Way back before, during the time of Thomas's attack on A Hundred-Acre Wood, before he proceeded with his move, he heard Axel was doing a blood compact contract seal with a celestial in the organization's office. A shadow of a Celestial wielder, an elite group of wielders under the Regulus organization. Shortly after Axel went out of the office, he eavesdropped the room. But upon entering no traces can be found, no one.
Written files of individuals were scattered along the desk. Even during this time, the documents were already written and read as Quanta, not the Zodiac they called it. His curiosity tied up in his mind and he went on his way. To have a safe concealment of his identity he copied the same form of the shadow he saw, not exactly, but precisely. He then went to a Hundred-Acre wood.
Reaching the quest area. He found their tiny house. He knocks at the door.
"Good day, madam!" Thomas greets, Milazza upon his arrival. Raj during this time was still scouting the woods.
Milazza peeked through the door and saw a man in all black. She is indecisive she cannot decide whether to open her doors or not. But then kids were playing around near her house and were calling out for her she did not have any other choice. In her mind, her concerns are only towards the kids. She managed to send the kids home.
Upon opening the door, she felt normal. Milazza did not sense any kind of danger.
Thomas's earpiece intercepted an advanced signal coming his way.
After a few conversations, he suddenly brought up the chest of Quanta, which was the one that he was most curious about, highlighted in the documents he saw. But upon hearing these, they found themselves in battle. Not so long, the place was caught in havoc.
"Please! No, allow me to talk!"
"Anyone who talks about my son's things brought us nothing good. Before he left us, he told me to watch the belongings I left of him, and when somebody asks for it… he told me to run and save it even if it costs my life."
"I don't know why. If it is that important, why can't he just not bring it with him."
The celestial was watching them up closely, behind the woods, they failed to notice it, but it was noticing them since they had started fighting and chose not to intervene. The moment he reveals himself, in a jitter they sense danger.
"So, it was here…"
"And you are?" a moment of silence passed for a while. "Oh? I apologize for interrupting your moments here, but you see I came here for the same thing."
Thirty minutes have passed and the three continue to battle. Thomas charged his fists for an attack, but the celestial pressed and swayed his hands directing the hit towards her grandmother.
People are rallying towards their way.
"What a nuisance. I do not wish to expose myself so I think I will be heading out first, this was not part of the contract I agreed upon on."
Thomas was flung away in the distance. With his brute strength, he gathers all his strength to stand. He slowly hears a voice, its volume slowly turning up as he crawls continuously because he cannot withstand the pain when he stands.
"Grandma!" Raj exclaimed. And again. "Grandma!! I brought us food!" exclaimed his unmanly voice suiting his skinny look.
Thomas wanted to see who was the source of the voice but two walls standing perpendicular to each other were blocking his sight.
A voice cracked. "GRANDMA!!!" "WHO DID THIS TO YOU? WHAT HAPPENED?!?!"
A young man, a kid, somewhat his age, he still managed to stand perfectly with the stilts he stood on. For the last time, he stood upright, the stilts on his feet were almost breaking.
The kid was in the motion of punching him. With a charging power in his fists. With all his final moments a Quanta energy surged towards his chest and he immediately redirected it to his hands reflecting the attack towards the young man. The young man flew, crashed, and flung away towards the ceiling down to the broken wall.
Thomas carried the body of the old lady he fought with.
"I am sorry madame. You need to leave here if you want to survive at least."
Thomas was still conscious enough to make a call to his cousin Andrew who works at Chara Venatici at the time.
On the verge of death, Thomas transforms into a monster. A Jakaral. This monster embedded within him transforms itself to prevent his vessel from dying. A nine-tailed flame monster who stands upright. It was breathing a flood of flames into the area.
Andrew came and he managed to sedate the monster bringing back Thomas and he also carries with him Milazza. He traveled to Bohol and used all his resources to recover his cousin Thomas and the old lady. The old lady took some time to recover because of his fragility. Meanwhile, Thomas managed to wake up after a day.
"When will you go back to the capital?" Thomas sticking the pain relievers to his body.
"Tomorrow I guess."
"Immediately?" Thomas gave a frustrated look. He is. Because he wanted to hitch a ride with him.
"Yes, of course, I have something to attend to…"
"Okay, okay. Just bring me with you. But how about the old lady?"
"Well, we need to incubate her here. She might wake up anytime. I do not know. She should feel hazy when she wakes up. I do not what hit her, but she had a severe concussion. She might temporarily have problems with her memory and coordination."
"And yes. You transformed again into that creature." Thomas wipes some of his apparatus as he continues to walk.
"I know, I felt it, it talked to me, but I cannot take over it. It was speaking something in my head. I am not sure if I am understanding it the same way it should be understood though," Thomas just sat down on his living room sofa.
Thomas, "I need to start plotting a way to leave my job right now. I still do not know how to. I will just have to figure it out soon."
"You remember the organization I told you where I joined? I do not think I can stomach the things they are plotting. But at least I found some valuable information."
Andrew, "Now what is this talking about, he who speaks like an adult?" he placed the apparatus back in its place.
Thomas, "I saw the estoile star closer. I do not think it was the same with my family clan. It was a little bit different. The design and everything."
Andrew, "Then that is your decision to make. I just need more time and I might quit some of my part-time jobs to focus on one. I am already part of the promotional list to be an assistant. When that time comes, I might be sent to various field works… Do you know? Get a little bit busy." Andrew sat down with Thomas in his front.
"At least I did not blow up my face before I transformed right?"
The two continued to talk till evening came. Till they ventured back to Cube the next day.
Raj, the young man Thomas saw, was also brought into the hands of Sr. Soy. He was taken care of by some of the villages' quack doctors and primitive ways of medicinal treatment. It was not that effective, but it was their only resort. Sr. Soy sent some people to check in and visit the place. He also doubled the village security.
Thomas and Andrew made it to the port the next day. Upon their arrival, they immediately went part ways.
~
A silhouette of a man talks within the Regulus board. "The organization seemed to give us a valuable intelligence, but it seems like, we are not the only one who is after this thing… whatever this is."
Silhouette of a woman, "So what should be our next move?"
Another silhouette of a man speaks, seems to be a different shadow and a different person "We need to wait and learn about our opponents. List down the organizations and companies who are undergoing somehow similar projects like ours."
Another board member speaks from the table, all of them were painted with shadows "The runes were already prepared in case we should need them but for now we should work in silence. When the silence breaks, we know we already are ready for the next step."
A voice came from above and conversed with them, "We already made an agreement with Lue and another contract from Astodia. All we need to do is find enough energy source for our machine… or perhaps I should say for him."
"Make use of the twelve celestials from your group. Spread them all out. Send some people to Sicily in search of extra runes and continue the extraction of Quanta from our live stocks." A hilarious laugh followed, and the voice slowly faded.
~
A reckless individual was successful enough to embed a human soul with a demon. Humans touched the forsaken realm. It was not for them to deal but someone somehow managed to maneuver something off this world.
Human technology continues to grow and advance to reach the peak they had attained, but the resources and knowledge they have are still limited. Every country in the world raced to reach this peak. The study of other life forms from outside the revamped Earth is still continuous.