Night and the Nine fingers

Night, born a reaper, a race enslaved by The Kingdom of the Moons for generations now, kept for their unque ability to rip a soul from a living being and give it to another. There are some magical abilities that can only be harnessed by two, and those born with them, they are those who use the reapers.
A reaper was not created to bring about these great evil acts that they are now forced to commit, no, for every soul that is taken without return, one beautiful white feather on their angelic wings turns black. When the wings of a reaper are entirely painted black by their sins, they die.
There is a way to keep from dying. Eating souls. Most reapers are not aware of this, as they are taught very little in their imprisonment. Every once in a while a reaper gets free, and if a reaper gets loose, the guards might not bother to chase him, if his wings are marked for death.
This is how Night was freed. He escaped and was marked as dead, as he would die soon, and had lost his ability to take souls without eating them. Night ran into the forest of Amma, where he hid and waited for many days, for something, anything to find him, and when something did, it was not what he expected.
An ancient spirit which still wonders the forest of Amma, found the doomed reaper and asked of him his troubles? The reaper told the spirit all that had happened, but the spirit already knew. The spirit knew much more then Night and so she told him what she knew.
He was to die in three days time.
The spirit also told him, there is a young boy living in these woods, not too far from where we sit, and if you were to go and eat his soul, you might live another hundred years. Night would not end his life so prematurely. The spirit suspected as much and told him, if you don’t, the boy will be eaten within the hour by a monster already stalking him.
Night ate the boy’s soul and the spirit had much more to tell him. That boy would have grown old as a doctor, saving hundreds of lives, his children would have followed suite, and made medical innovations you cannot fathom and never will.
Night was saddened by this, and said, but he was to be eaten anyways… and the spirit replied, yes and you might have saved him rather than yourself. The monster that lurked was me, and I only lurked that you might choose to live or die. Now that you have chosen to live, you better live a better life then the one you took and the ones you will take.
Night confused said, he would not take another life, one hundred years was plenty for him, and the spirit answered, then you will need to take many more to see one hundred years.
Night replied, you said I’d live one hundred years if I ate that boy, and the spirit laughed, I said you might, that boy will feed you for a month, you will need many more souls to keep you alive for one hundred years, but if you were willing to kill one, I’m now sure you might kill to live for a hundred more.
Night angered by the spirits tricks yelled he’d never kill again, and the spirit brightened and relayed it’s prophesy; If you live for one hundred more, you will live to see your people set free, what is more noble then a few hundred lives saved by a boy you killed? The freeing of thousands of slaves who are being blatantly milled. I was sent here to these woods to change all of history, for you or the boy? You picked, that was a mystery. I knew coming in one would live one would die, all I told you was an opportunity was nearby. You picked and your time is ticking.
And with that, Night was alone, and he knew he had to kill to live or die leaving the world worse than he found it.
Today Night lives deep in the forest of Amma, his hundred years almost up, how he got here? Follow the trail of blood.
Some call him The Reaper, a demon, a dark saint, he has a cast of followers called the nine fingers he has enslaved to live. Some come freely to worship, others are unsure how they ended up one of his followers. Night has perfected a system with the combination of rune, soul, and other magics he found in the ancient woods. He bites off a finger, casts a spell, and a number appears on their palm, how long they have before they die, unless they bring him a soul, then they are granted more time. He makes his followers suffer as all reapers do, they pick, not he, who lives and who dies. Like the spirit all those years ago he met in the woods, he feels he didn’t pick so his hands are clean, their time is ticking.
His only goal, to live to see his people freed, my question, who are his people now, who will be freed?

How did Night change the status quo? To have nine fingers is now a crime you will hang for.