Can the opening dream narrative be used as a quotation, i.e. as dialogue, as long as it retains every word in correct order?

So long as you are not bending the rules ... and it remains the introductory paragraph to your story ...

Remember: one of the criteria we will be using in the judging is how effectively and creatively you have worked with the introductory paragraph, just as in the first contest we considered how you related your story to the picture provided.