The Bit Bucket

A Transgender Paranormal Romantasy

From the Paranormal Visitor Universe

Chapter 18: Preparing for War

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

How will Morgana's forces attacking the college effect Aislinn's College for the Blessed?
Will the preparations by War Council be sufficient to meet the threat of Morgana?

Copyright 2025 by Sasha Zarya Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

The aftermath of discovering the Stellar Prism and Morgana's direct challenge left Aislinn's College transformed. Where once students had moved through the crystalline corridors with the casual confidence of youth, now they walked with purpose, their faces reflecting the gravity of what was coming. Meda stood in the college's war room—a chamber that had been sealed for over a millennium—watching as ancient defensive systems awakened to her presence.

Strategic Planning

The war room existed in folded space beneath the college's foundations, its walls lined with tactical displays that showed the positions of every magical realm in known space. Aislinn moved between the holographic projections with fluid grace, her silver hair seeming to conduct the very energies that powered the ancient systems.

"Morgana's projection was more than just a threat," Aislinn explained as she manipulated the displays to show dimensional pathways converging on their location. "She was conducting reconnaissance, mapping our defenses, understanding how we've changed since our last encounter."

Eva studied the tactical readouts with growing concern, her empathic abilities picking up the tension radiating from every faculty member present. "She's not just planning to attack the college," she realized. "She's going to try to corrupt the entire magical education system. If she can turn the students against their teachers, the institutions against each other..."

"She'll have an army of young sorceresses under her control," Wanda finished grimly, her artifact fragment pulsing with agitated light as it responded to the war room's ancient energies. "And they'll be fighting for what they believe is justice, never realizing they've been manipulated."

Meda felt Andromeda's memories stirring, providing tactical insights that spanned millennia of cosmic conflict. "That's exactly how she operated before," she said, her voice carrying the authority of ancient experience. "Morgana never relied on brute force alone. She understood that the most effective way to destroy something was to make it destroy itself."

Artifact Assembly

The next phase of their preparation involved gathering every artifact they'd discovered and several more that Aislinn had kept hidden in the college's deepest vaults. The Stellar Prism sat at the center of a crystalline array, its light harmonizing with fragments of other ancient creations that pulsed with their own inner fire.

"The Empathic Crown," Aislinn said, carefully placing a circlet of what appeared to be crystallized starlight next to the Prism. "Eva, this was created specifically for someone with your abilities. It amplifies emotional healing across vast distances and can turn despair into hope, hatred into understanding."

Eva approached the Crown with reverence, feeling its power calling to her empathic nature. The moment she touched it, golden threads of light spread throughout the war room, and everyone present felt a surge of courage and determination that pushed back against the fear Morgana's influence had been spreading.

Wanda's role in the artifact assembly proved crucial, her years of study allowing her to understand the complex resonances between different magical items. "They're not just tools," she explained as she helped calibrate the array. "They're components of a larger system—a network of power that Andromeda designed to maintain balance across the magical realms."

"But Morgana created her own network," Meda said, Andromeda's memories providing glimpses of shadow artifacts that pulsed with malevolent energy. "The Shadow Blade, the Crown of Whispers, the Heart of Darkness—they're designed to corrupt and consume, to turn the very concept of magical education into a weapon."

Alliance Coordination

Word of Morgana's awakening had spread throughout the magical community, and representatives from dozens of institutions began arriving at the college. The gravity-defying gardens filled with beings from across the cosmic expanse—crystal-winged delegates from the Arcturus Academy, flame-wreathed professors from the Solar Collegium, and shadow-touched scholars from the Void Universities who had chosen light over darkness.

Dean Bronwen coordinated the defensive preparations with military precision, her expertise in magical defense proving invaluable as she organized the college's faculty and visiting allies into cohesive units. "We're not just defending one institution," she told the assembled defenders. "We're protecting the very concept of magical education—the idea that knowledge should be shared freely rather than hoarded by those who would use it for domination."

Professor Ingris worked with the historians from other institutions to research precedents for Morgana's tactics, uncovering patterns of corruption that stretched back through cosmic history. "She always begins with the students," Ingris reported during one of their strategy sessions. "She identifies those who feel overlooked or undervalued, then offers them power and recognition in exchange for loyalty."

Dean Molli Rose's expertise in child welfare became crucial as they worked to protect the younger students from Morgana's psychological manipulation. "We need to strengthen their emotional defenses," she explained to the assembled faculty. "Fear and insecurity are the cracks through which her influence seeps in."

Personal Preparation

While the college prepared for siege, Meda found herself grappling with the full weight of Andromeda's legacy. The integration of her identity was complete, but the responsibility that came with cosmic power pressed down on her like a mountain. During quiet moments in their dorm room, she and Eva would sit together, drawing strength from their sisterly bond.

"I keep thinking about what Morgana said," Meda confessed during one of these sessions. "About love being what destroyed them in the first place. What if she's right? What if my feelings for you, for Wanda, for everyone here, make me weak?"

Eva's hand found hers, warm and reassuring. "Love didn't destroy Andromeda and Morgana," she said firmly. "The absence of love did. Morgana chose power over connection, control over trust. That's what corrupted her, not the love she once felt."

Wanda joined them, her own preparations complete. She had spent days studying the artifact network, understanding how their combined power could be focused and directed. "The difference between you and Morgana," she said to Meda, "is that you're not fighting alone. She isolated herself, convinced that strength meant independence. But you've chosen to share your power, to trust others with your vulnerabilities."

Eva's Role

Eva's preparation took a different form than her sisters'. Where Meda focused on mastering cosmic forces and Wanda studied tactical applications of artifact power, Eva worked to strengthen the emotional bonds that held their alliance together. She moved through the college like a healing presence, using her empathic abilities to identify and address the fear and doubt that Morgana's influence had planted.

"Your role in the coming battle isn't to destroy," Dean Molli Rose told her during one of their training sessions. "It's to preserve—to maintain the connections between people that make them stronger than the sum of their parts."

Eva practiced with the Empathic Crown, learning to project waves of courage and hope that could counteract Morgana's psychological attacks. But more importantly, she worked to understand the deeper currents of emotion that flowed between all living beings, the connections that Morgana sought to sever and corrupt.

"She's going to try to turn us against each other," Eva explained to the assembled defenders. "She'll show us our worst fears, our deepest insecurities, and try to convince us that our allies are really our enemies. When that happens, remember this feeling—" She activated the Crown, filling the room with a sense of unity and shared purpose. "Remember that we're stronger together than we could ever be apart."

Final Doubts

As the preparations neared completion and the college's defenses reached their peak readiness, moments of uncertainty still crept in. During the final strategy meeting, held in the war room as ancient systems hummed with power, the magnitude of what they faced became impossible to ignore.

"She has a thousand years of accumulated power," one of the visiting professors pointed out. "Morgana has been growing stronger while we've been teaching students and maintaining institutions. How do we know we're ready for what she's become?"

Aislinn's response carried the weight of millennia. "We're ready because we've chosen a different path than the one that led to her corruption. Morgana seeks to dominate, to control, to remake the universe according to her will. We seek to preserve, to protect, to ensure that knowledge and wisdom can flourish freely."

But even as she spoke the words, Meda could feel doubt gnawing at the edges of her consciousness. Andromeda's memories showed her glimpses of their last battle—the terrible cost of that conflict, the civilizations that had been caught in the crossfire, the price of choosing war over surrender.

"What if we're wrong?" she asked quietly as the meeting dispersed and the final preparations began. "What if the cost of fighting her is greater than the cost of letting her win?"

It was Wanda who answered, her voice steady with conviction. "Then we make sure the cost is worth paying. We fight not just to defeat her, but to prove that love really can triumph over hate, that connection is stronger than control, that the bonds between people are more powerful than any individual's desire for dominion."

As night fell over Aislinn's College and the final defensive preparations were completed, the three sisters stood together on the observatory balcony, looking out at the swirling cosmos beyond the college's protective barriers. Tomorrow would bring the battle that would determine not just their own fates, but the future of magical education throughout the universe.

The artifacts hummed with power, the alliances were forged, and the defenses were ready. But the real test would come when they faced Morgana herself—not just as an enemy to be defeated, but as a sister to be saved, a soul to be redeemed, a darkness to be transformed back into light.

The war room's ancient systems pulsed once more, detecting movement in the dimensional void beyond the college's reality bubble. Morgana was coming, and with her, the final confrontation that would reshape the magical world forever. The time for preparation was over; the time for choice had begun.