Maverick's Curse

> Anyone who has seen, known, or heard about Maverick will eventually cease to exist
>
> Golem pitying Maverick

## Description

The 'curse' was born from his deep hatred to the higher-ups of Nebus, his nihilistic outlook on the reality he lives in, and the heartbreaking realization of his friend's death, caused by the group of beings he already hated. Knowing his friend's sacrifice is pointless by simply reviving them, and the most depressing thing was his manipulative attitude. Thinking of his comrades as tools and seeing them confess about their trust towards him, offering their lives to his hands, knowing he is not the type to carry responsibilities breaks his confidence, having no one to cope with and having nothing to set as motivation that drives him to complete his goal.

Maverick's curse is a phenomenon brought by Golem that states that anything that has ever heard or seen him, will slowly die or cease to exist. This became the reason why Maverick lost his kind and compadres without knowing why. Although it isn't a physical or a conceptual curse, Golem pointed out that the name "Maverick's Curse" is simply an effect that Maverick naturally have. In short it was simply his own power that causes the deaths of his loved ones, concluding that he cannot control the full extent of powers consciously, allowing Golem to indirectly manipulate him through its heritage coming from Aasis Onama absorbing almost all the authors being transferred to Maverick.

## Symbolism and References

> What is the meaning of "Strongest in Fiction"?
>
>

The "curse" represent the sentence "Everything I touch dies", meaning that no matter how many allies Maverick has, in the end, they too will pass away just as they were brought into existence. To get a deeper meaning, Maverick's character is a reference to "The Caretaker- Everywhere at the end of time", representing the six stages of a dementia patient before death; death, in a sense of their state of mind, anticipating that something is wrong, refusing to accept it, going through the stages of grief:

1. Denial- Lying into one's self, being delusional about the truth.
2. Anger- Where denial may be considered a coping mechanism, anger is a masking effect. Masking the awareness of the inevitable with empty anger, fighting a battle that they can't win.
3. Bargaining- Trying to gain control of the chaos of their deterioration, fighting to stay aware, but with inevitably furthering into emptiness.
4. Depression- A feeling that is overwhelming, feeling confused, foggy, and heavy: similar to the deterioration of a dementia patient's mind.
5. Acceptance- As the dementia patient approaches stage 6, they will reach complete emptiness, losing grip of reality itself. The "Empty Bliss" phenomenon that is throughout the song, making it so that their final moment be the most beautiful, with "death" (symbolizing Maverick's power) ending their misery.

This symbolizes Maverick's loneliness and how he tries his best to fight for his own, slowly getting worse and worse, getting more chaotic as the deaths of his loved ones continue to die. Even with his powers, the pain will still remain forever in his heart, mind, and soul; all of this, reminding him that no can ever save his miserable life, not even himself. What makes it worse is that he cannot die and is unable to be defeated by any fictional reality, slowly eating away at his mind, with the only ones remaining are confusion and horror.