Maria Curious 

Implied suicide, body horror/gore

A paradise promised to have abundant nature and eternal prosperity—Ecutopia. The world was supported by highly advanced technology and the goodness and intelligence of its people. With the eradication of war and environmental pollution, they enjoyed a peace that would last forever—or it should have.

Now, that utopia existed only in people's memories and written records. Everything Ecutopia had built was reduced to nothing by the sun's disappearance. Without the sun, the paradise gradually became uninhabitable, until everything froze over. The boundaries between land and sea vanished, and the buildings that spent peacetime with the people became perpetually frozen sculptures. Needless to say, no living things could adapt to the rapid change in environment, and went extinct. Eventually, the planet itself would likely die a slow death. However, humanity survived despite the environment, and resisted the hopeless future awaiting them.

The underground shelter community Arca Caela. Those who chose to get closer to the planet's core to live.

Anticipating that they would no longer be able to live on the surface in the near future, they built a city in a massive underground shelter to ensure their species' survival. In the early stages of migration, they could not withstand the harsh environment, and many lost their lives, but, burning with purpose, they continued improving the city's features, until they built a sustainable society at last. Humanity finally began moving into the future. But that moment of peace did not last.

A new ordeal would bring the underground city to ruin. Amid the peak of the turmoil, there was someone who rose up to overcome that ordeal. Her name was Maria Curious. The manager of the 81st city Solaris, and humanity's last scientist.

At some point, certain life-forms began to appear in the underground city. That was the ordeal humanity faced. These life-forms could enter a person's body, and once inside, erode that person's consciousness.

"When I awoke, my loved ones had become different people, like ghosts... They were all like empty shells... I've had enough. I'd rather die than have them take over my consciousness and make me an empty husk!"

Upon hearing that message sent from a resident of a fallen city just before death, the people gave them a name: the ghosts appearing in Ecutopian legend—Lemures. No one knew where they came from. It was unclear if they even had a purpose to begin with. At present, all that was certain was that Lemures were invisible to the naked eye, and they attacked humans.

As the people despaired that misfortune might befall them next, the last researcher Maria Curious lit a glimmer of hope.

"They may be invisible, but because they can affect humans, they must exist in this world in some form. If they exist in the world, then there must be a way we can affect the Lemures," Maria said, and continued to verify her hypothesis using those possessed by Lemures.

What she completed was a device that beamed a large quantity of particles into a single point, inspired by the city's lighting. Maria's hypothesis was correct. Lemures could be exposed with the beam device acting as a searchlight, then destroyed with plasma blasters.

"We will exterminate them, and survive!"

Maria had finally found a solution, but even as everyone rejoiced, her own complexion paled.

In her office, she looked at the quantity of energy expended to recapture the neighboring city from Lemures, and let out a deep sigh.

"...A single battle exhausted such a massive amount of energy... At this rate, it will only be a matter of time before Solaris falls."

Each city of Arca Caela was equipped with a small geothermal power generator that supplied the electricity spent each day. However, in order to operate the anti-Lemure weapons, it was also necessary to allocate electricity generated by neighboring cities. To supply the necessary electricity for both daily life and the anti-Lemure weapons, even more cities had to be left open. But doing so always brought danger. Possession by Lemures was synonymous with death. Maria considered improving the weapons' energy efficiency, but there was no time to implement those improvements.

"...No matter how much we stockpile, we don't know how many of them are haunting the whole of Arca Caela. Besides, we still haven't determined where they come from. If my prediction is correct..."

Tap tap tap tap.

Maria suddenly realized she had been unconsciously tapping her fingers against the desk. Trying to reset her thoughts, she shifted her gaze to the towering wall behind her. Countless mathematical formulas ran every which way, higher than she was tall. Perhaps from a long time of neglect, some of the formulas were faded, making them undecipherable. Some formulas had a different one written on top, and likely none but she could distinguish them anymore.

"...Just as I thought, there's no choice but to activate—"

Creak.

Just then, she heard the office door open. By Arca Caela's standard time, it was well past midnight. There was just one naughty child who would enter at this time without Maria's permission.

"Can't sleep again, Mom?"

Her beloved daughter, Eirene.

"Can't sleep again, Mom?" Eirene asked, bringing a small chair over next to Maria's and quietly sitting down.

Maria switched from her strict mayoral attitude to a slightly softer tone. "I'm always telling you to go to bed first, Eirene."

"But I haven't gotten to talk to you all day, Mom. I'm worried."

"Well, I appreciate the sentiment."

When she reached out to pat Eirene's head, the girl shook her head slightly, refusing.

"What are you all doing in secret?"

Eirene must have been feeling the tension from the Solaris citizens coming and going outside her room. She pouted, awaiting her mother's answer.

"When the time comes, I'll tell you, too."

"When I become an adult?"

"That's right. This is a problem for us adults to deal with. A child like you doesn't need to know."

"But... I'm the only one who doesn't know. I hate that I can't be helpful to everyone..."

"..."

Maria put a hand to Eirene's cheek. Eirene placed her own hand atop Maria's slightly shaking hand, and closed her eyes. At the same time, she thought, I'm such a useless person. Even now, she was disgusted with herself at being able to do nothing but whine to get her mother's attention.

"Just knowing that you're alive gives me strength," Maria said. "It's an amazing strength. So you've got nothing to fret over. When the time comes, I'll be sure to tell you myself. Until then, you mustn't leave our room. Understood?"

"...Yeah."

Her mother's hand was very cold.

As she watched Eirene return to her room, Maria apologized within her heart. Eirene had not been told of anything that was happening in Arca Caela. That was the consensus of the adults living in Solaris.

"This is the best way to keep you from danger."

Maria finished her work and returned to her own room. She had been so busy lately, she hadn't slept properly for three days. Her body was at its limit now. Thinking she would nap until morning, Maria removed her clothes and left them strewn around as she made her way to the clumsily made bed, where she noticed Eirene sound asleep on the hard mattress. Apparently, instead of going back to her own room, she went to sleep in Maria's next door.

"...Honestly, sleeping without a blanket again..."

When Maria reached out to the blanket, she noticed the message board next to Eirene. She quietly pulled it away to read it.

"Mom, good job on your work! You left your clothes all over the place in your room, so I cleaned them up. I washed your dirty labcoat—"

It was a message to her. It broke off in the middle, but she could tell what she wanted to say. Looking around the room again, the clothes she had left lying around were nowhere to be found.

"Huh... You can't tell which of us is the mother here."

"...Mmngh...smile...big operation..."

Eirene's sleep-talking made her break into a smile. Maria brushed away the hair covering Eirene's nose with one hand, gazed at her distantly, and muttered to herself.

"...You're a lot like him in that way."

Maria smiled forlornly, remembering the face of her late husband.

She corrected Eirene's sleeping posture, then went over to her desk for some reason. She opened a locked drawer and took out a well-worn message board from inside. There was a list on it of things she and Eirene wanted to do together, written when Eirene was still young. It was like a charm to make their lives bright by erasing each one they achieved and finishing all of them before they died. There were so many things written that they covered the whole board, and hardly any had been completed. With a self-deprecating smile, Maria gazed lovingly at the wishes on the board.

"I want to see the blue sky together."

Those were the first words Eirene said when she saw the world of Ecutopia in a picture book. Those words were still Maria's driving force, allowing her to keep going with her preparations until now without giving up.

"...You are our hope, Eirene."

In that moment, Maria sealed Solaris' fate.

The next morning, Maria gathered all the citizens other than Eirene in the square to declare that they would carry out an operation. The plan Maria outlined was to reactivate a large malfunctioning power plant while they were still able to deal with the Lemures. Maria's declaration caused a stir among the citizens. One of the men who had fought on the front lines against the Lemures raised a question.

"Ms. Maria, we're aware that these devices consume large quantities of electricity. But is it truly necessary to put everyone in danger to obtain this electricity?"

"...As you say, operating these devices takes a large amount of electricity. If we open up the cities one by one, obtaining that electricity will eventually become easier. However, instead of opening over ten cities, managing one large power plant will be less danger for everyone."

Arca Caela had four power plants in total. They had learned that the neighboring cities and their power plants were all under the Lemures' control. The facility Maria wanted to target was the closest, located beyond four cities separated by barrier walls and a resource transport passage.

Maria addressed the citizens unsparingly. "Things will only get worse at this rate. We cannot cut down on our daily lives any further. If we do not act now, we will lose our options. Before that happens, I'd like everyone to lend me their strength."

Some among the citizens wished to maintain the status quo, but in the end, many people placed their trust in Maria's words.

"If Ms. Maria says so, we have no reason to refuse."

"That's right! It's Maria who supports our lives and keeps the Lemures from possessing us! Who are we to turn her down!?"

Voices spread among the citizens until eventually they turned in favor of answering Maria's plea.

"I'm entrusting my future to you, Ms. Maria! That hasn't changed since I escaped the Lemures and arrived here!"

"If we're going to resist them, let's resist them to the fullest!"

"We'll fight too, Ms. Maria!"

More than ever, Maria wanted to commend herself for doing the utmost for her citizens. At the same time, a feeling of guilt welled up within her, blotting out her own conceited thoughts. For what Maria was really trying to do might not save them after all.

On the third day, the squad Maria led finally reached the large power plant. They encountered surprisingly few Lemures along the way, and most of the possessed had starved to death, so there was no need to deal with them. They searched every nook and cranny of the cities just to be safe, but there was no sign of them anywhere. Maria looked toward the barrier wall leading to the zone with the power plant.

...The barriers between cities were all left wide open. The Lemures are likely amassing just ahead.

Maria's deputy commander seemed to pick up on her idea, too. He nodded slightly and ordered the rest of the squad to be on high alert. Then, at last, Maria and the others began to charge into the power plant.

"Beam device team, forward!"

At the deputy commander's order, several squad members proceeded through the barrier. After them, the squad followed armed with plasma blasters, with Maria and her deputy commander at the front and rear.

At the end of the hallway extending past the barrier was a towering power plant that rivaled Solaris in size. The hallway was eerie in the dim glow of red emergency lights, as if beckoning them into hell. Her men cut forward with the rectangular prism-shaped beam devices at their waists—and the next moment, in the trail of light shot from those devices, countless Lemures emerged, glowing a pale blue.

They looked like mollusks ranged in size from a human head to a human torso, swimming in curved lines through the air. In the center, they had a large round eyeball-like hollow. Just looking at the way they wriggled their short, tentacle-like limbs, they had a baby-like cuteness to them. But despite the way they looked, they could easily rob people of their lives.

There were so many that one couldn't bear to look, but the men attacked the swarm of Lemures with their plasma blasters, undaunted. The plasma blasters' power began to diminish from the moment they were fired, but since they could burn a wide area all at once, they were just right to counter the Lemures. Furthermore, since the beam devices could nullify their ability to disappear and approach quickly, the men could fight a swarm far outnumbering them unscathed. Maria cleared away the Lemures approaching from above, then joined up with the squad members who had gone ahead to the facility's entrance and unlocked the door.

While eliminating the Lemures that were still inside the facility, Maria made it to the control room, and rebooted the facility at once. The facility's communications had gone down due to the main power supply automatically shutting off in the long absence of management staff.

"...Phew... That's one goal accomplished."

Next, they needed to ensure the place's safety and leave several members behind. They had secured a route to this point. All that remained was to check whether they could get a stable supply of electricity. So, as Maria tried to check the generator's status from the control room, she instructed the squad to head there. As power was gradually restored to the facility, the lights in the room turned back on. That was when Maria noticed that the generator displayed on the monitor was heavily damaged. Just then, the squad members arrived at the generator room and illuminated the area with their beam devices. Maria felt a sudden sense of unease as she looked closely at the traces of battle.

"Come to think of it... Where did the people who fought the Lemures go...?"

Maria hadn't seen anyone possessed by Lemures since their arrival here. The underground city was large enough for a community of about 200 people, and this zone, which was similar in size, should have had the necessary number of personnel to run the facility assigned to it.

"Ms. Maria, we've met our objective. As soon as we finish clearing out the enemy inside, we should return to Solaris at... Ms. Maria?"

The deputy commander's words didn't reach her. She was gazing intently at the unearthly dark red shape on the monitor, unable to move.

"Eeeeee!?"

The moment the squad in the generator room noticed that dark red thing, they leaned back sharply and fell to the floor.

"Ms. Maria! Are you okay!?"

Maria snapped back to reality when her shoulder was grabbed, then she looked back at the squad, screaming and moving backwards. Just what were they so afraid of? She followed their gazes and looked at the area lit by the beam devices. She realized the light should have reached the wall, but it stopped abruptly in the middle of the room.

"...What is that?"

A small hole had formed in the cracked air. There was no other way to describe it but a pitch-black hole, floating in midair. It swallowed the beam devices' light and began to waver—then suddenly "shuddered."

"No way... It's ali—"

Before Maria finished speaking, something flew out from the hole. That something then rapidly stretched out in all directions and coiled around the squad members in the room. They were dragged along helplessly—and became one with the dark red thing lying under the hole.

"That's...the personnel from—"

"Ugh...!"

Realizing what it was after Maria, the deputy commander reflexively pressed a hand to his mouth to quell his nausea and sank to his knees. It was a mass of flesh made from what looked to be the missing facility personnel. The warped, hideous mass of flesh suddenly began to squirm. As it changed into human shape on its own—

"All hands, retreat!"

The deputy commander's ear-splitting shout echoed around them.

"Ms. Maria! Quickly!"

Even as he grabbed her arm, Maria's focus was on the whole on the monitor. As if the dark hole above the human-shaped thing had noticed her from the other side of the monitor, it turned toward the camera.

That's...dangerous.

Alarm bells were ringing in Maria's head. She had to get away from this place quickly, but Maria was somehow seized by the urge to investigate that mysterious hole.

"Ms. Maria!"

Maria locked eyes with something writhing within the hole. Her consciousness...melted...away...

"E...i...re......"

"...! Eirene!?"

Maria opened her eyes.

"Thank goodness! You've come to, Ms. Maria!"

She squinted, realizing she was rocking up and down. Her deputy commander seemed to be carrying her on his back.

How had she ended up here? Her memory was a complete blank. She couldn't recall a thing. As her vision slowly cleared and she checked her surroundings, she saw her squad wounded all over. Their numbers were less than half of what they set off with.

"What is this? What's going on?"

"Ms. Maria, you lost consciousness in the control room and you've been unconscious for two whole days."

"...What?"

He explained what happened at the power plant. How an unidentified entity controlling the Lemures appeared in the generator room. How it headed for the control room, where Maria was, slaughtering squad members one by one. And then, how they just barely escaped the control room at the cost of many of the members' lives. The deputy commander told her what he felt when he encountered that entity.

"It prioritized destroying our beam devices first."

"You're saying it had a clear will?"

"...Yes."

She couldn't see his expression, but she could keenly tell how sickened he felt.

"Ms. Maria, I'm sorry. I couldn't confirm what happened in the control room after that..."

"...Don't worry about it. Really, I should be apologizing. You've all been continuing on without sleep to get us back this far."

Fortunately, it seemed the entity hadn't destroyed the control room. The hallway that was dark on the trip over was now brightly lit by electric power. Nonetheless, it wouldn't last forever. The power plant could not operate unmanned for a long period of time.

"I wonder why that entity only appeared now."

"...I don't know. But it's evident that the mass of flesh was a kind of vessel for it," Maria replied.

She put a stop to the pointless back-and-forth and looked at the situation they were in.

"Is it still pursuing us?"

"Yes."

The deputy commander had carried Maria this far while leaving squad members in each city along the way. Solaris was just beyond the city they were currently passing through. They just had to reach the barrier wall and Maria's objective would effectively be accomplished.

Thump.

A loud, muffled noise echoed behind them. The violent slamming sound continued over and over, gradually getting stronger, until it seemed it might attack them at any moment.

"Sure enough... We couldn't stop it," the deputy commander said, stopping to let Maria down. "Ms. Maria, this is goodbye."

Without waiting for her reply, he barked orders to several squad members, and they headed for the barrier wall where the violent sound was coming from.

"The rest of you, get Maria to Solaris, no matter what."

"You all..."

"Ms. Maria, we have faith that you will find a way to defeat this entity."

"Please, save Solaris."

Every one of them was fired up for the mission. They faced death with no fear. Their reckless faith in her and sense of duty had sent them to certain death.

"...I'm sorry."

All Maria could strain out were words of repentance. The men nodded, readied their plasma blasters, and scattered into the city. Maria couldn't watch them go. She and the remaining squad members hurried together to Solaris.

The moment they passed through the barrier, Maria heard it—the primal screams of the men who risked their lives to face off against that entity.

The community that bore the name of heaven's ark—Arca Caela—had now become a hellish pandemonium. Some time after Maria and the others arrived back in Solaris, that entity began to attack. Maria told the bewildered citizens nothing but, "Run!"

Time was too precious to waste explaining.

Meanwhile, Eirene, not allowed to take a single step outside her room, was reading a picture book when she noticed the sudden commotion in Solaris.

"...?"

She shut the book and headed outside the room to question the guards posted outside.

"Um, what happened?"

The men didn't seem to know the details either, but they did tell her that something had happened near the barrier wall of Solaris.

"Mom..."

Eirene looked down, hoping for her mother's safety. Then, she heard the voice of the very person she had been hoping for.

"Eirene!"

"Oh, Mom!"

Eiriene passed between the guards and went over to Maria, who suddenly hugged her tight. She hugged her so tightly, as if to say she wouldn't let her go anywhere. She had never asked so forcefully before.

"M-Mom, what's wrong?" Eirene asked fearfully. She saw the desperate look on her mother's face.

"We're leaving here, right away! You over there, you're coming with me, too!"

Maria started heading somewhere without waiting for Eirene's response. With the guards flanking them left and right, she followed after Maria when they heard a spine-chilling shriek.

"—Nooooooooo!"

"!?"

It came from the direction of the barrier wall. Eirene quickly looked behind her while running and failed to notice someone was in front of her. She crashed.

"Wah!?"

Eirene tripped over her own legs and lost her balance, but her body didn't fall to the ground. Someone had wrapped a hand around her back.

"Are you hurt?"

The voice was so gentle despite the tense situation.

"M-Mom...?"

Thinking it was Maria who supported her, she put a hand to her chest in relief. But immediately after, she heard Maria call her own name from down the hall, and quickly blurted out a thank-you, her face turning red.

"I-I'm sorry! And, thank you very much!"

"Thank goodness. It's dangerous here, so you should evacuate with your mother at once."

With that, the woman headed for the barrier wall and quickly disappeared from sight. Eirene was concerned for her as she pressed forward without hesitation, but that was interrupted by Maria's voice in her ear.

"What are you standing around for!? Eirene!"

Partly by force, Eirene was pulled away by the hand from where she stood.

"Mom, where are we going?"

"To the bottom of Solaris."

Clack, clack, clack.

The sound of shoes knocking against the iron floor. Her breath turning to clouds in the bone-chilling cold, Maria led the charge down a hallway lit by red emergency lights. Right behind her, she led Eirene by the hand, followed by the guards. When they reached a door at the end of the hall, Maria pulled out a keycard and tapped it to a panel on the door. After a small beep, the door opened without a sound.

Maria gave a brief order to the guards. She told them she was going to activate a machine called an accelerator to fend off the entity, and it took time to start up, so they were to guard the entrance with their lives. Without waiting for their reply, she began preparing to activate it.

—!

The sound of an explosion rang out from down the hall. The entity was following Maria so precisely that she wondered if it was targeting her because they made eye contact.

"Ms. Maria! Start the accelerator at once!"

Maria proceeded singlemindedly with preparations.

"Eirene! Check that gauge!"

"Okay!"

Eirene followed Maria's instructions, reading out figures from the machines. Maria breathed a sigh of relief. The configuration she set up at the power plant was still in place, and all the electricity was being supplied to the underground of Solaris.

"Mom! What do I do next!?"

"Come this way!" Maria called, heading for the spherical machine at the back of the room. Pipes and thick cables were connected to it, and it thrummed faintly. She grabbed the hatch at the center of the sphere and opened it, then instructed Eirene when the girl made her way over.

"Go in here," she said.

"Inside...?"

Maria hurried her inside the sphere. Despite its appearance, the interior was rather narrow, and difficult for adults to fit into.

"Wait...are you going to—"

She seemed to have realized her true intentions. Maria's expression softened slightly, and she placed her hands, trembling from fear and tension, on top of Eirene's.

"Mom..."

Wordlessly, she squeezed Eirene's hands. Then, she let the stunned girl go and closed the hatch. She thought she heard Eirene's heartwrenching cry, but she headed for the activation device without looking back once.

"Eirene, we don't have much time left. So, I need you to listen very carefully."

She put her words together slowly, reminiscing about her daughter.

"Solaris has fallen. Our world cannot escape ruin. But I don't want you to walk the same path."

The sphere began to glow. At this stage, no one would be able to interfere anymore. In that moment, Maria had achieved her true wish.

Then, several gunshots and shouts rang out behind her. The entity and the Lemures it brought along seemed to have reached the room. All kinds of sounds rushed around her, but none of it mattered to Maria anymore.

"You are about to travel to another world. I wanted to go with you, but I am so sorry. There were so many things I wanted to do with you...nh!?"

There was a sense of discomfort in her chest. Fearfully, she looked down to see sinister tentacles wriggling where they had pierced through her chest.

"Mom? Hey, what's happening? Mom!"

Strangely, she felt no pain. Rather, it was the inexplicable dread of her body being rapidly remade that overwhelmed her. Maria remembered what she hadn't told Eirene, and mustered all of her willpower to put the words together.

"Remember...this one thing. I'll always wish for you...to be happy..."

No more words would come out of her. Try as she might to raise her voice, all she heard was an eerie sound like popping bubbles. Maria watched distantly as she became something inhuman, and slowly shut her eyes.

I love you, Eirene.