Story Challenge

SECRETS OF THE OCCULT

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it: **write a story themed around the concept of SECRETS OF THE OCCULT!**  
 
Tarot imagery. Secret societies. Ouija boards, old grimoires, the angelic languages, the Seal of Solomon. A sense of the unnatural sitting just below the surface of reality. Covert worship of old gods. A tarot reader discovers he can *control* what cards show up for his clients... and thus literally control their fate. A college student is inducted into a strange campus society which turns out to be summoning the Devil—and boy, is the Devil hung! A man inherits a diary full of alchemical sigils, and realizes they're a language for altering the world. A farmer discovers his latent psychic powers, and attracts the attention of an ancient cult eager to worship him. Think *The Craft*. Think Aleister Crowley. Think H. P. Lovecraft. Heck, think *The Magicians.*  
 
**The possibilities are endless. What's** ***your*** **SECRETS OF THE OCCULT story?**  
 
We'd love to see your own spin on the prompt! You're also very welcome to take inspiration from any of the ideas above, if they appeal to you.  
 
This story challenge crosses all three sites, meaning your story can be about mind control, BDSM, a romance, or any combination of options. Good luck, and have fun!
The following requirements are enacted for this challenge in addition to the usual site rules:  - The story must be clearly inspired by the challenge prompt.  - Authors of challenge stories are anonymized by the system, and not shown until the final results are up. This is to make voting more fair—and to keep up the suspense! - Authors can only submit one story to the challenge. - A single story with multiple chapters is okay to submit, so long as you upload the chapters during the time frame of the challenge. **However,** no additional chapters to your challenge story can be submitted after the challenge ends when we are in the two-week voting period. (Please note, additional chapters to your challenge story *can* to be submitted after the challenge is over, if you wish to continue your story later, but those chapters this will not affect the calculations of the final challenge results.)  
 
Challenge stories are ‘ranked’ based on a calculation combining their best 4 category ratings (aka, the badges) with how many unique Favorites they get. Voting will continue for two weeks after the challenge concludes, at which point the Top 5 will be announced and all authors will be revealed. 
Submission deadline: March 20, 2023 at 11:59:59 PM GMT
Final standings available!

Top 5 Entries

Followup stories listed in random order!

2,920
2/23/23
Derek goes to see the Broker, can he really change a person's sexuality with his arcane powers?
CA
A young Asian man living in Nashville joins up with a ghost hunting crew as a hobby and learns that ghosts are real and things will never be the same for him afterwards.
There is an order of darkness that seeks to bend the will of all in the world to the will of the Dark Master. Men will change into monsters with rippling muscles. A trio of friends here is at a magic shop and decide to investigate it. They gain a spell that changes their lives forever.
Henry Edward, a private museum director, call forth an expedition to Cairo upon catching wind of an anomaly happening on a digging site from one of his sources. His informant said the only thing the local said was some diggers just went mad and exhibits strange behaviors without anymore explanation. What kind of anomaly awaits Henry & his team? And why are the locals being so secretive?
Fu
This was my first story, so feel free to comment about what's missing and some advice. The story is about Arthur's rise to the top.
Kevin meets a congregation member who offers up a religious alternative and maybe a bit more.
Tom, his father and brother all move into a new house after Tom's first year as a non-traditional student. Next door is a very creepy house, and what's worse is the very creepy neighbor named Gideon. Tom soon learns that Gideon is more than what he seems and can Tom save his family from being sex slaves.
In 19th Century New England, the men of a small town fall prey to a young man fulfilling a dark prophecy. What doom will befall the town when an Old God’s gaze is drawn to it?
NT
This is my very first time posting my story online. Feel free to criticize so I can make changes to my other stories (that I have no idea when will I finish and post). Josh made a deal with the rubber demon with a twist.