The gods are dangerous.
Osgood’s family taught him this since he was young. The gods are powerful, must be respected. They must be feared. Worshipped. Then they will bless you and your household, or at least leave you alone.
Then his father, the most End-fearing man in the town, was killed. Osgood’s mother recalls End, purple eyes blazing with strange fury and pure black body glowing with power, flying over their town, casting purple fire below him into the masses below. Buildings were burned, crops went up in flames, Osgood’s family’s flock of sheep were reduced to a fraction of their numbers. And Oz’ father lost his life, pleading with his god to cease his assault, to spare the town. Oz was four.
His perception changed. The gods were evil, creatures intending to cause pain and misery and only helping those who would later help them. They were dangerous because of the power people gave them. An higher power may exist, that he’ll allow, but these ‘gods’ were not Him.
Magic is just as dangerous. No set rules, unpredictable. Facilitating a system that punishes those unable to use such powers. Not to mention how dependent people became on the mages in the towns and praying to the gods for nearly everything. Since the age of eight, Oz had rejected magic, instead trying to find out what really caused the phenomena attributed to magic.
His research, an increasingly successful endeavor starting from age 13, was the subject of great controversy in his town. This caused his mother great shame, as the village blamed her upbringing for her son’s blasphemy. Upon learning this for the first time when he was 16, as the world began to crumble around them and prayers to the gods went unanswered, Oz declared to the town council that he would find the gods and discover the truth - that these deities were hardly more than users of magic, and that magic is merely the misunderstood effects of a higher power - science.
