[Romania] - Enlightenment towards blood

Oz spent hours looking out at the sea of clouds dwelling on the words Arauthator bestowed to him. Usually he'd brush off such things and continue on his way however the old dragons words seemed to hit him right in the core of his being, picking apart the very essence that was 'Oz' at this point.

Since Oz reincarnated into this world, he strived forward in search of knowledge and in search of strength. Along the way he met the faces of people he only knew from screens or books and from there he met new faces that never made any appearances in the canon as he knew it. Alfreda, Craig, Rose, Arauthator, these characters existed yet they didn't exist within the confines of a book or behind a screen. To Oz they were real people, true beings.

Looking out at towards the horizon Oz started to realise that his mindset he claimed to be broad was anything but. This was a whole world with different people, not a canon story with only one instance happening at a time.

'Staying in the shadow of the one you're chasing... Of course I was aware of what I was doing...'.

Arauthator left Oz with closing words that gnawed at his brain also. Oz's path so far in this world was mostly following Merlin's legacy. He became known as the descendant of Merlin and is heralded throughout the world as such. Yet, is such a set up truly what Oz wants? Forever staying in the shadow of his ancestor?

Of course he didn't, he never intended to. Yet, whilst developing in this world Merlin was the only character he could latch onto as a means to grow his knowledge of magic. Merlin after all was a person who probably reached the peak of magic so any knowledge from him was beneficial in the long run. However as Oz became more caught up in chasing anything related to Merlin he started to lose sight of himself as a person.

'That damn old dragon was right on the money...'.

If Oz kept his mindset the same he would forever be in the shadow of Merlin. His blood would never respond to such a weak mindset that put him below others. Dragon's blood at its essence was a force that wanted to stand above all else. Oz imagined the blood within him was probably fed up with him after all these years considering he always deemed Merlin in his mind as 'a higher power to reach' instead of 'a higher power to surpass'.

Even as Oz became aware of all this though a simple realization was not enough for his blood to start obeying his commands. As Arauthator said a 'goal' was needed for the blood to respond. With that his will, strength and mindset would form into one allowing his control over his blood to grow exponentially and his blood that ran wild randomly would finally be subdued.

With these thoughts in mind it all landed back to the question at hand. What was Oz's goal in this world? In this life?

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[A Distant Mountain Peak]

On another mountain peak, miles away from Oz, Arauthator and some elder dragons were present looking towards the mountain peak Oz was currently sat atop.

{Lord Arauthator... You know full well that at that wizards age a 'mindset' and 'goal' in life is hard to grasp. He's only 14 years old in human years....}

Arauthator remained silent as he look towards the mountain peak Oz was on. His eyes held a glint of curiosity and expectance. Some time after the elder dragons argument, Arauthator finally started to speak slowly.

{What you are saying is true and I'm well aware of the implications... Even magic in this world could never solve the question of 'life'. Telling this boy that a 'goal' in life is required for the blood to respond is certainly going to become a wall for him in the future... Even 'he' took many years to develop the right mindset after he learned that it was required to wield the blood within him and that only really came about due to his obsession with growing stronger becoming a deep-seated goal in his psyche...}.

{Despite this though... I believe the boy has the potential to grasp this final key, even if it takes him just as long...}.

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More hours passed by as Oz looked back on his life to this point searching for an answer to his questions so far. Where he wanted to go what he wanted to do. Trying to boil down his experiences into one anecdote was proving difficult and every 'goal' he thought up seemed to just fall through as the 'goal' he wanted to strive for in this life until his death.

Did he want to just kill Voldemort? No, that was not even his business. He saw the no-nosed idiot as a stepping stone rather than a true threat. Did he want to grow stronger and gain more knowledge? Of course yet these goals are just a means to an end. They don't necessitate a true 'goal' in Oz's mind.

Oz continued to delve back into the experiences he had been through to this point. His mind for a while dwelled on his fights in this life so far, his sessions in the RoR, his study sessions with the gang at Hogwarts, his summers with Alfreda and Norberta and finally his brief time at the Orphanage before his magical journey began. He combed over every moment and tried to piece together a goal for himself in this life yet nothing seemed to call out to him, nothing seemed to 'fit'.

He kept seeing different images of experiences flash in his mind, the main one being the vision he saw in the mirror of erised. If that mirror showed his deepest desire then Oz had to wonder what the version of him in that mirror had as a goal. Considering the dragons present in the vision seemed to bow down before him, what goal did that version of him have in mind that allowed him to control his blood and maybe even in turn control those dragons.

Frustration bubbled up in Oz's mind as he realised this task was not something he could solve quickly. Soon, night fell on the mountain peak and Oz's seventh day on this mountain was coming to a close. Looking up a the night sky, the stars plastered throughout space like shining spots he felt melancholic and even nostalgic...

'That's right... Back when I was in the orphanage in my previous life after losing my family, I spent a lot of my nights looking up to a sky like this...'.

For the first time in a while Oz thought back to his previous life, a life where he was named Blake Osborne. He casted that life away as he reincarnated deeming it a 'failed attempt at living'. Yet whilst he sat on this mountain peak he found himself remembering his previous life fondly, the faces of his family that passed blurry in his mind even with his now 'Perfect Memory'. Since he hardly knew his family even in his previous life and was young when they passed, even his perfect memory didn't allow him a chance to remember their faces at all...

The question then changed for Oz. What did Blake want? Back in the void when he reincarnated what was his heart telling him to do, to be?

'That's right... When I reincarnated with a heart filled with regret I wanted a life of no regrets, a life that was worth living'.

Oz stood up with a smile as a goal started to solidify in his heart. Sensing the change in Oz's psyche the blood within Oz started to boil as if responding to his newfound will. Looking out at the view and the night sky above him a goal formed in Oz's mind.

'A life worth living... A life that has no regrets... That's my goal isn't it? It always has been yet I never thought about it until now. Growing stronger, Gaining knowledge, Meeting people, all of these things weren't true goals to me as they were simply subsidiary compared to the true goal I've had since the beginning... The goal of living a life worth living, a life with no regrets'.

It was such a simple goal, a goal that anyone could have in life. It wasn't necessarily a righteous goal yet it also wasn't a wicked one. It was a simple goal a human who had lived one life of regret felt resonate within him.

As Oz comprehended his goal in life, his mindset seemed to go through an 'enlightenment'. Responding to this change was his blood that boiled within him, causing his eyes to glean with a slight purple. The blood felt as though it had 'broken' through a wall as Oz's mindset changed. He felt as though it was spreading around his body with increased efficiency and increased power.

The blood started to reach the peak of its excitement however just as it was about to Oz closed his eyes. For the first time ever, Oz controlled his blood calming it down with ease, calming it down from a boiling inferno into a calm lake. Oz then activated it again causing the calmness to subside and an inferno to erupt yet again. His eyes gleamed in response to him activating his blood wilfully for the first time.

The riddle of his blood was finally solved...

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[A Distant Mountain Peak]

{M-My Lord! The boy actually comprehended it!}.

All the elder dragons looking over to Oz stared in awe and extreme shock. The knowledge their lord bestowed to Oz was indeed helpful to Oz however they would have never dreamed of Oz comprehending the true meaning behind the words this quickly.

As they looked at the young wizard they felt his blood awaken and just as the blood reached its peak it calmed down just to awaken again. They stared on in shock noting that the young wizard now had control over his dragon's blood within him, a feat that was not to be undervalued by any means.

Arauthator in the meanwhile stared at the mountain peak with the newly 'enlightened' Oz on with increased praise along with shock in his mind. A feeling he had not felt in centuries. As he stared at the young boy, he spoke his thoughts aloud with an impressed tone laced in his words.

{At the age he's at as well... Managing to subdue his blood... He's actually surpassed 'him'}.

Unbeknownst to Oz for the first time in this world he had surpassed Merlin in something...