No one fanned the revolution anymore.

The fates of any hero who could have done even half as much as the one who had died were well known. No warrior could ever hope to defeat the demon lord. Of that much, all knew. So the lord of the dark ruled with impunity and more than impunity, he ruled absolutely and no one said a word against him.

At the beginning of the change, after the death of the hero, the times were hard.

Every nation, every city-state, every village that ever tried to help the hero was burned to the ground and the people right from their eldest grey beards till their youngest mewling babe was cut down and flayed alive slowly as a punishment for daring to revolt against the lord of the demons. Then things got better with time. It was said that the lord got kind because his fury was spent already.

Then things got better.

The Lord ruled like only a true ruler of men ever could. Peace and prosperity began to spread. There was no freedom. No one was allowed to make law other than the lord. No one was allowed to collect tithes other than the lord. No one could think or speak of any ill towards the lord. No one was allowed to hold their own armies against the lord. They could maintain an army subservient to the lord. That was allowed. Slaves were allowed to help maintain the societal fabric. Creatures not of the world began to live in this realm because the lord said they had to. The people had no other options. They accepted. The terror of the Lord had not yet passed away completely. It would not. That was kept alive in song and in life. The lord was all and his strength was inviolable. Even the wisps of revolt were cut down, burnt, mutilated and entirely obliterated from the world. It came to pass then that even the idea of throwing away the yoke of the lord of darkness was not possible anymore.

It wasn't soon before the guilds grew around the people. These were the sole aspect of life that the Lord did not care about. There were guilds for any and all professions. The guilds were the true masters of the people. The lord interfered little if his tithe was paid for and they obeyed. The guilds ruled. There was no king but the guilds ruled all and no one escaped their grasp. These guilds were only an extension of the lord's will. The people couldn't stand up to these people of the guilds because the guilds had power. The guild members had power that had been lost to the 'free' people and this power was granted sparingly and to a select few of the guilds-men. Their magics and their physical strength eluded any who were not part of the guilds. The guild taught their warriors skills that other ordinary people could not use or know about. The guilds that became most known for their strength were the guilds of assassins and the guild of the craftsmen. While the assassins grew stronger due to the squabbles of the remaining nobility and their expensive intrigues, the latter grew stronger because their work was always required.

Everything was peaceful for the demon lord and therefore he was so bored he was going to try to take his own life. That was when an idea struck him. Taking his own life was an inelegant and pointless move. There were better ideas and a really good idea was forming in his mind. It would take a long time but he was sure that this idea would be worth it in the end.

So he let the idea sit for a century as he added to it and removed bits from it. He simulated the entire sequence of ideas using his power. It would work but then he didn't know how it would work in the real world. That was because in the real world, there were variables that he could not and would not control and those variables would change some of the events that he had planned ever so slightly. The errors were acceptable to give him the required end goal. This was going to be a royal experiment on the scale of this entire world with all of the foolish twists that only a human mind could formulate. His excitement returned and he could feel the blood under his skin begin to burn with a heat that he hadn't had for a long time. It would be good. He planned for the eventualities till any situation could be manipulated to his advantage and in the end, he would be the one to gain the most enjoyment of it all. He was sure that some of his older ideas were still here but then those ideas were the good ones. He didn't see the point in removing those situations from his master plan. In fact, some of those situations were going to be the cornerstones on which his plan would hinge upon.

He cooed as though to a small bird. A cockatrice responded to his calls. It was an excellent example of health for one that was so tame. "Well, I'm bored. I made my point too well with my dear hero. I really should have allowed him to hurt me a little. Maybe then the revolts would have been a little more efficient in garnering support. These days there aren't even revolts. What a sad turn of events, don't you think so bird? So we really cannot have any kind of fun at all. So my feathery friend, what say you if I let an aberrant one work once more into my kingdom. Maybe a little bit of randomness would be enough to bring out a hero to challenge me and still be under enough control that I can forget my task for a while. It will be fun and games then for a while. Maybe I can even change the state of these people's civilization. Maybe this time I can bring them down to being primitives again. That might be fun, but that's the end game. That can wait. I must first make sure that the hero can stand against the might of my armies at the beginning. That is of prime importance now."