Ophotos lived above the clouds with the other skeier until, on a whim, he burned down a whole block of homes. Upon showing no real remorse for the lives that were lost, he was judged to be probably irredeemable. As a result, his wings were severed and stored in a vault. He was told that he had a year to redeem himself and reclaim his wings, or they would be lost to him forever (as a year is what it would take for the wounds to fully heal). He was then banished and tossed from the edge of their homeland to fall down to the ground below. If he survived, he was to begin searching for ways to redeem himself immediately.

He didn't.

He wound up being caught by slave traders, where he encountered a strange creature with what looked like a tiger skull for a head. When he discovered she had the means to make fire, but not the know-how, he made a quick deal with her and then borrowed her supplies and burned their way out of the camp.

He is now travelling with this lady (who I still have to name) to assist her in burning out nests of slave traders. He doesn't exactly hold any real love for her (they both try to strangle each other while they're sleeping quite frequently), but he gets to burn things, which is all he wants.