"Hello, Kyungsoo. I'm glad that you have at last joined us."

The adrenaline coursing through his veins has him extra on edge, and he looks up sharply at the sound of his name.  Getting his first look at the interior of the room, Kyungsoo glances around suspiciously, back still pressed against the door he slammed behind him. He feels trapped. Trapped between the Thing that was chasing him and the occupants of the building he desperately flung himself into. 

It only takes him a few beats of his heart to realize that not all of the people in the room are unknown to him.  Granted, he doesn't know the owner of that voice, but he does know the two other figures. They are seated and seem just as on edge as he feels.

"Please, Kyungsoo, take a seat with your friends and I will begin my explanation." The woman, or man, Kyungsoo isn't really sure, gestures to the empty seat between his "friends." Glancing at their faces, Kyungsoo is not sure whether to feel relieved or even more uncomfortable by the fact that he seems to be stuck in this outlandish situation with soccer player Jongin and the brooding new student. 

Timidly settling himself between the two much larger males, Kyungsoo decides to focus his attention on the being speaking. He? She? They are speaking, and while Kyungsoo listens, he observes. The person seems more like an entity than an actual human. Their hair is a soft lavender color and falls in a straight cascade to their shoulders where it is cut in an even line.  Their slightly slanted eyes are the exact same color as their hair, and by this Kyungsoo doesn't mean their irises, but their eyes. There is no white or black, there is only a solid lavender that extends from corner to corner, lid to lid, and it is incredibly disconcerting.  Their skin is so pale as to be nearly translucent, and Kyungsoo can see the faintest outline of their veins under their skin. This, too is the same gentle purple as their hair and eyes. 

Their body is waifish; long arms and thin legs seemingly floating they are so light.  Kyungsoo imagines a good strong breeze would send them flying. But their delicate appearence is conflicted by the strong and steady cadence of their voice.

"I am sure that you are all curious to know why you are here, and just what it is that you have experienced."

Nobody says anything, but Kyungsoo can feel an undercurrent of curiosity in the waves of tension thrumming through the boys on either side of him. He himself is dying to know what is going on. Or maybe "dying" is not an appropriate phrase in this situation.

"Well then, I will get straight to the point.  This world is fading, and it is fading fast.  The Matchless are being hunted, and our magic stolen."

"I'm sorry, the what?" Jongin seems to have had enough of the vagueness of their supposed "explanation." "Look lady, I don't mean to be rude, but I literally don't have a clue what you are talking about." Despite his outburst, Jongin manages to retain the calm and respectful tone of voice he is famous for in their school. No one can dislike Kim Jongin, he is just too nice.

"I am neither male nor female; I am a Matchless." Kyungsoo is a little annoyed that despite the apparent desperation of the situation, this "Matchless" is smirking at them.

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what that means."

"Please forgive me, I am quite terrible at explanations. If only my colleague would get here..." The Matchless trails off as they peer out the window. "Ah yes, here they come now."

Within seconds of them having uttered this statement, the door that Kyungsoo had flung himself through what feels like an eternity ago is being opened once more. Calmly striding in is what he presumes is another Matchless. They look exactly like the being that has been speaking with them, with two differences. Their hair is far longer and sweeps gracefully down to their slender waist, and instead of lavender, this one is seafoam green.

"Please forgive me, I was momentarily delayed," the green Matchless's voice has a slightly deeper timbre, but is still neither male nor female; it simply is.

"By that monster Thing that's out there, right?" Kyungsoo finally decides to speak up. It doesn't appear that these two entities are trying to hurt them, so he may as well make himself a bit more comfortable.

"Monster...?" The Matchless trails off in confusion, looking to their lavender counterpart for clarification.

"Ah, yes, that." Turning away from their colleague, the lavender Matchless addresses the three boys once more. "I am quite sorry about that." If Kyungsoo didn't know any better, he would almost say that they seemed to be a bit chagrined by their words.  "There was never anything actually chasing you, I just needed to get the three of you here as quickly as possible. We don't have much time."

"What?" This soft voice is coming from the boy to the left of him. Kyungsoo realizes with a start that he still doesn't know the new student's name.

"I'm sorry, dear, I know that it gave you quite a bit of a fright." And Kyungsoo is surprised to notice that there is a bit of a blush coloring the cheeks of the intimidating boy.

"S'fine."

"Can you please, tell us just what the hell is going on!?" Kyungsoo finally snaps. His heart has at last calmed down, and the fear that he was feeling earlier has been replaced by a slow burn of anger.

"You have not yet told them?" The green Matchless asks the lavender one.

"No they bloody well have not!" His annoyance is simmering in the pit of his stomach and is using his words as an escape.

"I was waiting for you. You know that I am quite poor at story-telling." Once more the lavender Matchless seems to be slightly embarrassed, and Kyungsoo almost feels bad for snapping at them. Almost.

"Then I shall begin. Time in the dreamland works quite differently from time in your world."

"Our world?" Jongin quirks an eyebrow at the two Matchless in front of them.

"If you please-" the lavender Matchless begins to retort, but is cut off by the green one who seems to be far more patient.  They may look nearly identical, but it would appear that they are, after all, their own unique people.

"Yes, please allow me to explain. I shall have to do it quickly."

When they notice that Kyungsoo is opening his mouth to presumably make another remark, the lavender Matchless shoots him a withering look that shuts him up instantly.

Seafoam green does not appear to notice this interaction and continues with their explanation.

"This world that you are currently in is what you call the dreamworld.  But make no mistake, it is very, very real.  This is the epicenter of all things imaginative, and it is where the dreams and inspirations of your world are produced and distributed. It is to this world that your consciousness travels when it leaves your body behind in times of slumber, and it is here that your consciousness attempts to get to when you are lost in thought - daydreaming, if you will.

"We, the Matchless, oversee this world and are tasked with ensuring its safety.  Our duty is to see to it that dreams are produced and distributed to the consciousnesses that visit us.  We make sure that the realms cooporate and that each person is visited by an equal number of good dreams and nightmares, though as I'm sure you know, dreams are not limited to only these two categories."

Kyungsoo knows. He's had plenty of dreams that fall between those two categories. Dreams that aren't exactly nightmares, but still are not particularly peaceful or restful. And he's had more and more of them recently as the stress of applying for colleges eats away at him steadily.

"We Matchless are innumerable, or at least we were." At this, green Matchless's face falls into an expression of deep sadness. The kind of sadness so potent that it ages even the most youthful visage into something far past the years of life that person has led. The debilitating sadness emanating from him is matched by Lavender's expression, and Kyungsoo can't help but to feel immense pity for these beings he has only just met.

"We keep our power - magic you would call it - stored in the heart of our world, in the realm of the Matchless.  It is generated through the hope and goodwill you humans bring with you each time you drift off to sleep. The relationship between the Matchless and the humans is mutual.  We curate your dreams; bring to you inspiration and inventiveness, and through your joyous humanity, you keep us supplied with our power.  It has worked this way since the dawn of time, this symbiotic relationship.

"But," and here Greenie's face darkens and a cloud of black anger that makes Kyungsoo shiver seems to gather around them as tension draws their shoulders together, "that peace is being threatened.

"Thrane, the ruler," they spit this word out in visible disgust, "of the nightmare realm has staged a coup. He has been restless for more power for a very long time, but we Matchless did not consider him to be a threat. For who could be a threat to us?" They laugh, but the sound is devoid of all humor, filled only with acrid bitterness.

"In secret, he bred more and more of his nightmares, upon whose backs bad dreams ride.  He sent them out to the dreamers, all at once, thousands upon thousands of them, tipping the balance of the dream realm. They sought out every dreamer and pushed away all the hope, replacing it with the stench of misery.  Our constantly refilling supply of power stopped. With the nightmares came despair, and with despair, hope is lost.  A few stragglers desperately tried to fight back and continue the happy flow, but nearly all of them failed.

"With the sudden withdrawal of our supply of magic, we became nearly powerless to fight back. Our resistence was diminished to the magic we had on reserve, and it was not nearly enough. It was a massacre. Thrane and his nightmares invaded our stronghold. We fought to the last, but it was no use. The two of us, through some unknown miracle, managed to escape and survive, but we are now nearly powerless. We have just enough left to make small manipulations to this world, such as the creature my colleague created to bring the three of you here, but we do not have a fighting chance at stopping Thrane."

The other two boys seemed to be absorbed in quiet contemplation as they mulled over the tale that Greenie had told them, so Kyungsoo took it upon himself to be the collective voice.

"Okay, that and all, but why are the three of us here?" Jongin and New Kid's heads snap up at that and pin the two Matchless with their stares.

"Do you recall my colleague informing you that there were a few humans that did what they could to fight off the nightmares, but almost all of them failed?" Lavender did not wait for them to reply. "You three, three teenagers at that! were the only ones able to fight them off." Lavender seems incredulous at their own words.

"Peace," Greenie speaks directly to Lavender. "It would seem that the three of you are our only fighting chance at thwarting Thrane's schemes and reclaiming this world; bringing the realms back into balance."

Before either of the three of them are able to utter another word, be it of protest or sympathy, Kyungsoo can feel his awareness fading. A sharp hook latches somewhere in the center of his chest and pulls him away, the edges of the scene quickly fading into nothingness.

                                           *                      *                         *

His alarm goes off and Kyungsoo sits up gasping in bed. His heart is pounding, his head is spinning, and the remnants of adrenaline are leaving his system.

He can't recall any details, but Kyungsoo is sure that he just had a very, very bad dream.