Lazlo Quickstride backstory
A Soldier Who Never Wanted Power
Before Lazlo existed, there was only Captain Thozu Quickstride, a respected cat beastfolk soldier from Beasthaven.
Not a war hero -there had been no real wars in centuries- but an exemplary peacekeeper:
disciplined without cruelty
a tactician who preferred fieldwork to promotions
He earned medals he never displayed.
He refused higher ranks out of humility.
He retired early, quietly, content with a small farmhouse in Alcarosa, living off a modest pension and a garden and livestocks he tended for pleasure, not profit.
He had no wife.
No children.
No dreams left unfulfilled.
Or so he believed.
The General’s Secret Project
Unbeknownst to him, the military’s greedy, power-hungry general had other plans.
Every “routine medical check” Thozu was forced to attend after retirement had a darker purpose:
They weren’t checking his health.
They were stealing his DNA.
The general wanted an army of perfect soldiers:
emotionless, obedient, brilliant, loyal without question.
Thozu, empathetic, smart, balanced, was the perfect template.
In a hidden laboratory, scientists grew his clones in isolation, pouring potions, enchantments, and conditioning magic into their developing bodies.
The first clone -the prototype- was deemed a failure.
He cried.
He reacted.
He questioned.
He clung to whoever showed him the slightest kindness.
They called him “The Reject.”
His official designation was T-01.
The Escape That Changed Everything
When the second clone was created -a newborn infant- they deemed T-01 unnecessary.
A guard was ordered to “dispose of him.”
But T-01 was far more clever than they ever expected.
He tricked the guard, escaped the lab, and wandered through the city until a merchant finally believed his story enough to alert the palace.
Queen Nemenmellia, the Empress of Beasts, immediately ordered an investigation.
T-01 led the royal guard straight to the lab.
The general and his scientists were arrested on the spot.
The general and head researchers were sentenced to execution.
The rest received life imprisonment.
A Father Without Expectation Meets Two Boys Who Look Like Him
Captain Quickstride was summoned to court, confused and alarmed.
There, in the throne room, he met:
a trembling six-year-old boy
Both with his face.
His ears.
His tail.
His eyes.
Not reincarnation.
Not magic.
The Empress gave him a choice:
raise them himself, or let the crown find a family.
He had never wanted children.
He had never imagined being a parent.
But when the older boy tugged lightly at his cloak and whispered,
“Please don’t send us away…”
something shifted in him.
Thozu tried -awkwardly- to become the father he had never had.
He gave them warmth instead of drills.
Freedom instead of discipline.
Play instead of perfection.
He told them the truth early on, though Lazlo already knew most of it:
that they were clones, not born naturally, and that they owed their existence to a cruel man’s ambition.
“You are not experiments.
You are my sons.”
And somehow… they believed him.
Lazlo and Masi were genetically identical, yet grew into different people:
Lazlo became bold, clever, adventurous
Masi became softer, quieter, contemplative
They shared quirks, quick wit, fast reflexes, the mischievous “Quickstride grin”,
but diverged in tastes, dreams, and fears.
They laughed about having no bellybuttons.
They made jokes even twins couldn’t understand.
For the first time, Thozu’s lonely farmhouse felt alive.
One morning, just when Lazlo turned 16, a sealed envelope arrived by enchanted courier.
A letter from Fablewood Academy.
His “father” was stunned.
He was not a mage.
No one in his line was a mage.
Clones were supposed to be the exact same.
And yet here it was.
A destiny no potion or experiment had planned for him.
Lazlo accepted immediately -with one quiet fear:
He didn’t want to leave Masi and their father behind.
But Thozu put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and said:
“Go. Make a future that wasn’t forced on you.”
The Prince of His Own Story
At Fablewood, Lazlo blossomed.
He resonated with Puss in Boots,the cunning hero who charmed, fought, tricked, and danced his way through danger.
He mastered tactics, agility, misdirection.
He became a strategist in Tactician’s Lab.
He earned respect, then loyalty, then leadership.
And by Year 3, he was Dormleader.
But underneath the charisma, the confidence, the charm, Lazlo hides scars:
He hates being manipulated.
He distrusts anyone who seems too powerful.
He keeps everyone at arm’s length until they prove themselves.
And when he naps in odd places? It’s because he never truly slept well as a child clone in a lab.
He collects “rare treasures” not for wealth, but because every unique item proves he is more than a manufactured copy. He can move in silence, vanish in shadows, or fight like lightning, but he still jumps when someone calls him “experiment.” To his dorm, he is a protector, a leader, a friend.
But to himself, he is still learning how to be someone who was never meant to exist…
and who now refuses to be anything but extraordinary.
