In a tiny little town, the Night Watchman walks in the dead of night.

Carrying little more than lantern they traverse the dark night. It’s their jobs to walk the streets at night to make sure there aren’t any nefarious deeds being committed or monsters sneaking into people’s homes. If anything were wrong it would be their job to awaken the town and call the guards to deal with the situation, whatever it may be.

Finally it comes to the middle of the night where the lonely Night Watchman’s nightly rounds has him arrive at a cute little stone bridge. This stone bridge was at the exact center of town. The water underneath it dividing the town in two.

It was an odd bridge though. Rising up higher than absolutely necessary some might even call it absurd as walking across it is like walking up a hill and then down a slope.

The stream that it was built over was roughly 8 feet below it and despite the clearance the water level never rose more than a foot or caused anyone problems when walking across it. Townsfolk, pedestrians and even traveling peddlers refused to use the bridge, but rather pass right beside it.

Better to get a little wet than break a leg or a wagons axle on that foolish.

But the Night Watchman always stopped on top of the bridge, once, on every round he made on his route.

When he got to the top of the bridge, the Night Watchman would call out in a loud voice. “All is well in the night!” Then he would turn to the direction he came from before calling out again “All is well in the night!”

It was a simple job, but it could be a dangerous job. For Thom, the Night Watchman of this quaint little town, it was also a scary job.

It was scary, because Thom was afraid of the dark.

Technically he was supposed to hold his lantern on the end of a carrying stick which slung over his shoulder behind him. That way the light would illuminate him and his surroundings without blinding him.

But Thom, who was afraid of the dark, found it much easier to see at night if he held the lantern in his hands and up in front of his face. It was much easier for him to see this way precisely because he couldn’t see that way.

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“Who goes there?”

Thom could hear footsteps in front of him. This late at night he began to imagine all kinds of terrible things that might mean to do him harm.

Like maybe it was a thief who was trying to avoid Thom, or maybe this time the thief would think that Thom had seen him and had to go? What if it was serial murderer who thought of Thom as his next victim? Or it could have even been a rapist! One who didn’t care if he raped a woman or a man? Or maybe the rapist was only going after men? What if it was a demon, an ogre, or even a troll? Some monster of the night that wanted to eat him up!

Thom worked himself up in such a fright. The sound of the footsteps quickened.

Thom started to sweat profusely. They were getting closer.

The smell of ammonia came from his nether region. They were coming for him.

And his arse suddenly had company back there. Oh, god! What was Thom to do?

“HEY THOM HOW’S IT GOING? WELL GOOD NIGHT!” A face suddenly entered his view a foot in front of him and in a loud voice and a rushed pace asked him how he was doing.

“AHHHHHHH!” Thom screamed out in fright. His heart beating at the same pace that a child would beat at a new drum.

It was Bradley. Bradley was a close friend of Thom’s, but he liked to pick on Thom by scaring him in the night. Sometimes Bradley would stay up all night for the chance to play a prank on Thom, the Night Watchman. The next day his misses would slap him repeatedly to keep him awake.

It was a very scary job for Thom, but he was able to get through the night with one simple trick.

If he carried the lantern in his hands, in front of his face, then he couldn’t see the darkness. And if he couldn’t see the darkness then he wouldn’t be afraid of what was out there. To Thom, who was blinded by the light, there was no dark.

And if there was no dark, than Thom knew that there were no monsters coming for him.

That troll that lived under the eight foot bridge wasn’t peeking out from underneath it.

The Ogre that snuck past the other Night Watchmen wasn’t staring at him hungrily, saliva dripping on the ground forming puddles at its feet.

The demonic eye bird wasn’t swooping down to carry him off into the night.

Ghosts weren’t gliding across the cobblestone streets, reaching out with translucent hands to grab his warm flesh.

Off to his right, that old run down house that only appeared at night didn’t spew out skeletons that would clatter their jaws when they were ready to strike.

And goblins definitely weren’t huddled together, waiting behind an Orc who rested a mighty cleaver-type sword across his shoulders.

Nope. Thom the Night Watchman didn’t see any of that and since he SAW nothing wrong he might as well get on with it. “All is well in the Night! All is well in the Night!” His job as one of the Night Watchmen.