—
With the final round of applause from the citizens and guests of Rivia, Gustave bowed alongside the rest of the artists on the opera house stage. Exhaustion finally caught up to him. Unable to continue calculating every gesture to ensure he was never at a disadvantage, his eye-band slipped slightly out of place.
Gustave simply closed his eyes, making sure his silver irises were not seen by the common folk, who tended to overreact to even the smallest hint of freakishness.
While they could accept a clever, adorable child—someone they could easily see as one of their own—anything bearing visibly different traits was far harder for them to tolerate, as it was an indicator of a different species.
In other words, a clever child with no visible differences was a source of human pride, while a clever child with unusual eyes was, to them, a demon. And so, bowing again and again to the clapping, cheering crowds while keeping his eyes closed, Gustave excused himself and retreated backstage of the opera house.
However, because all of the citizens of Lyria and Rivia still did not yet possess a modern mindset like Cintra's, Gustave continued to be scrutinized by the common folk simply for walking with his eyes closed.
When he realized that the one glaring at him was a believer of Kreve, the Eternal Fire, his patience thinned. Gustave had initially intended to let it go, saving his grudge for the god himself. But now—especially with Kreve likely still recuperating, unable to cast his gaze across infinite timelines—he decided to deal with the believer as well.
"Hold a tick—how in the fuck does that devil manage to walk about with his eyes shut?! So it's true what the priest said! Ptui! Reginald's line is cursed by the gods!"
"Watch your tongue, you lousy toad! Repeat that, and I'll skewer you just like the bastard bandit men of Dragomir Caldwell who assaulted my daughter!"
"Hah! What I said is true?! There's no denying it! Meve and all of her sons and family have been cursed—"
"Yes."
Calculating, with every bit of his spirituality, the response that would best serve his advantage, Gustave turned to the silent crowd, ignoring the gloating believer of the Eternal Fire. For what he was about to say would become the catalyst for dominion across infinite timelines—enough to push Kreve completely off the board if he proved unable to rein in believers like this ever again.
Opening his eyes, Gustave replied, "Yes. My mothers and fathers. My grandmothers and grandfathers. My sisters and brothers. Yes, I am cursed by the gods."
Regretful and frustrated, Gustave realized that he could no longer act like a mere child. If he were still able to act with a toddler's manipulative ways, this situation would have been easily solvable.
Yet, because he was annoyed and impatient—wanting to "grow up" too quickly—he was forced to suppress his frustration, unable to wield that weapon again due to the impulsive emotions of an undeveloped frontal lobe.
Treating his past mistakes as lessons he needed to learn, he blended the two approaches—invoking sympathy and empathy from the crowd while also using his developed speech patterns.
Gustave, with his adaptable Sequence 8 body, commanded his eyes to water and decided to climb down and walk toward the believer of Kreve.
Looking at the person who was still staring at him gloatingly, with volcanic rage and deep resentment, Gustave bellowed, "Yes, we all are cursed!!! We all are cursed!!!"
Stepping closer, his expression rabid, as though he wished to engulf the world in fire, Gustave pointed at the believer of Kreve. "It's because of your gods! It's because of your gods that Gustave's vision has gone blind!!!"
Taking another step closer, foam visibly forming at his mouth, he pointed again, judgingly. "It's because of your gods that Gustave's friends and family were killed by debris in the flood!!!"
One step closer still, veins standing out on his forehead, he judged once more. "It's because of your gods that Gustave's friends and family are dying of starvation!!!"
Another step forward, his teeth audibly grinding, he condemned them again. "It's because of your gods that Gustave's brothers and sisters are eating dirt and mud by the side of the road!!!"
"It's because of your gods that Gustave's mothers and fathers are left heartbroken, seeing Gustave's sisters driven mad!!!"
Recalling the sensation of asthma he had back on Earth, Gustave deliberately failed to finish his sentence. "It's because of you—haaah, haahhh, haaahh, haaap, haaap!"
"P-Prince Gustave?"
"PRINCE!!!"
Before he lost consciousness, Gustave saw the crowd turn rabid at his display, pummeling the believers of Kreve until the person could barely breathe. Before the spirit of the Kreve believer returned to the Ethereal Plane, he injected a bit of the authority he had stolen from the Eternal Fire, wanting to spy on the state of Kreve's territory.
He saw that the land of the Eternal Burning Pyre—supposed to be holy and sacred—had been transformed into an icy plain, with countless torn-apart rifts scattered across the surroundings. Gustave nodded, realizing he had bought himself some time to develop both himself and his country before the holy war with Kreve resumed.
Looking in a certain direction, he saw his ancient grandmother, her expression like a war nova, wielding a charging sword and leading a chariot of countless mirages through space and time.
The chariot was filled with human wizards and mages of the past, including someone he recognized—Alzur's wife, Lylianna—except for his ancient grandfather, Cregennan, of course. They were taking advantage of this vulnerable moment caused by the Eternal Fire's sudden weakness.
Yet, unlike before, Gustave noticed that his ancient grandmother could not see him nor be completely certain that he was the culprit behind this cacophony of madness across the civilizations of the Ethereal Plane—she could only guess.
And so, returning to the world of the living, he finally succumbed to the asthma he had forced himself into.
—