Val Kyran woke with a start.  He sat up and looked around the room he'd purchased for the night, but nothing seemed out of place.  It was still the dead of night, so the man turned his thoughts back to the dream that had propelled him back to wakefulness.

He'd started out in darkness, unable to see anything.  That was actually a bit unusual, as regular darkness wasn't too much of a hindrance to most of his kind, particularly those who possessed shadow magic, like himself.  But the dark where he found himself was completely empty.  Something was calling him, urging him forward, and without even meaning to he followed the feeling.  Sudden, blinding brightness hit him and Val shielded his eyes.  That was where he normally would wake, but this time the dream continued.

He stood on the shore of a vast lake that stretched away before him, reaching beyond the horizon.  The midmorning sun reflected off it, dazzlingly bright.  The water swirled, and a vortex formed, turning into a tunnel that held a worn stone staircase leading down into the lake.  He followed them, looking around at the fish and underwater plants that he could make out through the distortion of the magically formed tunnel.  The stairway curved, and eventually he came to a pair of columns covered in glowing runes, set in a mostly vertical wall of rock.  A veil of water poured between them, and whatever called him lay somewhere beyond it.

Val was not particularly fond of water.  He hesitated before the waterfall, running a hand through his hair.  But he couldn't ignore the summons.  He stepped through.  Around him, the world blurred, and he had the sensation of moving very fast.  Then he found himself in a room whose walls were covered in more glowing runes.  He could see that the bluish light they shed rippled faintly, and the light seemed to flow through the patterns.  Near the far wall was a small pool of water with a pedestal rising from it, and upon the pedestal lay a small crystal.  That was what Val sought, he knew at once.  A fairy sat beside it, and when she saw him, she pushed off and flew to circle around him.

"You must be the hero I seek," she said, tossing white hair over a tiny shoulder.  "Hurry!  You need to find the shard of water, and unite it with the others, or the world we love shall surely perish.  We are counting on you."  A blur of images filled his mind after the fairy spoke, and he fell to his knees, overwhelmed, only to wake up in bed.

He turned the strange dream over in his head.  He'd had the first part of it before, several times over the past few weeks.  But the lake and the room with the pedestal were new.  He wasn't sure how he felt about being a hero.  That sort of thing tended to be dangerous, with a high chance of serious injury.

And yet...

The man sighed and rolled over, but sleep did not return for some time.  Come morning, he packed his few belongings, and after buying breakfast and some supplies for the road he made his way out of town.  It was about time to be moving on anyhow, and towards Impetia Lake was as good a direction as any.  He didn't /have/ to take the quest -- he'd not promised anyone, and was free to do something else at any time.  Val had a weakness for the promise of adventure, and a keen sense of curiosity, and he couldn't really let it go without at least doing a bit of digging.  It was part of the reason the man lived the life of a wandering musician and jack-of-all-trades.  And if nothing else, following the mandate of his dream certainly promised to be interesting.  For now, he'd see where it lead him.