A boy with no destiny
becomes a man with a
sold future.

~ Imperial Year 1180

Aziel and Khalid were cousins who grew up together as best friends—practically brothers. When the latter made his decision to enroll into the Officers Academy, not too many people were aware of this decision. Aziel was one of the few to be told this, and it was because Claude wished for his good friend to join him in the cross-continent journey. Aziel didn't mind it—in fact, going to Fódlan seemed like a fun little idea. It was a new continent, a new culture for him to explore. Though, it wasn't as simple as Khalid had it. The king's second son had his foot in the door already, what with him being the grandson of the duke of the Leicester Alliance. He made a promise to handle things on his end. Now, Aziel had to convince his mother, Nadia, to let him make the journey—which took a lot of time unfortunately. She was an avid hater of the Fódlan; and understandably so for most Almyrans. It was a large continent, and one of their three nations was at a stand still against Almyra. Though conflict wasn't what it used to be, and though the two nations have had silence in between battles, Nadia fear how he would be treated upon even nearing Fódlan's Locket. Despite her stubbornness, Aziel didn't give up. Farys, his father, thought it would be for the best if he did make the trek. "Times were changing," and if the boy was to become a man, he'd need to be able to stand on his own two feet with his own decisions. Living in Fódlan, despite everything else, would surely accomplish that. Nadia disagreed, but she acknowledged both sides. If this was something Aziel truly wanted to try, she wouldn't interfere. She only wished for him to not think twice about returning to Almyra—because he would always be welcomed back home.By the time his acceptance was received, the semester was already well under way. By sheer luck, it seemed, another Almyran was soon to be graced by the goddess as a student of Garreg Mach. However, things would prove to be just as difficult as his mother suggested they would be. Tales of Almyran battles were all most people within the Alliance would see when they looked at him. Many of their soldiers had fallen, and it was good chance it was to someone he knew—maybe someone he shared laughs with about it. They couldn't see why the Church of Seiros would even consider something like this, but times were indeed changing. He wasn't the first foreigner to enroll, and he likely wouldn't be the last in the upcoming years of the Monastery's longevity. They could only sit back and hope for this to turn out okay.And like that, the first two steps of Khalid's master plan was set in motion. There were rules they needed to discuss before things truly went underway, though. Firstly the name Khalid would be temporarily retired. In Fódlan, he would simply be Duke Riegan's grandson Claude—with zero ties to Almyra. Aside from that, they would need to momentarily pretend as if they weren't friends their entire life. Giving that away would potentially have people thinking that their enrollment was all a scheme to attack Fódlan from the inside out; something Khalid did not want for his future plans. Once those rules were discussed, there wasn't much else for them to do except attend classes and learn everything he could with his newfound freedom.

Imperial Year 1180

Despite already being pretty exceptional in fighting, his time in the monastery was most spent honing his combat skills; more specifically his hand-to-hand and magical capabilities. Both of his parents were pretty skilled with magic, but had very little time for them to teach him specifically. He was tremendously skilled in fighting with his hands, but if he could learn magic at a more advanced level, he was certain that both of his parents would be more than accepting to his time spent in the Monastery.While he was studying in another nation, however, his parents were growing... distant with each other. His mother was constantly worrying about her son, while his father seemingly didn't care at all. "Times were changing" was something he said almost daily. His time spent home would become less and less, little and little, until it was unexpected that he would ever come back home. By then, it was too late.Aziel received no word of this, for Nadia refused to make it seem like she was pushing for him to return home for no reason. He was unknowingly trying to live a different life, one without suffering, while his mother was forced to suffer at home.While time passed, he was starting to get a little skeptical about staying there. He learned of Fódlan's history and let his mind wander. Just as he did this, he started to do more digging into the history of the ones running the Monastery. Of course, he could barely find anything of them. Then he was interrupted by various abductings, scandals, acts of terrorism, and the like. All this did was prove to him that his mother was right all along.Fódlan was a hell disguised as paradise.After a while, he decided that it would be within his best interest that he left before things got too crazy. Aziel would announce his leave to his class first, then to the Archbishop herself. He told them that there were many things not adding up properly, and that it was only a matter od time before something blew up on them. Not only that, but he hadn't heard from his parents in a while, and he was getting worried about them. So he left Fódlan, and a month later, Edelgard would start a war against the church.Upon his return to Almyra, he would be given unfortunate news. His mother had been killed, and his father had disappeared. They were unable to prove the exact cause of her death, as it was unlike anything they had ever seen before. However, there was a rumor that had been spreading around. The rumor was that Farys had killed Nadia himself, and fled to Fódlan to avoid punishment. The news devastated Aziel in more ways than one. He chose to leave the few friends he had in Garreg Mach behind. He chose to leave his found family behind while simultaneously losing his real family from right underneath him.With his father missing, Aziel was all alone with few people to turn to. Returning to Fódlan and asking for help was not an option. He had learned of the Emperor's declaration of war and everyone scrambling to boost their defences. They were fighting there war, and he left them. They couldn't do that while keeping an eye out for some man they've never seen before for someone who left them when times got tough. He really beat himself up over it all, but he was certain that he wanted to see them all again—once he handled things himself. He was in no position to ask them for help, so he planned to take care of his problems and rush at their side to lend his support.

~ Imperial Year 1185

For the next few years of his life, Aziel would rigorously train until his body nearly fell apart. He had to find the truth of the death of his mother. He hoped the rumors were wrong, but it was his only lead. He prayed for this to all be a misunderstanding, and that he would get his real answers soon. Weeks turned to months, and months turned to years; and he still had very few tangible leads. This led to many trips in disguise back to Fódlan soil. One of these trips would lead to a reunion between him and his former classmates. He was ashamed to say the least—to see them in such a stressed state, knowing he could have helped them out, even a little. But he still had his own demons to snuff out. He'd be of no use to them as he was. All he could offer was an apology for leaving them, and an apology for not being able to fight alongside them. Despite beating himself up mentally, they accepted his apology, and what he had going on. When he left them, they already understood his struggles. They held zero resentment to him for it, so what was he beating himself up for? He wouldn't force his problems onto them, but if they were this accepting to him, he had to repay that kindness—and he would do so by fighting with them whenever they needed. He would still be on the look out for his father, they knew that, but he would also lend them his strength for the time being. Just like the old times, more or less.Rejoining them was the best thing that he could have done for a multitude of reasons. He had his friends back. He had his found family back, people who cared for him enough to reel him back whenever he went too far into dangerous territories. However, the most important thing was his presence on the battlefield. Being a heavy hitter, morale went up in their little militia, and he was able to slightly turn the tide in their favor.