Aurèle was a bright man, not only intelligent and highly skilled in magic but also as compassionate and understanding as can be. Though he was both the most accomplished and the most popular student attending the magic academy during his school years, Aurèle never let it go to his head. No matter his popularity, Aurèle would always go out of his way to help others and defend anyone treated unfairly.
In his early days at the magic academy, Aurèle stood up for a fellow student who had been picked on for years for being strange, sensitive, and generally... different. This student would quickly become Auréle's best friend and roommate at the academy. Aurèle could sense that his friend was just as highly intelligent and skilled as himself and encouraged him at every turn.
Aurèle could not have foreseen that his dear friend would become skilled in a forbidden form of magic, eventually being expelled. After his best friend's expulsion, Aurèle reluctantly continued his studies at the academy and graduated at the top of his class, later securing a prestigious job in the capital as a professor of magic and even getting married and starting a family.
Aurèle's friend, on the other hand, took a downward spiral and continued to research dark magic, constantly getting into trouble with the law. Aurèle, loyal to a fault, was always there to bail him out and make excuses for him, insisting his friend was merely misunderstood. The strain this put on their relationship eventually came to a boil, leading to an altercation that would accidentally take Aurèle's life.
Aurèle's friend worked tirelessly to resurrect him, but it came at the cost of countless lives and unimaginable harm to others. Aurèle was horrified rather than happy to be alive and made the agonizing decision to flee and inform the capital of his friend's actions. Aurèle managed to have his friend spared from execution under the condition that they were forbidden from seeing one another again. Although he was praised for doing the just thing, Aurèle was never the same, carrying the guilt of betraying his dearest friend for the rest of his life, blaming himself for being unable to "fix" him.
