New World

He walked down the dark street, a slight purple haze glowing all around; the only thing registering were the bright signs on both sides of it. His movements were sluggish, and thoughts barely collected themselves.

He stopped his dull feet, and turned towards the signs. The light they glowed was emitted like radiation, poisoning everything around them. It felt blinding.

In this one moment, nothing else registered in Kira’s mind. Not the loud noise made by the vehicles passing by him, not the people giving him weird looks, only the glowing light of the signs.

He just stood there, staring at the lights, lost in them.

…................................................................................................................................................

As awareness slowly returned, he opened his eyes.

He found himself on the bed of a small room. He looked at himself and he was still in his sleeping clothes. He had no hair bracelet, so as he got up from the bed, a hair waterfall fell down his chest and back, covering him. He looked as if he had just woken up from a long deep sleep. With some grogginess, he took in his surroundings.

The crystal light bulb on the center of the ceiling, shone gentle light onto the concrete walls. The walls had a soft look to them.

‘Crystal light bulb, concrete not made of metallic sand. Where am I?’ With a confused look he slowly got out of bed. He tried to access his neural interface, but it did not work. ’Where could I possibly be that the neural interface doesn’t work’

The door of the room was surprisingly made out of wood. The dark brown door, had crisscrossed wooden lines on it, making it look sturdy.

He went to the door, and tried to open it as slowly and as gently as he could. The door opened, and sound entered his ears.

“When do you think he’ll wake up?” asked a man, boredom in his voice.

“I don’t know? But Miu said to tell her as soon as he does. She also told me to be careful not to scare him, since meat tastes better when its calm.”

‘sigh’ “She doesn’t think much of us, does she?” said the man with a bit of hurt in his voice.

“She is an immortal. No. She doesn’t” said the other man as a matter of fact.

Kira slowly listened to their conversation, trying to gleam any information he could. As far as he could tell, from the tone of their voice, it did not seem like he would get hurt, but he could tell he was a prisoner.

The men had some small talk, and nothing of value came out of listening to them, so Kira thoughts started forming, trying to find him a way forward.

“Hmm?”

His thought revolutions were interrupted, not hearing them chat anymore.

He had a hunch they had found him out. ‘Since they know I'm awake, it's probably better if I come out’

He slowly hardened his face, and exited the room. The two men were sitting on chairs, overlooking the hallway he was in, his feet not feeling the cold of the wooden floring.

He looked at his surroundings and found that his hallway, was a dead end, and the room he just came out of was at the very end of it. The men were not far away from him, twenty meters away.

The two men were resting on armchair, in a small hallway intersection. A small table in between their chairs. They got up hurriedly as they saw Kira come out, aversion written all over their faces, as they gazed at him.

‘Only one way out’ Kira coldly thought. ‘Through them.’

His face slowly lost its hardness, and quickly got replaced by a look that made him look lost, fear apparent on his face.

As the men saw his face change, one of them got up and made a stop sign with his hand. He said in a hasty tone.

“Wait a second right there, don’t worry everything is fine. Ugh... just wait over there. Do not be scared!” as he said this, he made for a hallway on the right and started running.

Kira waited, still keeping his look of fear, all the while studying the face of the one in front of him. The man looked troubled, seemingly not keen on being there. He did not look big of build, and since the feeling he gave off did not seem dangerous, Kira started counting the seconds.

Ok, one man. I have never fought someone before, but gym simulations are just as real. I definitely have a chance at taking him down. He does not seem stronger than me. All these thoughts came as fast as an airbus.

8,9,10. ITS TIME! The look of fear on his face abruptly disappeared, it being replaced by a cold metalic expression. He pumped energy into his legs, leaned his body forward a little bit, and dashed madly straight ahead.

With unmatched speed, wind whistling within his ears, surprising Kira, he quickly got in front of him, and punched straight. Seeing such speed from him, the man showed a look of fear. “WAIT! I’M NOT GOING TO UGH!”

As his fist connected with the man stomach, all the energy of the charge was unloaded into the target. Kira could feel something break inside the man, a slight instinctual disgust rising within him.

thud

The body slid limply down the wall, the fate of it unknown.

Kira sensed something wrong with the man’s behavior, but he had been too swift in his attack, combined with his adrenaline, and his rational thoughts became too slow to act.

Kira stood in front of him, trembling a little, looking at his fist in shock. Wait. Why am I so fast? He then sent his gaze to look at the man. Quick worry passed his eyes. Kira shook his head and left not worrying about him any longer. He had no time to care for anyone unknown.

I will figure it out later. The hallway split into two, one left and one right. He turned to look at the right hallway.

‘That man had said he is supposed to call someone Miu, who is an Immortal. He had not seemed sarcastic’ turning around he took the left one. He started running with everything he had.

He was in an unknown building, in an unknown place, and probably people would be looking for him. He decided to run fast and not pay attention to stealth. All the inner peace he was taught on Emerald, shone brightly in these moments.

The sound of his bare feet slapping hard onto the wooden flooring, all too easy to be heard echoing in the hallway. All the inner peace he was taught on Emerald, shone brightly in these moments.

The hallway he was on had countless wooden doors on both sides, with crystal lights illuminating it. As he turned a corner, the natural light entering his eyes, managed to put a smile on his face. The end of this hallway led outside. Picking up even more speed, he steeled himself for what may be outside.

As he dashed through the doors, momentarily the natural light made him squint, hiding what was in front of him. He could only hear the hum of a city.

As his eyes quickly adjusted, he was surprised but what he saw. With a tremble in his voice, he said “I'm not on Emerald anymore.”

He was on a balcony, filled with chairs and tables, overlooking a street, which had vehicles on it. Not flying vehicles, not airbuses but the kind whit wheels.

As he looked up, his pupils shrunk as he realized there was a ceiling to the sky. A green ceiling with pockets of sunlight waterfalls. In the distance he could see, brown pillars towering into the sky, holding the ceiling from falling onto the cityscape.

His thoughts were in disarray. What now? I am on a different world, and my neural interface does not work, which means I am not in the core system either. So not just another world, but in a different part of the sector entirely.

I know nothing outside the core worlds. His mind was starting to get mired in anxiety.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sensing himself transform to fear. After a few seconds of doing this, he gently opened his eyes and let loose a tense air from his lungs.

As he got close to the ledge, he looked down to the street. The balcony, hanging above the grey sidewalk, wasn’t too high up, but high enough that he could not just jump. Yet for some odd reason, Kira felt sure that he could take it. He felt that he could take the jump. Should I take it, he thought. Should he take the risk? He saw no other way out of the balcony.

boom boom boom boom

Fast rhythmic trembles could be felt coming from behind him. Swiftly approaching.

Kira felt as if something overwhelming was coming for him, making him hasten his decision.

‘FINE!’ he screamed inside his mind in haste, deciding on a course.

He jumped.

‘fuuuuh’

As he jumped, time seemed to slow, and a deluge of emotions flooded his soul. As his adrenaline crashed into his mind, his awareness shifted, from his body, to a different part of him.

Small purple lighting like energy, snaked and flickered around him, as he hurled towards the ground.

Kira closed his eyes, and felt the air around him, it seemed charged with something he could not grasp and understand, not noticing in his reverie, the physical phenomenon happening.

As he neared the ground, he suddenly opened his eyes, and put strength into his legs. ‘HMPH”

‘thud’

A dull sound was made by his landing, his legs bent until he was squatting.

Nothing more happened. He straightened up, and looked surprised at himself, the purple energy having already disappeared. When he turned his face upwards, he finally allowed himself to see how high up the balcony was. It seemed at least fifteen meters high. How had he not realized it before. How could he have felt it safe to fall from such a height?

There was nothing but surprise in his eyes. ‘How is it possible that I'm not injured by this fall.’

‘BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP’

A loud noise buzzed his shocked body. A car has just passed by him, only now noticing he was in the middle of the road, so not only had he fallen 15 meters he had also flown all the in the middle of the street.

He hastily chose a direction and started running.

As he took the city in his view, he saw people walking down the two-lane street. They all looked at him with worried looks. All of them seemingly afraid of him, or at the very least annoyed.

The street was pretty narrow, not allowing much view besides the buildings on both sides. There wasn’t anything to latch his sight to, so as he could orient himself in space.

As he ran, again, he could not help but realize how fast he was, the sound of the air pressing against his ears, the pressure of the air pushing on his body. He had already run a small distance when,

BOOM!

A powerful tremor came from behind him. The mighty presence he had felt before, had just appeared behind him. He turned his head around, and saw a tall woman with shoulder length hair, black of color, standing in a small cloud of dust.

Where she stood the road had cracked. She also was surprisingly close to Kira. Not more than a couple of steps away.

“Stop running” a heavy female voice was heard.

Kira stopped running, and turned to face her. As the dust settled, he realized there was a web of cracks under her, all pointing towards him. ‘She jumped from the balcony all the way up here!?’ thought Kira flabbergasted.

He turned his head towards the balcony, which was at least a hundred meters away.

As the woman saw the look of shock on his face, she smiled gently at him and said in a heavy but calm tone “Don't worry, I won't hurt you.”

He got a better look at the woman, he realized she had powerful muscles on her, her jacket not being able to hide the feeling of stele muscle. She was not overly big, but his gut feeling told him, she was capable of snaping him in half.

As this thought took over, something sprouted in him. Kira realized this was excitement. Keeping his calm, he closed his eyes and felt. ‘This excitement is the anticipation of pleasure. What pleasure am I anticipating.’ Slowly feeling his inner self, he came to a conclusion. ‘I want to fight her. I wonder why’

A bit surprised at this revelation, he opened his eyes. Kira could feel something changing in his body, slowly feeding him energy. As he gazed at the woman, who seemed patient enough not to disturb his thoughts, he made up his mind.

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‘I'll fight her.’

He lowered his body forward, and again started putting energy into his legs. As he contracted his muscles more and more, the air around him started getting charged, small electric looking energy, snaked and coiled around him, flickering in and out of sight.

The energy in his body, kept climbing and climbing until all he could feel, was energy.

The look on the womans face turned to surprise, and she said “Hah, you're awakening.” her face quickly turned into a frown, when she realized he was charging up more and more.

“Now wait a second! Don’t think just because your awakening, that you can take me on.” said the woman with a calm heavy voice. Seeing as this did not persuade him to calm down, she hardened her face and said in a heavy tone.

“Don't make me angry.”

boom

The street cracked under Kira’s charge, and he felt he was fast beyond what any human could achieve naturally. He felt the air put pressure on him, he felt his sweat get blown away and leave nothing but dry skin behind, he felt the street crack under his footsteps. Kira felt invincible for a split second, and in that split second, he was in front of her. Small electric arcs in his wake.

As he made to punch her head on, she calmly moved to the side dodging the fist, and as the momentum of the move carried him forward, Kira ended up right in front of her with his arm outstretched.

Time seemed to slow in Kira’s perception. She calmly lifted her hand, made a fist with it, and struck down.

‘dodge’ thought Kira, but he noticed that his body compared to the woman’s, moved incredibly slowly. Shock filled his mind, as he came to see, how overwhelmingly fast she was compared to him.

As the first connected with his body, his bones creaked under the pressure of the hit. He felt pain and nothing more. Kira had blacked out. A moment later crashing into the ground

‘BOOM!’

Another cloud of dust rose on the street, this time, made by a different person.

The people on the sidewalks looked a bit frightened at the commotion. They stopped for a second to check, but when they saw it was over, they instantly calmed down, and moved on. There were some cars who slowed down as they went around them, but most of them did not bother slowing down, blitzing past them as if annoyed.

The normal noise of the city returned, with the woman looking down at the man in front of her.

He was lying in a depression made in the street, a bit of dust covering him. As the woman looked at him, she frowned.

“I did say not to make a move. 'sigh' Well you'll be fine” while she said this, she picked Kira up, and hoisted him onto her shoulder, carrying him back to the building.

‘WYEW! WYEW! WYEW! WYEW! WYEW!’ a distant siren noise was heard, made loud by the narrow street enclosed by buildings, giving the noise a maddening effect. The sound seemed particularly penetrating to the ears, as it was amplified by the streets echo.

‘TSK’

The woman clicked her tongue loudly. “Of course, they saw. I mean they only see when stuff gets damaged.” uttered the woman in an annoyed tone.

…...........................................................................................................................................................

Eyes opening, Kira found himself again, lying on a bed. This time however he was in pain.

His body was hurting all over, and his right side in particular, seemed extremely sore. Given the circumstances, it seemed like he could move.

He glanced around the room, and saw that he was not alone. There were two other women in the room. One was the woman who pummeled him into unconsciousness, and the other one sat down on a straight chair. A woman who had a slim build, apparent frailness, with dark brown hair reaching past her shoulders. She wore a dark brown outfit, a long dress, through which you could see her covered legs.

She was extremely beautiful, this trait being enhanced by the fact that, the former woman was sitting behind her slightly, showing off her subordinance.

The woman was shuffling cards in her hands, but the cards made odd noises as they touched, like that of wood touching wood. It looked like the cards were not made of paper.

“Well, you see Miu? He is awake sooner then you said. Just like I said.” her voice was soft sounding, and with not much force behind it. Her face was calm and she had not even glanced up at Kira when she said this.

The short haired woman frowned. “Well, I thought he just awakened” her strong voice overshadowing the voice of her superior.

“I'm Mira.” She finally looked up at Kira as she said this. Kira was surprised because her eyes seemed mysterious to him. That is what his feelings were saying.

“I'm Kira” Kira thought he might as well be cooperating with them, since this Miu was incomprehensibly stronger than him. “Where am I?”

“You're in my house. “Kira waited for her to tell him more of his situation before he opened his mouth. He had patience and calm, ever since that day on the sky bridge, most things did not affect him anymore, and those that did, often did not last long.

The woman kept shuffling her cards, while looking at Kira, when some time had passed and words still did not appear, she smiled lightly.

“You’re patient. Well, let us reward that patience with a reading.” just as she finished saying this, she threw the cards high into the air, while simultaneously closing her eyes.

She lifted herd hands in the air, and pointed her palms towards the cards. The cards slowly stopped falling, in front of her face. Some rotated, some stopped as if space were frozen, some spinning fast. The card cloud was in between Kira and her, hiding her face from him.

Chaos. That is what Kira thought when he looked at the cards, then shock colored him. ’Why are they not falling down!’ His thoughts were finally disturbed. ‘What is going on. Why do I have such physical prowess, and what is going on right now’ something told him, this wasn’t simple.

As he kept looking at the cards, some of them changed their state, some started spinning, some started spinning on multiple axes, and others became still as metal. Yet even more peculiar was the fact that, even if some cards were spinning slowly, he could not see their faces.

Mira opened her eyes abruptly. Some cards began flowing towards her, and out of the cloud of cards. Kira could finally see her eyes again trough the swirling cloud.

Twenty seven cards flew out of the cloud, while the rest fell down to the floor, making knocking sounds.

Out of the cards pulled out, twenty-six of them were spinning on all axes all the while the cards where being shuffled amongst each other.

Mira looked at them and frowned heavily. Her expression became overcast with thoughts, as she clutched at her chest lightly. She remained in this position for a while, seemingly lost in her own world. She seemed mesmerized at the same time. She moved her hands lightly trying to catch one of them, but fear stopped her from moving even one centimeter forward.

‘sighhhh’

A long sigh escaped Mira as she stared straight at Kira. He felt awkward under her gaze, he felt as if she was gazing at him with something other than sight. Her shining hazel eyes, gazing deep inside him.

“Let him go” said Mira in a calm voice, having lost all traces of disturbance.

Miu opened her eyes, startled, looking weirdly at her.” What do you mean. What did you see in the cards.”

“He awakened anyway. There is no way for us to keep him tied here much longer anyway. What does it matter if we let him go.” her face reverted itself to calm.

Miu frowned and after a couple of seconds answered. “Yeah, your right. It's too dangerous to keep him tied.” she turned towards Kira and said “Go! Your free.” as she motioned to the door near him.

By this point he had calmed down, and his thoughts were no longer disturbed by what he saw today. I will get out of here first, then I shall think of what to make of today.

“Wait!” Mira voice came just a he turned to leave. She seemed to be thinking of something. “Do you want help?” asked Mira in an expecting tone.

Thinking of it, Kira thought since they had decided to let him go, there was no harm in accepting their help. “Sure. First of all, tell me where I am”

“I just told you, you're in my establishment” said Mira, a bit surprised at his question.

“No. I meant which planet” as he said this, the looks on the women's faces changed to surprise.

“Jangala” said Miu. Her deep feminine voice delivering this information. Kira’s mind begun to spun, all he knew of this world was that it was in the main pillar. He could not remember if it was a lesser world or not.

“Why did you bring me here? And how did you get past system security...” as he said this, he came to realize that such a thing isn't possible. Suddenly his mind became even more confused.

“We?” said Miu, “we found you on the street, under the influence of something. You probably took glitter, and,” looking a bit surprised at him “it seems to have worked. First time I've heard of it”

Kira did not know what she meant, but he felt like they were not lying to him. What would be the point, since they could do anything they wanted to him.

Giving a small sigh, he gave up finding out the truth from them. He had some recollection of wandering on the street before he had awoken, so it wasn’t hard to accept.

Resuming his calm smile, he began thinking what questions he should ask them.

“What is this awakening you keep talking about.” they seemed even more surprised at this question.

“You don’t know what awakening is? Cmon don’t mess with us.” Miu seemed genuinely a bit annoyed at this question. “I really do not know what it means. And those floating cards, what was that. What kind of psionics do you guys have, to have put levitation on a pack of cards?” Something did not add up with this worlds psionics. Psionics where advanced on Emerald, but he did not think there were levitation generators so small as to be put on cards. He started giving the room a once more look, perhaps there was something in the room that made the cards levitate.

As Miu seemed like she would get angry, Mira waved her off, and asked “Where are you from exactly?” she became more suspicious of Kira’s origins. Not only had her cards shown absolute chaos, he did not know anything about abilities.

“I, ugh,” he did not know if he should tell them he was from the core. What would they say. He knew one thing about the people from the outside world. They did not take a liking to the core worlds policies. That is what he was told from birth by his caretakers.

All the news about the outside world, was negative. No one wanted to leave the core system, and venture outside. Not only because of the VMV.

Mira smiled, remembering the only card that was not spinning in the stack. “It’s ok. You don’t have to tell us. But judging from your questions, you don’t know where you are, and anything about abilities for that matter”

“Yes. You said you wanted to help me? Well, I would appreciate it if you told me about these things.”

“Yes. I did say I would give you help. Very well. I will start by telling you about abilities, since you seem to not know of them. That does make me curious about what kind of place you come from, that makes you unaware of such things. But since you won't tell me, so be it.”

“I appreciate you not asking” he made a small bow towards her and his hand made a move towards his chest, but he suppressed the instinct.

The small movements did not escape her eyes, but she continued nonetheless.

“There are people in this world that can come in contact with Psionic Space.” This sounded like a thunderclap in his ears. His amazement at her words, made her smile “Furthermore, there are people in this world that can take in raw psionic energy with their bodies. Some more than others. Anybody who can touch psionic space, can have some abilities, but these on their own are benign, like weak telekinesis, heightened senses, and such other tricks. Others however, such as you, can become,” taking this small stall in speech to gaze at him closely “extremely powerful beings.”

Kira could not keep his calm, and a brooding expression appeared on his face.

With an expectant expression Mira asked further “Have you for example, heard the story of Odin?”

Kira frowned and said “No.”

The smile on her face turned to a teasing one. “You really do know nothing about it.”

Closing her eyes in in thought, and realizing she could mold his expectations, started thinking of what to say and how to say it, and in what direction should she send him.

Her eyes opened swiftly, and the air around her changed, the lights in the room seemed to dim under her presence, and a pressure unlike anything he felt until this point in his life started pressing in on his very core.

She looked straight into his eyes “One thousand years ago, during the Spring of Heroes, a man so powerful that he could split the heavens, rose to power.” her words drawing his awareness, focusing it only on her and the deep, penetrating voice “A creature so powerful, it could melt mountains and evaporate seas. His name, was Odin.” the name being stretched by her voice, across eons of time.

His name charged with such energy, that images penetrated Kira’s psyche, a man with a golden sword, swinging it slowly towards a mountain. He had such temperament, that it looked as if he could kill gods. The mountain in front of him, so tall and mighty it looked heavenly. Yet in front of this man, the mountain seemed to bow, and beg and twist its shape, hoping for forgiveness.

As he swung the sword, the world behind the man creaked and groaned under his very pressure, bringing with it the sound of a thousand worlds tearing apart. Behind him rivers evaporated and hills leveled in preparation for his swing.

Without warning, the world stopped in its tracks. Time itself seemed to freeze as the gold glowing man seemed to move. His sword was swung with such power, that the clouds parted before he had even made his mode. The ground split apart as the sword reached the apex of the swing.

Heaven and earth were making way for his move.

“BOROS JUDGEMENT!”

The sound was calm and low, and this sound hit Kira’s very soul.

A blinding light shot out of the sword, reaching the mountain instantaneously. There was no sound. Only an image. The mountain split in half.

As the sword wave kept hitting the split mountain, it started to disappear beginning with its severed core.

BOOM!

The celestial mountain slowly disappearing, only now, thundering noise covering the world.

Finally, the world was allowed to breath, the frozen time, melted by the man. The sentence had been passed. The mountain stood in his way, and the mountain evaporated.

As he directed his perception towards the man again, he thought he could feel the man's disposition.

Serene. Content. A calm he had sense only once in his life.

The vision ceased and Kira’s perception returned to the room. Mira kept gazing at him. The pressure in the room was gone. When he sneaked a look at Miu, she had sweat all over her face, and was slightly trembling.

Taking a moment to calm his mind, helped by the feeling that man had instilled into him. Kira asked “Why? Why did you show me that?” his tone was calm.

Mira smiled playfully. “I wanted to show you. I wanted to show you just how powerful you could become, so you know where the heavenly steps lead. It leads to that. The legends of today, say at his most powerful, Odin could fight the whole of heaven and earth for whole nine breaths. You could be that powerful.” said Mira enticingly.

Her gaze kept watching Kira, closely examining how he reacts.

In Kira’s minds, something even more powerful than the excitement on the street appeared. Just as this feeling was about to take him over, he remembered the bench under the clouds, and all he unlearned that day.

Smiling, Kira said “Perhaps. But what does it matter? I am here. Now. Whether I become the most powerful creature under the heavens, or the most insignificant one...” Kira shook his head lightly “It makes no difference.”

Mira’s playful smile, disappeared. She looked at Kira without any expression, no one knew her thoughts.

“That was a psychic recording of Odin’s most powerful move. And it is real. I have a talent in this, and as far as I can tell, this recording is real. You feel nothing when I say this?” once more she looked at him expectantly.

Kira just shook his head lightly.

Mira smiled at this. “Very well. If fate helps you break away from your mortality, then perhaps you won't die uselessly like many others have pursuing eternity. Since you cannot be corrupted by the excitement of transcendence, then I will help you. You can stay here with me, where I will protect you if anything happens. Of course, only here inside. If you go outside, you are on your own.”

Miu who Kira had forgot about, seemed a bit surprised by the decision Mira made. She chose to not say anything. Despite their size difference, Kira thought that Mira was more unfathomable then Miu. The pressure he sensed coming from her, just before she had given him that vision, made his body shudder involuntarily.

“You cannot use my name outside of this building tough. I hope you respect my wish of not flaunting my name around the city.” Mira seemed a bit reluctant to implant herself into outside issues. "So, you should be careful what kind of trouble you get into outside. I will not help you. I warn you Kira, this is Night District. This part of the city is the most lawless on the planet. On Jangala, everything bad happens in night city. Ask Miu to give you information on what to do and not to do, who you should be careful for and who you should not allow to trample on you. But a good core rule in Night District is to not get yourself confused with the ruling clans. I am empress around here and still I don’t bother with them. There's too much conflict in their midst.” a small proudful smile adorned her face, while having reached this point.

“Also, no financial support. Only a safehouse. This right here. Nobody dares come here, with thoughts to annoy me.”

Kira was a bit surprised at the lack of reticence to help him. He sensed that she did not have any ulterior motives, but he still wanted to ask “Why are you helping me?”

Mira smiled calmly and said “Because I want to. No other reason. Miu give him a good room.”

As Miu moved, she motioned for him to follow her. As he was about to leave the room, he turned around and smiled at Mira saying. “Thank you. I shall …” he wanted to say something but he decided against it. There is no need to say it, he will just do it when the time comes.

With this he turned around and left the room.

Mira was left alone in her office. She let out a long sigh so as to expel her exhaustion, afterwards lifting one card from the floor, giving it one more look.

It was an image of a tall and mighty tree, occupying most of the card space. In front of that tree, there was a sapling, looking exactly like the bigger one.

Since it is I who divined you Kira, I wonder who is behind you, that such a card should appear before me.