Winners of Prompt 8

Branch 1

DEADLY CONSPIRACY by Aaradhana Agarwal - https://storymirror.com/read/english/story/deadly-conspiracy/grfhabms

A Backfiring Plan by Vikram Patwari - https://storymirror.com/read/english/story/a-backfiring-plan/kl7wj1dm

Branch 2

No winners

Branch 3

SHERYL’S GENETIC CODE by Poonam Vaze - https://storymirror.com/read/english/story/sheryls-genetic-code/68pjrjrv

The Missing Piece by Kartik M - https://storymirror.com/read/english/story/the-missing-piece/hr75gzev

Interactive Novel Writing Contest PROMPT 8

Please refer the previous prompts PDF here -

Branch 1 all prompts - https://assets.storymirror.com/media/storymirror/website-assets/sm-static-pages/static_files/f235d7cf-6e84-4ed5-a98a-eefec0a6129a.pdf

Branch 2 all prompts - https://assets.storymirror.com/media/storymirror/website-assets/sm-static-pages/static_files/a865acab-ac6d-40d1-aa79-3d7771a90bcb.pdf

Branch 3 all prompts - https://assets.storymirror.com/media/storymirror/website-assets/sm-static-pages/static_files/4c9ce71a-dbec-4b84-b6bb-639374b4f951.pdf

Branch 1 (Social mystery with romance)

Ruth, who tries to kidnap Charu, is the right hand of the mafia boss. He had kidnapped Uncle Vincent and kept him in the underwater den in a cell because Uncle Vincent found out Ruth’s connection to the Mafia Boss and his underworld dealings. He had lied to Charu that Uncle Vincent has gone to Egypt.  

In the submarine den under the lake, drug manufacturing is going on. The mafia is growing a special type of aquatic plant which produces hallucinations and illusions. If used in the right quantity and mixed with other elements, it could be used as a mind-control drug. What appeared to be mining to Charu was actually extracting the pulp from the thin stem/tendrils of this aquatic plant. Workers in blue uniforms were induced with drugs to perform their duties without asking questions and supervised by those dressed in white, the don’s trusted personnel.  

The don wants Khopesh (sword) desperately. He had found with great difficulty from the original owner that the drug-making formula is hidden in a vault. The key to open the vault is the code engraved on the blade of the Khopesh that is like a QR code when inserted into the slot on the tip.

 In the meantime, the tussle between Yuvaan and Abhay intensifies. Both are at loggerheads to destroy each other. Charu is sandwiched between the two. She finds the truth about Abhay who has replaced the sword in the museum with a fake one and that he is about to strike a deal with the mafia don for a handsome amount of money.  

Note – this is a social mystery / crime-based thriller with a romance angle and if you are attempting this branch, be careful not to include any sci-fi or fantasy elements. You can attempt a different question/course in the other two branches. 

Questions:

1.       Finding the truth about Abhay, how does Charu stop the deal, retrieve the sword from him, and free Yuvaan?

2.       Who is the Mafia Boss and what is his connection with Charu?

Branch 2 (Science Fiction)

Charu wakes up from the dream. She takes a look at the blueprints sent by Yuvaan before he died and finds the cemetery that she saw in her dreams. She is amused that the cemetery is at the other end of the lakebed. The lakebed keeps popping up at every angle of her investigation. So, she decides to explore the cemetery and the lake. 

In Egypt, EVIL put up a fight against the ‘Ethnic Jungle Monsters’ and rescue uncle Vincent at the nick of time - right before he is about to be sacrificed. 

Being equipped with the sword now, Uncle Vincent reaches his lab and inserts the sword into the slot. Swoosh… the portal to the wormhole opens and he reaches the lakebed in Fort Kochi to kill Charu. 

At a corner of the cemetery, Charu finds a mysterious entrance. She goes in the long dark tunnel that leads her to a brilliantly lit room concealed behind an old wooden door. She finds the sword - MV02FK09 inserted into a slot beside a magnetic hose dangling down. She immediately places the dangling magnetic hose on her head and is transported into the passage which connects two time periods. 

Charu learns that she is the ancient Egyptian queen, Berenice, whose ambition is to stop pandemic apocalypses. For this purpose, Berenice time travels to the future. In her previous time travel, she was Sheryl to stop the Spanish Flu and now she is Charu to stop the Corona virus. 

Vincent is Queen Berenice’s brother, Amon, who believed that he is the rightful heir to the throne. He discovers that Berenice is queer and has a secret lover, Nefret, the commander of her army. The queen’s lesbian relationship and his exile from the kingdom by his father for his evil deeds strengthen Amon’s intent to kill Berenice more than ever. Berenice discovers her brother’s evil intentions. 

Anibus, her trusted priest and healer / alchemist prepared a concoction that was instrumental in safeguarding her kingdom against deadly viruses. But Anibus predicted that there would be episodes of virus attacks in the future. 

Anibus had time travelled as Yuvaan. Because of this, Vincent killed Yuvaan so that he could never team up with Charu in the current time. 

Charu comes out of the wormhole portal with all the new information. 

Note – this is a science-fiction branch, hence please take care not to includefantasy elements.If you want to write a fantasy story, please use branch 3 prompt 

Questions:

1. How will Charu retrieve the antidote, since Anibus/Yuvaan is dead?

2. How will Vincent stop Charu?

Branch 3 (Fantasy - Alternate World) 

Charu for a reason asked her father Mani Oomen if she is his daughter. Though surprised, Oomen calms down Charu without replying. Back in her mind, the ancestry story that the Mermitians told Charu is found with some loose ends that did not make sense. 

Charu then had some strange thoughts and having emotions being the prominent one. Her thoughts of being a pampered daughter if her mother was alive made her drool in her mind. The very memory of her mother saying that she is a gift of God but was not born from the womb oiled her thoughts. In another incident, when Charu knew that her DNA doesn't match with that of Mani Oomen's the present incidents made her forcibly stay back and fulfil the responsibility. 

She posed the same to Goddess Athena to which Athena informed about the existence of planet Antrina. Charu understood that the two races of planet Antrina lost their ability to have emotions snatched by an evil eclipse. Earth plants emotions to them. 

The goddess also told Charu that only one of the races has the power to absorb emotions and Charu has to find the right race who can absorb emotions and send them back to their planet.

 Something unexpected started a whirlwind in Charu's mind.

 Questions:

1. What does the code MV02FK09 mean?

2. Did Goddess Athena already plan Charu's choice?