James stood on the walkway that ran the length of his campus as the quickly fading light of a winter sunset illuminated the bizarre scene. He was stunned as he looked at the floating letter and the short message written in what appeared to be green aerial font hovering in the air at chest height in front of him.

New message. Accept? [Y/N]

Hesitantly he looked around, worried that this strange sight would disappear as soon as he took his eyes off it. He was hoping to see another student walking by so he could have someone corroborate what he was seeing or otherwise drive him to a loony bin.

Seeing no one else around this late on a winter evening he shook his head. "It must have gotten way too hot in that room." He said to himself as he more closely inspected the letter.

Upon inspection, he noticed that the floating words were quite transparent while the letter itself seemed to be ever so slightly see-through and almost mirage-like. With a little hesitation, he reached out to try to take hold of the note. To his surprise he found that his hand passed through it easily, disrupting its substance as if it were made of smoke. The letter reformed after the wake of his hand passed through, leaving him quite surprised, only to have his surprise increase as his hand made solid contact with the word "Accept?" floating in front of him.

"Whatever. Nothing about this makes sense." He mumbled as he pressed the "Y" with his finger feeling it depress like a real button. As soon as he did, he saw the letter quickly become more substantive then fall to the ground. Wary but curious, he picked it up and felt the smooth soft leather between his fingers before breaking the wax seal by tugging on the string.

As the leather unfolded, he got the impression of precisely how old this item was as the leather protested the movement despite its thinness and quality. Upon opening he found the whole of the piece was covered in writing in a language he didn't recognize at all. It appeared to be a language that used an alphabet due to the recurring symbols, but their complexity and crudeness gave a distinct sense of conveying images in a pictorial form as well. The writing appeared to be cut directly into the surface of the leather and despite its age had not faded at all.

*Ding*

That noise continued to haunt him. Looking up, he saw a new floating message.

Do you wish for the system to translate the message into your native tongue? [Y/N]

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Note: This service is a one-time offer.

Giving over to the surreal nature of this moment and the exhaustion of the day James decided to simply accept his new reality and save the building mountain of questions for later. Pressing the button, he began to see faintly glowing English words float over the unknown language of the letter.

This letter is for the Dreamer,

If this letter gets lost, misplaced, stolen, or there is no dreamer in this future generation, stop reading now. Only harm will befall you if you try to take the Dreamer’s inheritance.

Dreamer,

Soon it will be time to awake. The world will change, or rather revert to what it once could have been. You have begun to see both future and past. Do not give up hope. There will be dark days ahead and you will wish to be alone, but you must find others to rely on. Alone you are strong, together you are unbreakable.

The inheritance of the dreamer is twofold.

One, as with all dreams, it is a chance to know before the world knows. See before others see.

Two, it is a fate and a way of being as old as the night.

As with any inheritance, you may refuse it. But know that if you do you will not avoid any pain or suffering. You will only delay it for three days.

Please accept this gift saved for you from ages ago. A poem wrote by me but not for I to know. To my tongue it makes not a bit of sense, but when I speak my dreams fill me with such confidence.

Awake awake oh heart of mine

Awake to a fate so sweet as wine

Know of a world where dreams shift and seek

Find out what strength is to the meek

James is the name of a man who will awake

Life to him is what he can make

-Words of an old Dreamer

After reading through the message a second time, he sat down hard on the pavement next to a flowering shrub decorating the side of the walkway. In front of him he saw a new flashing message, but he had yet to get around to processing it. He spent a long minute pulling hairs from his arm trying to decide if this was real or a dream. The stinging on his arms from his hair pulling, and his backside from his hard sit down, convinced him that he was awake. Dusting himself off, he stood back up. Steeling himself and swallowing the panic and questions that bubbled up inside of him he read the message in front of him.

Do you wish to accept the Dreamers Inheritance? [Y/N]

WARNING: This is an agreement to awaken.

WARNING: This is an agreement to forgo character creation and class selection, and to keep current race, class, and stats.

The two warnings did way more to confuse him then they did to help him but after the note he received he didn't see another option.

He reached forward and pressed the "Y". A soft genderless voice spoke from somewhere near his head.

"Awakening initiated. Now entering character creation."

James braced himself as he felt his consciousness fade into a flat whiteness.