Areis shivered. The cold air coupled with the strong winds from North made tonight especially freezing. His chainmail armor proved to be more of a hindrance rather than an advantage. With only a heavy coat against the elements he stood at his post.

  While wishing time would go faster so he could go inside the warm barracks he saw one patrolman approaching. It was Darius. Wearing the same set of armor and coat that was issued to all Abyss Watchers he saluted Areis:

“Cold night, eh?”

“It is always cold up here in the wall Darius, tonight is no exception”

“It is, but tonight feels different”

“How so?”

“I don’t know how to say. Like… it’s unnatural? Normally the cold stings your skin, but tonight it feels my insides are freezing, not my skin”

  They both instinctively look at the Abyss. The pitch-black pit just beside the wall. With miles of wall around it the Abyss looked like a small sea. Numerous towers adorned the wall each with their own watchman standing guard like Areis. Between towers patrolmen travelled along the wall in predetermined routes.

  After an uncomfortable length of silence Darius spoke:

“Well… I should continue my patrol. See you”

“You too”

  Darius left the tower. After a while Areis only saw the light of his torch burning from a distance. Once again, he was alone atop the tower. To cure his boredom, he started to stroll while humming a melody his mother sang to him.

  He stepped on a pebble after strolling some time and picked it up. He gazed at the Abyss while holding the pebble. Out of a childlike instinct he threw the pebble at the dark pit. The small rock fell and briefly after, disappeared from sight.

  It was always like that. What goes in the Abyss, never comes back. Numerous expeditions were made with each party disappearing after going a few meters inside, all members considered lost. Even sun, with all it’s illuminating grace, couldn’t pierce the darkness with its rays. Light itself seemed to be sucked up inside the Abyss.

  Thus, the Abyss Watcher born. Building a wall around and manning it so none fall into it. Areis was one of them. Though he, like most, didn’t join with an altruistic motive. Daily hot meals, a roof overhead and decent pay was enough for most young men to join when the alternative is being a serf or worse. Though some argued that the Abyss Watchers’ real duty was not to protect people from the Abyss, it was to protect people from what’s inside the Abyss.

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  Areis giggled. He remembered one of the stories his village elder told. The elder often gathered children to his house and told stories of heroes and magic… One story in particular was about the Abyss. It was about “them” coming from the Abyss and a group of heroes defeating them. Areis managed to remember the end of the story.

“And with them pushed back to the Abyss, the heroes celebrated their victory. But Onaleus the Golden, wisests among them, warned the rest that they may come back. So together they created the Abyss Watchers. To stand ready when they once again rise from the Abyss.”

  Even if the story was great people knew it was fake. “Monsters from the Abyss” were only used by parents to scare their children so they wouldn’t disobey. The Abyss itself was scary enough to justify all the horror stories but believing actual monsters would come out of it when for hundreds of years nothing happened was absurd. For centuries Abyss Watchers just did what their name meant, they watched the Abyss.

  Sometimes Areis even questioned the necessity of the Abyss Watchers. They were literally getting paid to do nothing. Not that he complained though. It only made this profession more sought after.

  A horn blow echoed. “One out of three” Areis thought and prepared his horn. Every hour the towers, starting from the main one, blew their horns three times to indicate the passage of an hour. “Didn’t realized an hour already passed. Maybe my wish is coming true, time really is going faster.” With his horn ready he prepared to hear the second blow. Two horn blows meant a visitor. Though rarely happened, sometimes an official from a kingdom would visit. And one horn blow meant “Watch the Abyss” an indication of something coming from it. However, everyone thought the meaning of one horn blow was unnecessary. Starting from the creation of the Wall, not once the signal of one horn blow was used. It was a joke among the Watchers that the old leaders wrote the one horn signal as a big prank.

  Silence continued. With each second making Areis’ heart beat faster. Where was the second blow? He noticed some patrolman, stopping on their tracks. They were as confused as he was. Putting his horn back he tried to calm himself.

  Reluctantly, he looked at the Abyss. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Sometimes he would see a shadow move but it was obvious that those movements were just his mind playing tricks. Right?

  Was that a terrible prank? Some new recruit, after being taught the signals, decided to pull a joke? It should be that right?

  Areis didn’t want to think about the other possibility. Then he heard another horn blow. The feeling of relief after hearing a second blow quickly gave itself to terror when he realized that blow came from another tower, once again only a single blow, no other ones.

  Other voices started to rise. Patrolmen running around trying to find out what has happened, captains shouting orders to their subordinates, watchmen coming out from their barracks. This unexpected situation created chaos.

  One by one a horn blow was heard from other towers as well. Not only that, but there were also voices of… fighting? Albeit nearly unnoticeable there were voices of swords coming out of their sheaths and screams of agony.

  Areis shivered once again, but this time because of fear. Something was happening and he didn’t know what to do.

  Horn blows continued. Nearly every tower sounded their horn but only once. Voices of fighting rose and soon everyone atop the wall knew a skirmish have started. Taking his sword out of its sheath Areis slowly approached the edge of the wall.

  He saw them. They were climbing the wall and evidently already finished their ascend in some portions of it. They were close. Areis instantly realized he only has seconds before one reached him. Swiftly taking his horn back, he blowed it with all his might.

  That night. They rose, once again…