The figure moved with lulling grace that told them time did not matter to the monster. Deep crimson eyes appeared as the Devil, almost fifteen feet tall, stood outside the door as it closes it. Its entire body, smoky black, and void of any defining features aside from its elongated body and limbs and red eyes, looked over the two lines of Devils.
"A human has been spotted in the Garden," The black monster said with slow deliberate words. "He has ordered we exterminate the Four races once and for all. We, the Twenty Night Nobles, will do his bidding."
The devils looked at each other with mixed emotions. A human had gotten past all their demons, and now they've been given permission to march upon the insects. The bad and good news did seem to fly hand in hand.
"Nobles of the West," The monster spoke again. "Lead your forces down the valley. Take half the eastern Nobles with you."
"Lord Hu!" One of the devils spoke up.
He stepped out of line. He was a hawk-faced demon with a massive broad body. He wore elegantly crafted black mail armor that was brushed with human blood to form a tree. He was of the Eastern faction.
"Why only half?" He asked with pointed concern that seemed to scream Were we not good enough?
Cao Hu wanted to snort then, but these devils had slowly begun to act like the demons they lorded over. The High Elves had been a highly proud and cultured race. A few enclaves of the race still existed, hidden far away from civilization. Most of them, Cao Hu knew of. At least, he assumed it was most of them. Very few survivors had survived out of Edward and Lahabiel's protection. Only those with the will and stubbornness to continue their traditions did so.
Cao Hu had only wished these devils had been those people. They lacked any of the decorum they once had. Instead, they had mutated their once beautiful forms into grotesque beings. Like orcs crossed with trolls then spliced with various animals afterward. One of the devils, the closest on his left, even had a nose like an elephant. It hung down around the top of his chest. And sadly, he was on the nicer side of looks.
"The nobles not deployed to the valley will split," Cao Hu said as his featureless black face turned to the asker. "One half will take the mountain passes, and the other half will protect the southern entrance into the Forbidden Forest."
"But we will not earn valor there!" One of the Eastern nobles cried out. The others nodded.
"Of course you will," Cao Hu let out a viciously deep growl that silenced the dissent. "You will protect the lands of your God's spawn. No human shall pass into the forest any longer. We have allowed small entries to go unanswered, but that idiot dragon has been felled by someone. We cannot leave it up to those animals any longer."
One Devil stepped forward but held his tongue. Cao Hu nodded to him, feeling the question on the tip of the devil's tongue.
"And how will this earn valor for us?" The devil, a bull-like monster with a massively plump body like a fattened pig.
"You will protect something very dear to your god," Cao Hu said, but the devil didn't look convinced. Cao Hu had to remember that, along with their slow descent into madness, so did their ability to remember anything beyond their deep-seated hatred. "The Forbidden Forest is Lady Cyril's land."
All the devils went into a heated frenzy at the mention of their creator. That was also one thing they never forgot. Their love for the creator they had never met. Edward's daughter, and his god-daughter. It astounded him how quickly they forget things, yet they always seemed to remember a girl they never met. For a moment, they looked to have regained some sort of sanity as they sent praises towards Cyril. They smiled and balked happily, offering to take place as the last paradise's protectors.
Then the hatred slipped back in. Reminded of the wrongs, they began to roar. They no longer vied to be the Forbidden Forest's protectors, but it's avengers. They wanted to raze every land near it as retribution for stepping through the forest. trespassing in the Garden of Eden had been all but forgotten now.
"Enough!" Cao Hu bellowed. "Select the one strongest of you, they will protect the pass. All the others will comb the forest for intruders, and get rid of the protectors. They've forgotten their purpose and allowed the Starry Lake to be trespassed upon. If Cyril's body is no longer there, poison the lake. It's already been sullied."
Cao Hu didn't want to destroy Cyril's paradise. It was built by her hands alone, and yet, her father wanted it torn down now that humans had been in it. But he was not the head of these devils. Only their manager. He cursed the humans that went to Fable's End. All these years, he had been working to bring his old friend back. It all laid in ruins now, and the madness was set in. They were on a one-way road to destruction.
Who's? He didn't know...
"Go," Cao Hu ordered. "For the Motherland!"
"For the Motherland!" They all bellowed and stormed from the hall with murder in their hearts; glee in their eyes.
Yes, for the Motherland. The lands they lost. For their dead friends. For Madin. For Cyril. Cao Hu looked up. A glass down framed with twisted iron hung over him. Grey snow clouds painted the sky. He wanted winter to be over and to bask in the snow so he didn't feel so alone anymore... He hated winter.