Time does not pass in the Prince’s curse.

Jinki realizes this fact when he sees that the sun remains at the highest peak and his shadow stays at the same angle despite the lengthy conversation he had with Taemin – a conversation that is still going on.

And judging from the way that the Prince does not look a day past fifteen, the Dream Walker is more than sure of his inference.

Taemin tells him everything; about how there is no other living breathing being in this world except the two of them, how the castle is the exact same replica down to the finest details of the hairline cracks in the walls. He tells Jinki the boundaries of the world.

“Beyond the gates is nothing but an abyss of darkness,” the Prince said thoughtfully, gazing in the direction. “Even the sun in this sky does not touch it. It’s almost like a plane on its own.”

However, what surprises Jinki the most is that the Prince is content to remain here.

“What’s there to dislike about it?” The young royal had shrugged half-heartedly when the question was posed. “I sleep when I want to, read what I want to. I don’t have to attend formal meetings or meet with a potential spouse or anything of that sort.” His nose wrinkled in distaste at his own words. “I mean what, I’m only fifteen!”

“Eighteen,” the Dream Walker gently corrected, reminding Taemin that it has been three years since he had ‘fallen asleep’. “But do go on.”

Taemin pouts at the casual note, but continues to tell Jinki about his world anyway and doesn’t stop, as though making up for the amount of time he has not had a single conversation with another sentient being.

In return, Jinki finds himself actually enjoying the younger’s company.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that Kibum has been his only source of conversation, but Jinki does not mind the inquisitive mind of the young prince. He does not scorn him, knowing who he was – and that itself was enough reason for the Dream Walker not to mind the fact that the Prince was quite the brat.

Ever since the moment he had discovered his powers, Jinki has never felt so safe.

“So what are your powers like, Onew-ssi?” The book that the Prince was reading previously has been long but forgotten, set aside in favor of questioning the Dream Walker about his abilities and research.

"You know, you don't have to be so formal with me," lips curved into an easy smile as he regarded the young royal. "It's wierd hearing someone not that much younger than me address me this way."

"Alright then, Onew...Witch...Dream Walker..." Taemin began to mumble to himself, and after a few moments of deep contemplation, Jinki's eye twitched from the way the other smirked. He was already starting to regret his decision--

"Hyung."

Resisting the urge to strangle the prince he was here to save, Jinki settled for a subtle rise and fall of his shoulders before answering the question posed to him. Despite the many years he has spent living in isolation trying to decipher himself and his powers, the Dream Walker has yet to see much progress. “But yes, I can conjure dreams. It’s all pretty boring and passive, though,” he chuckled dryly. “But aside from that, I mostly dream dive – I enter the dreams of others.” His eyes grew distant as he reminisced the earlier days when his powers had first surfaced. “At first, I wasn’t even aware I was able to do all that. I would find myself in bed one moment, and the next I would be in some fictitious world someone created in his or her sleep. Most dreams were harmless, but others…” A shudder wracked the elder’s shoulders at the mere thought. “I knew those people, too. But I guess I did not know the dark thoughts they harbored behind their smiles.”

The Prince merely responded with a grim smile that did not reach his dull, sapphire eyes. “You have no idea, Dream Walker.”

The topic was dropped after a few moments of uncomfortable silence; the subject redirected by the Dream Walker, albeit awkwardly, as he commented about the wonde