal punishment I had wrought. I was no longer a girl who waited for love.

To keep the peace between humans and shifters, those chosen by the Oracle are forced to mate with their bound partners. And me? I was forced to be the shared mate of twin black dragons. Every night, I brewed two glasses of moon-wine to help them sleep. The older brother, Kaelen, was cold. But when he took his glass, his scalding fingertips would brush my wrist in a silent promise, and he’d murmur a soft thanks. But the younger one, Cassian? A vicious temper. He’d smash the glass, hurl insults, and crush me with the weight of his dragon aura. I had been lying to myself. Walking on eggshells. Desperately keeping a fragile peace. Until a fellow apothecary told me the truth. She hesitated, then said: "He treats you like dirt. The other one is gentle. Why do they both get the same precious moon-wine? How is that fair to the one who actually cares?" I thought about it all day. She was right. Late that night, I left the apothecary in a sheer silk robe, carrying only one glass of moon-wine.

After the Intermediate Mage Examination, I stood outside the door and overheard my mother tell a relative, "The Royal Academy's tuition is too expensive. We can't afford to send both daughters." The relative tried to reason with her. "They're both your daughters. You can't send one and leave the other behind." My brother cut in. "Liana can't even cast a basic light spell. She's the one who needs the extra help. Ella's talented enough to manage on her own. Send her with Liana as a maid. She can sit in on classes whenever she's free." Then came the voice of Caden Vale, the boy I had grown up with. "That's fair." Standing outside the door, I finally understood what fair meant to them. Liana got the place at the academy. I got to save them the extra tuition and wait on her as a maid. When we were kids learning the levitation spell, the only cushion in the house always went under Liana. Once, I fell and cracked my head open. Even then, I made excuses for them. I told myself Liana needed more protection than I did. But as I listened to them laugh, something inside me finally snapped. This time, I would not let Liana use me as her stepping-stone.

My family was the most famous line of witches at the royal court. My sister, Lilith Seyler, was famous for her lofty principles. I was the only one who knew she was a complete fraud. When the royal marriage decree arrived at House Seyler, she shut herself in her prayer room out in the woods and refused to come out. "Duke Edmund, your wealth and your power are dust to me. A proposal from a duke is no different than a proposal from a farmhand." Then she laid out three conditions for Duke Edmund. The Duke was to build a prayer room on his estate, since she needed quiet meditation and practice with the elements to keep her magic stable. Before the wedding, the Duke was to wash in mountain spring water, burn dragon's-breath incense for three straight days, and abstain from meat and strong liquor so he could come to her purified. And the Duke was to agree not to share her bed for three years, both to protect the source of her magic and to keep her perfectly focused and clear-headed for her studies. Duke Edmund Ashbourne gave a furious laugh. "I think I have come to the wrong place. Is this House Seyler or a convent? "If no one accepts this decree today, House Seyler is defying the King, and every last one of you will answer for it!" My father, Alistair Seyler, dropped to his knees in terror and begged Edmund for mercy. But no matter how my father and my stepmother, Cordelia Seyler, pleaded, my sister would not bend. She would take the decree only if the Duke agreed to her terms. "Duke Edmund, everything that happens in time and space is already decided. Two people with no destiny between them are meant to pass each other by. Why force me to say yes?" The Duke turned to leave in a rage, ready to bring the King's punishment down on House Seyler. I huddled in the corner, took a deep breath, rushed forward, and dropped to my knees. "I am Rowena Seyler, the second daughter of House Seyler. I will accept the decree in my sister's place!"

The light elf royal family had 12 sons before finally welcoming a daughter: me. On the day I was born, the World Tree bloomed again after standing withered for 100 years. Lucia, the High Priestess, announced that I was the only elf of my generation who could hear the Goddess's voice. So my father, the king, gave me the right to choose the heir to the throne. At my coming-of-age ceremony, I gave the heir's mark to Salvador, the brother who loved me most. Then he fell in love with Evelyn, a dark elf. Light elves and dark elves had been enemies for generations, and our kingdom forbade marriage between the two peoples. I was the one who talked my father and the council into allowing the match. But the day after the wedding, Evelyn shackled me with enchanted ashwood chains. “Tomorrow I'm handing you over to Morvane, the dark elf lord. Once he has a light elf princess, he can cross the border whenever he likes. “In return, he'll give me three crystal mines. With those, I can help Salvador rule over the light elves.” I couldn't help but scoff at the smug look on her face. She thought Salvador had earned his vast territories and his position as the heir to the throne through his own strength. What she didn't know was that he had them because I'd chosen him. I'd even fought for her right to live in light elf lands. I clenched my fists, and a crack split the chains. “As the princess of the light elves, I'm taking back everything I've given you both.” She wanted to throw me out? Fine. I'd make sure she lost her place as the crown prince's wife.

All the mages of the Beast and Human Alliance Academy needed to form a pact with the Academy’s beast and stay loyal to it. According to the Academy’s compatibility test, I was matched with Ares, a potential candidate for the head’s post. The contract was signed, our souls were bound, and yet he refused to acknowledge me as his beast even after ten years of my devotion, only because I was a bunny, too weak a beast to match his reputation. On our tenth anniversary, he brought a woman from the fox clan to our training ward. She was wearing my uniform, and carried his scent. Their shared spirit stone shone brightly in their hands. And in my hand, I held the dying spirit stone that barely managed to glow dimly in ten years of my hard practice. "Be reasonable, Adria. Molly just helped me reach S-class in our mutual combat. I need her to be around me more," he said. "Go train somewhere else. Training with you isn't helpful to me anyway.” When he watched me quietly moving out, he assumed I was going to do what I always did. Lock myself in my chamber and sob. But he didn't know—this time was different. The ten-year contract had come due, and I was finally leaving the Academy for good. And what's more, I was not as useless and powerless beast he had always imagined, but a celestial class of a beast that born once in once in a million years and soon he was going to bend his knees to have me back!

My best friend and I. A witch and a Fae from Whisperwood. I have the blood of a Seer. My three rune bones can see a kingdom's rise and fall. She's a gold-touched Fae. Born to attract wealth. One roll of the dice in a goblin casino, and she'd empty their vault. When we were eighteen, we found a disgraced Grand Duke in the capital's slums. His stepmother had thrown him out. We saved him. She amassed his gold. I spun his fate. We helped him claw his way back to the capital. He took back his land. His scepter. The first thing he did? He asked my best friend to marry him. They had a son. A gifted heir. I grew tired of the noble squabbles. I went back to my hidden cottage in the woods. Ten years later, a little princess. Blessed by the Moon Goddess. Finally born in the Duke's castle. He was ecstatic. Flew his griffin over the mountains that night. Begged me to come bless his daughter. Of course, I agreed. I stood over the cradle. Drew a sacred blessing rune on the baby's forehead. Before I left, I had a sudden urge. I tossed my three rune bones. A quick look into my friend's future. But they hit the floor and turned to dust. Black magic choked the air. An omen of death. Her soul was gone. Ice flooded my veins. If my best friend was already dead...then who was the Duchess, smiling at me from her velvet chaise?

The Southlands priest once prophesied that the Duke of Winslet's house would produce a Saintess who could command every beast alive. I'd hidden the golden serpent mark on my wrist since childhood, but my cousin, Rose Winslet, flaunted a poisonous snake coiled around hers every day. When the marriage decree came, she got exactly what she wanted: the Crown Prince. I was given to the Seventh Prince instead, a man with two ruined legs whom the entire court despised. For six years after that, I trained hawks to carry messages and drove wolves through enemy lines, and it was my hands that put him on the throne. The day he was crowned, I told him, overjoyed, that I was the true beast-commanding Saintess all along. He had my hand tendons severed and threw me into the Serpent Pit. "Monica, if you had to pretend to be someone, why did it have to be Rose? If you hadn't hidden that mark on purpose, how could I have mistaken my true savior for someone else? "Rose was tortured to death by the Crown Prince, and it's all because of you!" When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the priest tested the Saintess's identity before the entire court. The Seventh Prince got there first, slicing open his palm and letting his blood drip into the mouth of the venomous snake Rose kept as a pet. "Father, I'll give up my claim to the throne. I only want to marry Rose Winslet."

On the day of the Dragon Bloodline Awakening at the Magic Academy, I became the laughingstock of the entire school. Lucia, the most popular girl in our year, awakened the rare Phantom Dragon, while my boyfriend, Miles, resonated with the noble Frost Dragon. As for me? My entire skin was covered in a thick layer of brown mud. I looked like a stray beggar. Pictures of my disastrous awakening were pinned to the top of the academy’s forum. The comment section was howling. "Covered in mud... definitely the lowest-tier Swamp Dragon!" "Oh my god, a Swamp Dragon Knight? Might as well be a normal person!" "Can she please wear a mask from now on? Just looking at her makes me want to throw up my dinner!" Lucia intentionally recorded my miserable state and put it on a loop online. Miles even started a betting pool on the forum: "Taking bets! Do you think our Swamp Loach will dare to show up at the Contract Ceremony tomorrow night?" "I bet 5,000 crystals she won't dare! She might even drop out tomorrow, hahaha!" The whole academy went crazy placing bets, the mocking comments rolling in one after another. Everyone was waiting for me to become a joke, hiding and crying in my dorm room. I stared at the soaring prize pool and couldn't help but smirk. They bet I wouldn't dare to come. I was only worried that when my dragon appeared, they’d wet their pants. After all, the bloodline I resonated with was the Primordial Divine Dragon.

I was once the Pythia, an oracle of Apollo. After marrying the late king, I became known as the Oracle Priestess. When my husband died in battle, I faked my death and returned to the temple. From then on, I devoted myself to protecting the capital with the gods' blessing. Then one day, they brought my daughter's body into the temple. She was covered in raw, unhealed wounds, and her eyes were still open. The attendants tossed her body, wrapped in nothing but a straw mat, onto the floor. Then they stood nearby whispering. "Poor princess. The king cared more about the Rose of Highcourt than his own sister. He let her suffer until her wounds became infected and she died in agony. "King Theron was the one who sent her to the beastmen for a marriage alliance. Duke Charles was supposed to marry Princess Callista, but he later fell for Naia instead." So that was what had happened. While I was hidden away in this temple protecting Ostan, my son had turned his back on his sister for another woman. He let Naia take Callista's place, then sent his sister to live among savages. Callista survived the beastmen and everything they did to her. When they were finally defeated, she must have thought she could come home and put it all behind her. But Naia still wouldn't leave her alone. She bullied Callista every chance she got. Then she framed Callista for plotting to hurt someone, and Theron had her thrown into the dungeon. As I held my daughter's body, I couldn't bear to imagine what she had gone through in that dark, waterlogged dungeon, where prisoners were interrogated on the upper level and executed below. A corrupt kingdom like this didn't deserve the gods' protection. I begged the gods to forgive me. If this was how they treated my daughter, then I no longer cared what happened to this country.

Tonight was the night I was to be invested as Commander of the Dragon Rider Corps. It was also my sister's coming-of-age ceremony. But my mother was afraid my investiture would steal my sister's spotlight. So she had my brother lock me in the basement with anti-magic chains. They said they'd make it up to me after Lina's celebration was over. They didn't know that dragon hunters broke in and carved out my heart. I used the last of my dragon flame to send a mind-link plea to my blood kin. My brother's voice finally came through. "Can't you just let Lina have one happy night?" He was busy placing the coming-of-age crown on my sister's head, and with his own hands, he snuffed out my mind-link to them. Later, they thought I was sulking and refusing to leave the basement. They didn't know I was already dead. I was never coming out.

Seven years married to Adrian Locke. For me, he tore the unbreakable scale from his own body and left the deep sea for dry land. For him, I left everything and moved to the beastkin world. To everyone else we were the most loving couple. Even I believed it. Then he started coming home carrying a fox scent that wouldn't wash off, and every illusion I had about him shattered. The late nights came more often. The nights he didn't come home at all came more often. I knew it was time for us to end. And then that woman sent me the results of her pregnancy test. I filed to dissolve our marriage with the Beastkin Authority and bought a one-way ticket back to the human world. Adrian, if you can't promise me your love is mine alone, then I won't take any of it. From now on, we never see each other again.

The first time my boyfriend, Jason Calloway, brought me to meet his friends, I wore a scarf to hide the hickeys he'd left the night before. Halfway through dinner, his only female friend suddenly yanked my scarf off. "No wonder you're wearing a scarf in this heat, putting on airs. We're all adults here. What haven't we seen? Looks like you and Jason had quite the wild night..." Jason knew how easily I got embarrassed and quickly tried to cut her off. But she pulled down her own collar instead. "See this bite mark? Jason did it. I didn't even bother putting ointment on it afterward. I just left it out in the open, telling everyone Jason's my little lapdog. That's how a woman earns her place!" Jason frowned, his gaze fixed on the pale, full swell of Vivian Hale's chest, then pulled her hand away, his expression darkening. "There are people here! Put your clothes back!" Then he turned to me. "That's just how my friends are, no filter. Have a few drinks with us and you'll warm up to them." I watched his hand pressing Vivian's collar closed and let out a cold laugh, pushing my chair back from the table. "I'll pass on the drinks. If you enjoy being some other woman's lapdog, don't let me stop you." We Elves never date dogs.

I spent five years beside Kaelan, heir to the Elf King, and bore him a son, yet he never once acknowledged me in public. He said that when he became Elf King, he would give us the highest standing there was. Instead, at the Elven Assembly, he announced that another woman was his fiancée, then personally handed her our son's life-saving elixir to use as a facial treatment. Later I took my child away to the border, and he was finally willing to acknowledge us. But the child who used to run after him calling him Dad no longer needed a father.

I'm just a regular human being, and yet I've ended up signing a soul-bond contract with Erik Pendragon, the Frost Dragon King. Due to my lowly status, Erik refuses to let me attend the festival that we're supposed to show up at. So far, I've organized 18 grand festivals for Erik, and yet I'm forced to hide in the shadows. But somehow, Erik agrees to let me attend the 19th festival as the Dragon Queen. Of course, I'm excited to no end. I even go to great lengths to doll myself up, only to see Erik holding hands with another human woman named Clara Beech. The memory montage, which I've put hard work into making, has been replaced by a lovey-dovey montage featuring Erik and Clara. After Erik slips the ring that symbolizes the Dragon Queen's status onto Clara's finger, he turns to look at me in disdain. "Our Dragon Queen needs to be acknowledged by everyone in the clan. It's not like you have an official title anyway, Aurora. To top it off, Clara had received everyone's acknowledgement far earlier than you, too. From today onward, she shall replace you as the Dragon Queen." All the dragons in the lobby are waiting to watch me go ballistic before descending into hysterics. But I'm not mad in the slightest. In fact, I feel a little relieved. After all, there are three days left before my three-year contract with Erik gets dissolved.