As a bastard child Era Anumbra had hard time getting higher in rank, often getting bullied by higher ranked nobles and royal attendands, as Era didn’t have any backing from higher ups, they often dumped part of their work on him. He was always overworked without any moment to take a breather, to make things worse his family had low status in the noble circle.
Somehow Era got caugth into some intrigue going behind the back of the royal family and big scandal had blown up, where happened a big incident related to uncontrollable magic explosion. Era got not only disgraced and humilitated, but he also got very seriously injuried - full extend of his injuries was unknown…
After healing a bit he left the country, only to return years later being chased by “Ater Rex”… He died in explosion of dark flames, leaving nothing but a pitiful smoking ashes, that got swept off by the wind, later people were telling that his screams were so loud and painful that somehow must have reached the palace.
Origins of “Ater Rex” are unknown, as he appeared out of nowhere, gaining bad reputation after a long chase through the royal city, where in the end he spectacularly killed some recently disgraced royal official – a poor victim of political schemes. This started massive panic, as he later appeared in the castle, his entrance unnoticed by the guards… and he never takes off his mask...

*Image on the cover is fully made by me