During the annual Emperor's Parade to the Emperor's territory, the Royal Brigade spent the night next to a well-known oasis only to be attacked by the Assassins. Zelas saved Azir from the sword of an Assassin, but all of Azir's brothers were killed, and the young prince was just one step away from Shurima's throne. As a slave, Zelas could not expect any reward for his actions, but Azir promised him that one day they would be like his own brothers.

After the assassination, the emperor began to retaliate, and the people of Shurima endured years of fear and fear. Zelas knew all too well about similar cases in history and the workings of Shurima's court, and he knew that Azir's fate was still hanging by a thread. Although he is the heir to the throne, in fact it is meaningless. The Emperor favored his dead sons even more, and thus held a grudge against Azir who survived alone. An even more imminent threat is that the queen is still young enough to have more children, and she has given birth to many healthy sons so far. It is likely that she will continue to produce a male heir to the throne for the emperor, and if a new prince is born, Azir's life will be in jeopardy.

Although Azir had the heart of a scholar, Zelas persuaded him that if he wanted to survive, he must learn to fight. Azir followed his advice, and in turn, Azir relied more heavily on Zelas, insisting that he continue to study hard. Both young men excelled in their respective practices, and Zelas proved himself to be a gifted student, always eager to learn. It wasn't long before Zelath became Azir's henchman and right-hand man, and no slave had ever held such a high position. And this position also gave Zelas a huge - or rather excessive - influence, so that Azir gradually could not leave Zelas's judgment.

Zelas exhausted all his resources in pursuit of all the knowledge he could find, at any cost and from any source. He unravels the long-sealed library, delves into the forgotten chamber, and explores the mystery buried beneath the yellow sand; All efforts were made to further expand his knowledge and ambitions, both of which skyrocketed at an unrestrained pace. Rumors began to circulate around the court that he had traveled to the Unclean Lands to rub his sneaks, and whenever these whispers began to get noisy, he would use his cunning methods to silence them. Azir never spoke up about these rumors, and this silence was seen by Zelas as a tacit approval that he would protect his future emperor in his own way.

As the years passed, Zelath became more and more emboldened to use darker means, using the magical powers he had just learned to corrupt every fetus in the Queen's womb, preventing the Queen from having a safe child. As long as there is no second heir to the throne, Azir is safe. But as time went on, rumors of some kind of curse began to appear in the palace, and Zelas would ensure that every rumor would not be circulated for too long. Most of the time, those who voice such suspicions disappear without a trace. By now, Zelas's original desire to get rid of his slave background had turned into an ambition to take power, but he was still looking for an excuse for his conscience. Every time he murdered someone, he told himself that he was doing it to protect his friend's life.

Although Zelas had done everything in his power to interfere with the Queen's birth, Shurima had a new Prince. However, on the night of the birth of the new prince, Zelas used his growing magical power to summon elemental spiritual power from the depths of the desert and create a terrible storm. Zelas threw bolt after bolt at the queen's bedchamber, reducing it to fiery rubble, killing the queen and the newborn prince at the same time. The Emperor stormed the Empress's bedchamber, only to be confronted head-on by Zelas, his hands glowing with arcane energy. The Emperor's guards attacked, but Zeroth reduced them to ashes along with the Emperor. Zelas blamed all this blood debt on a subservient group of mages in a region, and the first thing Azir did when he ascended to the throne was to lead his troops in a bloody revenge against the people of the region.

Azir was crowned Emperor Shurima, and Zeroth, the once nameless slave boy still accompanies him. Zelas had always dreamed of this moment, and he wanted Azir to abolish Shurima's slavery and recognize him as his brother. Azir did not do this, but continued to expand the empire's territory, repeatedly rejecting Zelas's proposal to abolish slavery. For Zelas, this is even more proof of Shurima's moral depravity, and Azir is furious for ignoring his promises. One day, Azir grimacingly reminds Zelas that he is nothing more than a slave and that he should remember his place. On that day, what little nobility remained in Zeroth's heart was completely gone, but he bowed respectfully, ostensibly accepting Azir's decision. Azir continued his conquests, and Zelas was always by his side, but he was now cautious in his every move, gradually increasing his influence in a region, and now plotting to claim the land for himself. Stealing an empire is no small feat, and Zelas knows he needs more power.

The famous legend of Renekton's Ascension revealed that a mortal does not have to be chosen by the Sun Priest, anyone can rise. So Zelas began plotting to steal the power of the Ascendant. The slave never had a chance to stand on the solar disk, so Zelas began to instill vanity in the Emperor, allowing the Emperor to inflate himself, implanting in Azir's mind the vision of an empire that would unify the whole world. But such a dream is impossible unless Azir is able to ascend like the greatest heroes in Shurima's history. Over time, Zelas's persistence paid off when Azir announced that he was going to perform the Ascension Ritual, declaring that he had qualified to become an Ascender on a par with Nasus and Renekton. The Sun Priests objected, but Azir's arrogance was uncontrollable, and under the threat of suffering and torture to death, the Sun Priests had to submit to Azr's orders.

The day of Ascension had arrived, and Azir strode towards the Altar of Ascension, with Zelas still by his side. Neither Nasus nor Renekton attended, as Zelas had already arranged for them to be separated. He weakened the seal of a magical sarcophagus, turning the sealed flame spirit beast into a time bomb, and when it finally broke its bondage, only Renekton and Nasus were capable of defeating it. In doing so, Azir lost the only two people who could protect him.

Azir stood beneath the solar disk, and just before the priests began their ritual, events took a turn in a direction that Zeroth had not expected. The emperor turned to Zelas and told him that he was free. He and all of Shurima's slaves have been freed from bondage. He embraced Zelas, recognizing him as his brother he would never forget. Zelas froze. He was given everything he had wanted, but Zeroth's plan would inevitably lead to Azir's death, and there was nothing to stop him from going on. Too many links had been put in motion, too many sacrifices had been made, and there was no turning back for Zeroth—no matter how much he wanted to stop. The Emperor's words pierced the shackles of pain around Zelas's psyche, but they were decades late. Unbelieving the destruction he was about to face, Azir turned and went back. The priests began the ritual to summon the powerful energy of the sun into the world.

With a roar of anger and grief, Zelas pushed Azir off the altar and watched with tears in his eyes as his former friend was burned to ashes. Zelas took Azir's place, and the sun's rays poured into him, reshaping his flesh into the body of the Ascended. But the energy of this ritual did not belong to him, and his betrayal had disastrous consequences. The unleashed power of the sun destroyed Shurima, the temple collapsed and broke, and the city was razed to the ground. The people of Azir were also swallowed up by a sudden catastrophe, and the desert roared and swallowed the entire city. The solar disc fell, and the empire built by generations of emperors was wiped out in a single day.

Even as the city is in dire straits, Zelath still uses his magical power to control the priests of the sun, preventing them from ending the ritual. A huge amount of energy poured into him, fused and solidified with his own dark sorcery, making a powerful energy body. He continued to absorb the power of the sun as his flesh was devoured, reshaping into a swirl of glittering arcane energy.

Zelas's plot is revealed, and Renekton and Nasus quickly arrive at the center of the Magical Storm. They brought with them the magical sarcophagus that sealed the Eternal Flame Spirit Beast. The two Ascenders made their way to the Ascend Altar with great difficulty, just as Zelas fell out of the deadly light. Before the newly-born Ascended Witch could react, the brothers were thrown into the sarcophagus and sealed again using enchanted chains and powerful Imprisonment Charms.

But that's not enough. Zelas's power as a mortal was great—combined with the Ascended Being's godsend—he was virtually invincible. He shattered the sarcophagus, leaving only fragments and chains that still held him in prison. Renekton and Nasus rushed towards Zelas, but with his newfound strength, he was locked in a stalemate. The cities around them are still collapsing, and the cities that have not yet been buried in the yellow sand are being ravaged by this battle. The brothers reluctantly dragged Zelas to the Emperor's Tomb, Shurima's greatest mausoleum, an impregnable chamber whose locks and guards were only at the mercy of the Emperor's blood. Renekton snatched Zelath and threw him into the mausoleum, then shouted to Nasus, sealing the door to the chamber. Nasus did so with a heavy heart, knowing that it was the only way to stop Zelas from escaping. Renekton and Zelas descended into eternal darkness, in which they were stalemate, imprisoned in a never-ending struggle. And outside, the once great Shurima civilization has fallen.

Countless centuries passed, and even the great power of Renekton began to weaken under the influence of time, and he began to weaken, allowing Zelas to invade his mind. He twisted Renekton's mind with vicious lies and illusions, instilling hatred against Nasus in his mind, and in the story that Zelas weaved, the treacherous Nasus abandoned his brother for a long, long time.

Finally, one day, the Emperor's Tomb beneath the desert was discovered and broken by Sivir and Cassiopeia, and both Zelas and Renekton were freed by the explosion of the sandstone. Renekton, sensing his brother's presence, rushed out of the ruins, his mind distorted to the point of being almost a beast. After countless years, Shurima was reborn and magically ascended back from under the desert to the surface, and Zelas sensed that another soul had also returned from beneath the sand, a soul he thought was long gone. Azir had just been reborn and a member of the Ascended Ones, and Zelas knew that there would be no peace between the two of them unless one of them dissipated completely.

Zelas found the heart of the desert, regaining his powers, and learning about the changes that had taken place in the world, thousands of years had passed since he was imprisoned. The power he stole grew by the moment, and he saw a world waiting to be conquered and harvested, a world filled with mortals of all stripes who would worship their new terrible gods.

Although he had found his strength, and although he was no longer the nameless slave boy, Zelas knew in his heart that he was still chained.