The Bit Bucket

A Transgender Paranormal Romantasy

From the Paranormal Visitor Universe

Chapter 5: Mastering the Impossible

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Can Fred master the impossible and initiate reincarnation to take Gwen with him and together escape The Bit Bucket?

Copyright 2025 by Sasha Zarya Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

Author's Note:

This book, in it's entirety, is available on my Patreon. BCTS will get weekly postings on Saturdays to complete it here. Patreon Free Members can read my new complete book by chapters, Things We Do for Love

The Bit Bucket settled into an expectant silence after Aislinn's presence faded, leaving Fred and Gwen alone with the weight of their decision. The medieval walls seemed to pulse with anticipation, as if the ancient space itself was preparing for what was to come. Fred could feel the equinox energy still thrumming through the metaphysical realm, but now it felt different—more focused, more demanding.

Training Montage

"Show me," Fred said, his voice steady despite the magnitude of what he was asking. "Show me how to master reincarnation."

Gwen moved to the center of the room, her ethereal form becoming more luminous as she drew upon her spirit-monitor knowledge. "It's not like teleportation, Fred. Teleportation moves your body through space—reincarnation transforms your very essence. You have to be willing to let go of everything you think you are while holding onto everything you truly are."

She gestured to the floating book, which opened itself to a page covered in diagrams that seemed to shift and breathe on the parchment. "The process requires perfect balance between faith and surrender. Too much control, and you'll resist the reincarnation. Too little, and you'll lose yourself entirely."

Fred studied the diagrams, trying to understand the intricate patterns of energy flow and spiritual resonance. His first attempt was clumsy—he focused too hard on maintaining his identity, and the magic simply fizzled out like a candle in the wind.

"Again," Gwen said patiently. "Remember, you're not trying to preserve Fred. You're trying to become who Fred was always meant to be."

The second attempt went further. Fred felt his consciousness begin to expand, touching the edges of something vast and transformative. But fear crept in—what if he lost his memories of Sarah? What if he forgot their love?—and the process collapsed, leaving him gasping on the medieval stone floor.

"I can't," he said, frustration bleeding into his voice. "Every time I get close, I think about losing you, losing us, and I pull back."

Internal Conflict

Gwen knelt beside him, her spirit-form solidifying enough that he could almost feel her touch. "That's exactly the problem, Fred. You're trying to hold onto the past instead of trusting in what we could become."

"But what if reincarnation changes us so much that we don't love each other anymore?" Fred's voice cracked with the weight of his fear. "What if whoever we become doesn't remember this connection?"

"Love isn't about memory," Gwen said softly. "It's about recognition. The soul recognizes its mate regardless of form. Sarah loved Fred, but the essence of that love—the recognition, the resonance—that transcends any single lifetime."

Fred closed his eyes, wrestling with doubts that felt as ancient as the Bit Bucket itself. He'd spent three years mourning Sarah, three years believing that their love was tied to their specific forms, their specific memories. The idea of letting go of that felt like betraying everything they'd shared.

"I've been Fred for thirty-six years," he whispered. "It's all I know how to be."

"And you've been incomplete for thirty-six years," Gwen replied with gentle firmness. "The chimera nature, the constant feeling of being caught between worlds—that's not who you really are. That's just who you've been forced to be."

Gwen's Support

The hours passed in a blur of failed attempts and growing desperation. Each time Fred approached the threshold of reincarnation, something held him back—fear, doubt, the desperate need to control an inherently uncontrollable process.

Gwen never lost patience. She guided him through breathing exercises that helped him connect with the metaphysical currents flowing through the Bit Bucket. She shared memories of her own death and becoming a ghost, how terrifying it had been to let go of Sarah and become something new.

"When I first became a spirit monitor," she said during one of their rest periods, "I tried so hard to hold onto who Sarah had been. I would recite our conversations, replay our memories, anything to keep her alive inside me. But it wasn't until I accepted that Sarah was gone—truly gone—that I could become Gwen. And Gwen was stronger, wiser, more capable of love than Sarah ever was."

Fred looked at her with new understanding. "You're saying I have to let Fred die."

"I'm saying you have to let Fred reincarnate," she corrected. "Death implies ending. Reincarnation implies becoming. The love between us won't die, Fred. It will evolve into something more beautiful than we can imagine."

Ancient Resonance

As the day wore on—if day had any meaning in the timeless space of the Bit Bucket—something began to change. Fred's repeated attempts to access reincarnation magic had created ripples in the metaphysical fabric of the room. The artifacts began to respond: the silver bell chimed softly without being touched, the mysterious liquid in the lamp swirled with increasing luminosity, and the books on Aislinn's shelf glowed with inner fire.

"Do you feel that?" Gwen asked, her storm-gray eyes wide with wonder.

Fred did feel it—a resonance building in the very stones of the walls, as if their combined spiritual energy was awakening something that had slept for centuries. The slate where he'd written his name began to pulse with blue light, and new words appeared: The wheel turns. Ancient power stirs. What was lost seeks to be found.

"It's responding to us," Fred realized. "Our connection, our attempts at reincarnation—it's triggering something in the Bit Bucket itself."

The floating book's pages began turning rapidly, settling on passages Fred hadn't seen before. These weren't instructions for reincarnation—they were fragments of history, glimpses of the legendary sorceresses who had once shaped the magical world.

Andromeda of the Pure Heart, one passage read, whose love conquered even death itself.

Morgana of the Endless Night, read another, whose pain became a darkness that consumed worlds.

"Fred," Gwen whispered, her voice filled with awe and growing alarm. "I think our love story is connected to something much larger than we realized."

Growing Desperation

The revelation should have been encouraging, but instead it filled Fred with a new kind of panic. If their connection was somehow tied to ancient magical forces, what did that mean for their ability to control their own destiny? What if they were just pawns in some cosmic game played by powers beyond their understanding?

His next attempt at reincarnation was his most desperate yet. He threw himself into the magic with reckless abandon, trying to force the reincarnation through sheer will. The result was catastrophic with energy exploded outward from his body, sending books flying from their shelves and causing the medieval walls to crack and groan.

"Stop!" Gwen cried, her spirit-form flickering as the chaotic energy disrupted her manifestation. "You're going to tear the Bit Bucket apart!"

Fred collapsed, his body shaking from the magical backlash. Blood trickled from his nose, and his vision swam with exhaustion. "I can't do this," he gasped. "I'm not strong enough, not wise enough. Maybe I'm meant to be trapped here forever."

"No," Gwen said fiercely, her form solidifying with determination. "I won't let you give up. Not when we're so close."

She moved to him, and for the first time since his arrival in the Bit Bucket, Fred felt her touch—not quite physical, but real enough to anchor him. "Listen to me, Fred. The power you need isn't about strength or wisdom. It's about trust. Trust in me, trust in us, trust in the love that brought us together across death itself."

The Bit Bucket pulsed around them, the ancient resonance growing stronger. The artifacts hummed with increasing harmony, and the very air seemed to thicken with possibility. Fred could feel something vast stirring in the depths of the metaphysical space—not malevolent, but so powerful it made his soul tremble.

"Something's coming," he whispered, looking at Gwen with eyes that held both fear and desperate hope. "Whatever we've awakened, it's almost here."

Gwen's storm-gray eyes met his, and in them he saw the same mixture of terror and anticipation. "Then we'd better be ready," she said. "Because I have a feeling that whatever happens next will change everything—not just for us, but for the entire magical world."

The slate on the wall blazed with new words: The sleeper wakes. The wheel turns. Love and darkness prepare to dance once more.

Fred felt the first stirrings of a reincarnation that would reshape not just his body, but the very fabric of reality itself. The real test was about to begin, and there would be no going back.