Travel The Distance

Chapter 37

Pale morning light filtered weakly through the drapes on my bed. The light permeated my eyelids and roused me from the light, fitful slumber I had been battling through. I snapped awake instantly, sitting up and scowling to myself. Grumbling and groaning loudly to nobody but myself, I rolled out of bed and pulled back the translucent curtains which hung by my windows. The fresh morning air bathed me graciously. It slipped into my lungs and curled around my soul like refreshing ice-cold water on a scathingly hot day. I allowed a minute, almost invisible, smile slip onto my lips before it dropped rather suddenly and I whipped around to glare at the presence which had been hovering behind me for the past few seconds.

"What do you want!" I barked as I glared at the cloud of darkness behind me. The spirit had no face, so I couldn't tell how it reacted to my sudden outburst, but it didn't seem to be surprised or perturbed. Instead, with sluggish movements which irritated me to no end, the spirit produced several scrolls from within its inky depths and held them out for me to take. I was cautious in my moments, but nowhere near as slow as the fucking spirit had been. I snatched the scrolls from the spirit before glaring at it.

"Well... What the fuck are you still doing here? Fuck off!" I snapped at the spirit, making a shooing gesture with my hand as I did so. If the spirit could scowl and huff at me, I'm sure it would have as it sunk into the ground, creating a puddle of ebony mist which was soon absorbed into the ground, leaving no trace of the spirit behind. It was like it was never there, to begin with. A mere figment of the imagination. I tutted before taking my cloak from its rightful position and sweeping it around my shoulder on my way out of the door.

I marched with purpose through the castle, every unnecessarily heavy step I took brought me closer and closer to my office. I arrived at my office quicker than I usually would due to my fast pace and the simmering frustrations and anger boiling under the surface of my very thin facade. Despite talking to Shoto the previous night, I was still frustrated and stressed about the oncoming attack on my home. It had only been a year and yet my Kingdom was already in deep shit.

As expected, nobody was in my office when I stormed in and sat down in my chair. I slapped the scrolls in my hand down onto the dark wood of my desk before my elbows landed heavily beside the plans. I leaned my head onto my hands and massaged my temple. Two days until the battle, and I was just about ready to kneel over from all of the stress which swarmed me like unwelcome pests.

I huffed in anger as I took one of the scrolls and opened it to quickly read through its contents. I repeated this with each scroll, my eyebrows furrowing and my mind foggy with a brewing storm. The plans detailed within the scrolls were credible, no doubt about that, they looked real. The plans were realistic and they would certainly be able to be performed with an army of that magnitude, but there was just something slightly off about them. I wasn't sure what it was, but I had a gut feeling that I shouldn't trust the plans which had been sent to me. I had always followed my instincts when it came to extremely important matters, and I hadn't been wrong once before, so I decided to follow my instincts again. I decided then and there, at that moment, that I wouldn't even consider the plans in front of me. They were fake, an attempt to lure me into a false sense of security so that I would let my guard down and practically allow Shigaraki's forces into my lands. That wasn't going to happen, I wasn't going to let it happen.

"So, you received these plans earlier today?" Aizawa drawled lazily as he looked over the plans on the meeting table with a keen eye.

"Mhm. A spirit brought them. I don't trust them though, I can just tell that they're fake." I grumbled into to oppressive silence of the meeting room where my advisors and the others had gathered.

"I don't trust this either," Mezo spoke up from where he was taking notes. He rarely spoke, he was a friendly giant type, but he was excellent at surveillance and fighting due to his mutation and magic.