Who was the Masked man?

The Escape Plan

I woke up a few hours later, and Brandon sat next to me, wide awake. I ran a hand through my hair, feeling their thickness.
" Have you thought of something? " Brandon eyed me hopefully as I stretched myself.
" I haven't, " I said, " I don't even know this place. How am I supposed to draft out an escape plan? "
" I believe you've been on similar missions before, haven't you? " asked Brandon.
" Yes, but they were on Earth. Our enemies were not such invincible Burnthounds. "
" I'll tell you everything that you need to know about this place. Just get me a plan, this is our only chance. " Brandon insisted.
I sighed and looked past the bars of the cellar. Brandon had a valid point. I had experience, I had been trained for similar missions. If I get to know this place better, maybe I could draft out an escape plan that would actually work!
The next few days went by and Brandon kept telling me about several locations of this place. My shifts were now concentrated more upon the higher parts of the volcano, that gave me a bird's eye view of the entire place. I noticed all the ins and outs, all the checkpoints of the Burnthounds and abandoned routes. The marshes, forests, and valleys. Our destination - the doorway, was a walk of seven hours from the silver forest of shining trees. Which meant we had enough time.
Brandon and I spent several hours inside the cellar, discussing a plan. I used my finger to draw a map on the sandy floor. We always made sure to erase it before disappearing for our shift. Every day we countered new possibilities that could stop us from escaping, and there was a plan B for all of 'em.

Three weeks went by, and we were nearing the next meeting of the Titans and the Burnthounds. We could sense a tinge of nervousness amongst the Burnthounds. They had started to talk in whispers, or talk for several hours straight. This was strange. When a prisoner made a mistake these days, the Burnthounds were not too harsh on them. Nobody was beaten in the fourth week. Not a single prisoner at my shift or Brandon's was ruthlessly kicked in the gut or slapped across the face for their mistakes.
Finally, the night of the full moon approached us, and the shining forest presented itself again.
A Burnthound opened the gate of our cellar with the bronze key and walked away carelessly. I exchanged determined looks with Brandon. We quietly got out, but instead of walking towards the arena, we dashed behind the cellar. Brandon and I showed no mercy to our feet, running on the sandy surface towards the humongous silver trees. If it wasn't for the Afterlife prison, this would've been a beautiful sight.
We gasped for breath as we passed the first tree. Brandon kneeled and closed his eyes.
" We've got to go! " I said, pulling him up by his arm, " just a little further. "
He nodded and followed me closely into the forest. We had to find Nichole, Stank, and Yormen too. We hid ourselves in the thicket of trees. The clearing was around fifty yards away from our location. I looked down when a crackling noise startled me, it was a dried leaf glowing dimly.
We crouched behind a tree trunk, waiting for the Council of Titans and The Burnthounds. I looked up at the sky, craning my neck completely, but all I could see was dispersed black patches beyond the silver leaves that touched the moon.
We heard footsteps behind us. I turned around to see Yormen, Nichole, and Stank crouching behind a tree. I signaled for them to come over.

" Has the meeting begun? " asked Nichole.
" Not yet, " I replied.
" Wait, " Brandon said in a sharp whisper, " I see a staff beyond the clearing. Maybe they're coming, "
I peeped to have a look. Some figures were approaching the clearing from the other side. 
Their fingers gripped the long staffs, and they had decorated their heads with crowns made of sparkling gold and rubies.
" Spread out, quickly! " I ordered. Brandon moved to the immediate next tree. Yormen and Stank moved to the left side and Nichole hid himself somewhere further on the right side. I recalled the escape plan in my mind, we had to move to the other side of the clearing without anybody noticing us. The trees seemed dense on the right side, I thought it would be wise to crouch and run from that direction to the end of the forest. Probably an upcoming quarrel could give us a distraction.

The clearing was filled up by the Titans and Burnthounds in a minute. Lord Mesihall stood in between the two figures, dressed in purple and dark blue cloaks.

" Tranqlord, judge of the Afterlife prison, " said the one in purple cloak, " a trouble yet again, and we find you responsible. "
" Responsible for what? " barked Tranqlord. I recognized him from my hearing. He was the one who sentenced me to imprisonment.
" While going through our records, " the figure in the purple cloak stepped forward, " we found that countless spirits lost their way and never ended up at the Hall of Titans. I've confirmed and cross-checked with the other Afterlife lands, but those spirits are not there. And I suspect you are hiding them in here. "
" What rubbish! Why would I hide them? What business have I with them? " Tranqlord said angrily.
" Possibly, " said Lord Mesihall, " you gave an unfair judgment to quite a few people who were not destined to come to your land. "
" You question my judgment? " Tranqlord asked dangerously.
" We certainly do," said the Titan in purple cloak, pulling aside his shoulder-length brown hair.
" What is this Homenof? " Tranqlord turned to his mate, " these Titans come to MY land, and put false allegations on ME! Why are you Titans so treacherous all the time? " he said turning to them again.
" Why would we be treacherous? " asked the Titan in purple cloak with a hint of a wicked smile on his face.
" Because you want to take over the Afterlife prison! " Tranqlord barked, " because you want to spread YOUR rule over MY land. "
" Beware! " Lord Mesihall stepped forward angrily, staring into Tranqlord's red eyes. Homenof gripped his arm to stop him from saying anything stupid.