Sweat dropped on the blades of grass as large, towering figures ran at high speeds, towards a giant black and white boulder. These titans were exhausting themselves over this boulder.

It makes you wonder why they run after it. They want the boulder but some stay away till it's their turn to receive it, while others kick it into a giant spiderweb with thick woven 'silk' tied into square crosses.

These are the humble musings of an elderly ant observing from the benches beside a football field. This is not its story, but it might as well be.

On the field, one of the 'titans' was a young teen perhaps 17 years of age. The captain of his team, with above-average looks and a blazing confidence in his eyes yells, "Pass it over here!"

Threading a tight defence the captain ran into an empty spot, from the other side of the field a curving pass found its way slightly off target. Yet the captain's visual acuity was off the charts crossing his back foot to tap and save the ball from going out of bounds.

With a sharp stop, he accelerated towards the goal, the 'titan's spiderweb', cranking his leg backwards, using his visual acuity time seemed slow enough to catch wind of an open spot in the top corner.

Without even thinking about the feasibility of the shot, his foot hit the ball at an angle that had the ball spinning at speeds hardly visible to the human eye.

The keeper, however, was experienced at catching these high-speed projectiles, by observing the captain's body language he could guess its trajectory.

The kick boomed and by the shred of a hair, the keeper's middle finger tipped the ball, bouncing it off the goalpost. That split second of disappointment never came though, as another figure jumping high in the air tip of his toes bounced the ball back towards an empty part of the web.

Goal.

The atmosphere halted, the feelings were in the air. A mix of excitement and disappointment, a perfect harmony of life.

"Yeahhhh!"

The team celebrated while the opponents fell to the ground, the keeper practically bowing to pledge his sadness.

Meanwhile, the captain ran at the one who scored the goal, the silent support of their team and his very own vice-captain.

"JAVIIIIIII!"

The captain hopped onto Javi with the brightest smile on his face.

Javi laughed his smile free and charming, "Lauri!"

Despite his typical silent nature even Javi had to yell out in excitement. Soon the remaining team members also dogpiled on Javi.

He noticed them running towards him and tried to escape Lauri's grip but in the end, it was futile he was both exhausted and weaker. His fate was predetermined.

Meanwhile, the opposing team looked at them with a solemn look while supporting each other.

When Javi's body was unburied his eyes met with the captain of the other team. His eyes drained of excitement feeling sympathy, there's no athlete who doesn't know what it feels like to lose.

The team followed behind Javi who limped now that his adrenaline was lowering. They approached them and in an act of good sportsmanship, shook hands Javi spoke, "It was a good game that could've gone either way."

Javi spoke truthfully, it was a tie game and was already playing over the original 90 minutes and would have to be settled by penalties.

The other team's vice-captain came forward, "We don't need your sympathy..."

His face was melancholic but with a smirk, he added, "We'll get you next year."

Javi smiled back, well-acquainted with him. The opposing team began to smile their morales risen. As everyone began to wish them farewell Javi and Lauri went to speak with the captain and vice-captain respectively.

They exchanged pleasantries and quips before finally leaving for the evening. Outside the campus, was Lauri leaning on his electric scooter his parents bought for him recently. Lauri smiles as he sees Javi still with a neck around his neck after showering in the locker room.

"You take way too long in the shower man."

"The faucet at home is still broken, I either get boiling hot water or ice cold, I need the facilities they got."

Javi thought about his living situation for a bit - looking at Lauri's bike till he feels a light spank on his rear.

"Come on your royal highness! Hop on the back I'll drop you at the metro."

Getting on the scooter he put on his favourite pair of headphones to listen to tunes.

The wind was chilling, but nice. They got a good view of the sunset along the way forming a smile on the friends' faces.

As they reached the station, Javi dapped Lauri giving him some pats on the back.

The train was full, but it would take a while to reach his home down south, almost a 40-minute ride away.

Javi stood despite his legs aching, given that it was already too crowded. Luckily for him after a few stops the train was beginning to empty out and he got a whole seat to himself. His stop would be the last one for the day.

He used his training bag as a pillow for neck support while scrolling through his phone, one of his prized possessions with 3 cracks along the screen he at some point had gotten used to.

The train hardly made a sound, at the second last stop, Javi began to sit up albeit sore. Then suddenly an odd message was spoken on the PA system.

"Thank you for riding with us, today this will be our last stop."

"...What?!"

As the voice spoke, the train began to move Javi sat up quickly. He looked outside the window and it was all dark as if they were moving in the tunnel it typically went through. Javi felt anxious after the announcement and hoped it was just an error.

However, when the dark atmosphere persisted Javi really began to worry, on his carriage, there was no one else. He could not see anyone on the other ones. He fumbled with his phone in hand turning on a flashlight, the range wasn't far enough so he couldn't see anyone.

Luckily he knew where the front of the train was located, hoping he could find a conductor or something. As he slowly went step by step the drumming of the train became louder, still in the tunnel.

Javi walked slowly, creeping to the front of the train. He knocked on the door. Silence.

No, not silence, there's a creaking sound. The door's open.

Javi walked in to see no one at the helm, what was odd was the lack of buttons and only a single lever.

Seeing no other choice, Javi's fingers trembled as his hand got closer wrapping them around the cold steel. He closed his eyes hoping it would not screw his situation any further.

Yet if his eyes were open he'd see the lever glow a dim gold. The ever was a bit rusty and as he pulled it the gold began to float as particles began to float around his arm. He put in all his strength to pull it back.

Click.

When it finally pulled, the inertia flew Javi straight into the window of the train not giving him a moment's notice. His face knocked hard against the glass, enough to create an enormous crack yet surprisingly his face hardly felt the pain.

However, it did shock him leaving him sweating on the floor like a madman. He struggled to get up with now even his face feeling sore while his legs were... healed?

He didn't feel any pain in his calves as he did before and his upper body felt lighter than usual. At this point Javi was wondering if he was dreaming, maybe he was actually just asleep on the train and this is some weird subconscious nightmare. Unfortunately for Javi, his thoughts would require him to get a serious wake-up call.