Character Spotlight: Ozzy

Ozzy is the main character of Unleash the Beast: Coalition of Strangers Book 1, my first published novel. All of my characters hail from the 13 Realms of Eternity IP. This story takes place on a fictionally reimagined rendition of Earth.

The overwhelming majority of the world’s sentient sapients consider themselves human, however, there are many other strange species cohabitating with them. Ozymandias’ secrets are revealed in part throughout Unleash the Beast, so beware that reading this first might give some of his hidden truths away. I shall attempt to refrain from focusing on the majority of what is covered in the book, but there may be some overlap. Without further ado, let’s see what’s lurking in his forgotten history.

Ozzy’s mother Camilla seemed mundane for most of his youth, but the beginning of the story sheds light on that lie. Luther, the man who watched a baby boy emerge into the world and gave him the name Ozymandias, was in fact a mundane. Although Camilla deceived both of the men she loved, it was in her heart for their own protection. Oz didn’t understand what he was, other than something strange wearing human skin.

Luther, ultimately a victim of the machinations of the strangers in his life, couldn’t believe in Ozzy’s recount of the events that transpired. The innocence of a mundane mind and the conditioning inflicted upon him by those guilty of perpetrating the act kept him from daring to believe his son’s outlandish tale, instead embracing a simple more ordinary narrative. In Luther’s mind, his wife stepped out on him, skipped town, and left their kid in his care, an ungrateful son unwilling to acknowledge reality. When Oz wanted out of Luther’s care, his father didn’t try and stop him. He always was a momma’s boy – except of course, Luther had no idea about the truth.

Ozzy didn’t spend much time in the system, due to his age, but he doesn’t talk about those years throughout his current story. You could assume his is intentionally forgetting some trauma, or simply didn’t consider the relationships made during that time to be particularly important. Truth be told, Oz has the devil’s own luck in many respects. He didn’t suffer sexual, physical, mental, or emotional abuse in specific. Poverty and racial discrimination were still ever present factors in his life, but those who knew his name rarely considered him suitable prey, regardless of their intentions. Unresolved trauma and a deep seated grudge against those that inflicted it burdened him, yet Ozzy didn’t end up embracing the mindset of a vigilante bent on vengeance. He was a strong athlete and mediocre academic who had to humble himself and work wherever and whenever he could to claw his way up in the world. His great aspiration was to be normal, something he was bound to never achieve.

It becomes obvious rather rapidly that Ozymandias is a shapeshifter, a deviant bull to be specific (thus his hybrid form looks much like a minotaur). Unbeknownst to virtually everyone initially, he is not in fact a mortal. His biological father was a monster Camilla fled and hid from, an infernal of pure demon heritage, making Ozzy a partial divine entity. Typically such a creature is dependant upon the faith of others to maintain its physical integrity, but as one of the stealthier predators of the world, they steal from those around them without arousing suspicion. Oz was never consciously aware of his need to feed upon the metaphysical streams of spirituality, but his instincts took over hunting and discretely feeding on his behalf. He’d never questioned why he always preferred cities to the wilderness, and even as a private person would rather live in an apartment than an isolated house.

As with much of Ozzy’s life, he’s mostly oblivious to his nature, and where his lack of comprehension should weaken him, self-preservation instincts and something far more ruthless work on his behalf. Some of his life is blurred out of focus, as his mind plays tricks on him, although it would be fair to assume when he’s strayed too far away from his nature, these hidden beasts have risen to the surface to demand their share of the world. Confusing the master of their immortal coil is a small price to pay to perpetuate their incredible yet often untapped power.

From the very beginning, Ozymandias wanted me to give him a nice cozy romance, but the intrigues that bind him range a fair bit stranger than that. He finds companionship and contentment to some degree, but keeping hold of it isn’t going to be easy. Unleash the Beast begins the Coalition of Strangers series, but Ozzy, Natalie, Tara, and Sakura will return as the trilogy continues. You might even notice the briefest of cameos as characters from one series are slated to dance on the periphery of other stories.