His father, a once prestigious Aspect Clan leader. His mother, the current queen of the Aspects, trying all she could to preserve the disappearing remains of the clan. And Azazel himself, a promising warrior, his magical capabilities more than impressive. Sad then, that he only feared the destiny ahead of him, instead of the many others who gracefully embraced it.

The Aspect clan was dying. A long reign of inefficient and dying leaders had left them in ruins, leaving them as a group of non-united demons, with most having given up hope-as did Azazel, but his mother refused to believe that. However, the weight of restoring the clan being his destiny broke the young warrior. He rebelled, fought against and hated his mother as a result of her upbringing frequently reinforcing him of his destiny. The constant tinge of disappointment present in even his mother's loving tone never ceased to make him cry.

Eventually, Azazel ran away out of spite and fear. His existence had brought about hope to the others members of the clan, and he feared for his life-his people had a long reign of executing people with false promises. Of course, he couldn't have gone very far without being found-however, in an act of mercy, his mother let him escape, relinquishing Azazel of his destiny. At least, that's what she thought.

Azazel's escapade was cut short upon encountering a wise, old....Owl? It had stunned him at first that the person was a giant, walking birdbrain, but after he was humiliated by the old bird in a short battle, Azazel began to respect him. A problem, however, was how the Owl insisted on the fact that Azazel should stay with him.

The Owl, going by the name Strigi, listened thoughtfully to Azazel's rant about his current situation, seeming not disappointed, but rather confused-and, to a point, amused by Azazel's "dangerous" situation. He believed that the Clan still wanted him dead, so Strigi decided to 'adopt' Azazel under that context. But, the old bird knew that destiny always arrives. The least he could do was prepare the little demon for said destiny.

And so Azazel's training began! Natural talent seemed nothing in comparison to Strigi's raw, fine-tuned finesse, shocking Azazel, seeing as he was always 'a prodigy'. As he grew, so did his wisdom, but the question of whether the Clan would find him never went far away from his mind. In turn, Strigi pried more information from his pupil, trying to change his ways, knowing that he was heading down a rather dangerous road.

Time passed, and Azazel grew wiser and stronger, more accepting of the world, and feeling ready to redeem himself-however, Strigi seemed to disagree, knowing fully well that if he were to let him go now, only chaos would ensue. The fate of the clan was completely unknown to Azazel, and his wish to find out only fueled the demon.

He could only be so subtle for so long, and eventually his son questioned Strigi's constant questions and willingness to train him and, eventually, Azazel's old mentor had to come clean about his motives; to alter Azazel's future. To help him face destiny-the thing the demon hated and feared the most. Naturally, he reacted with spite and contempt for Strigi, seeing him as no better than his mother. He left the tutelage of his mentor, much to Strigi's sadness, who knew he had tried all he could-but could never bring himself to stopping Azazel.

Azazel returned back to his clan after so many years-if he recounted correctly, possibly thirty or more!-only to see that the clan lay in ruins-even more than before. Nothing was left of the once-glorious Aspect Clan as something-a spell, a person, Azazel couldn't tell-had laid the area to waste.

All because he couldn't face his destiny!

He crumbled to the floor, on his knees, crying. Whoever had done this-whatever had done this-would pay. Azazel swore this to himself. However, there was a nagging feeling in his mind-a feeling that he hasn't been able to shake off 40 years later-that his departure was the direct cause of the tragedy. Returning to Strigi now would be inadvisable-he had treated him like garbage. How would the old bird accept him back?

Knowing this, he changed his ways himself-by force. Azazel declared in the midst of the ruins that he would collect as much information as he could-magical, mechanical, ki-related-on everything he could, until he had enough to not just save his clan, but to avenge it. To avenge them. But to do this, he felt that he must return back to Strigi.

However, the wise owl had already left the dojo in advance, leaving it for the former pupil. As for why, Azazel could not figure out-but, as a symbol of how far he had drifted away from his 'true' path, he simply ignored it, his mentor's teachings become nothing more than painful afterthoughts in his mind. Azazel could not focus on his mentor-all he could aspire to was vengeance.

All he had was vengeance.