My Goalkeeping System

"So this is what you look like," Dave said as he walked down the endless white space with the voice he used to hear in his head who was now a human figure.

"I don't have a human figure but in your mind, I can have one," Catherine said.

"Okay, so you can take a human figure in my mind." He said.

"Yeah, but it's all up to you." She said,

"What do you mean?"

"I am like this because this has been the way you have always pictured me," She said.

"You're kidding right, because I don't remember picturing you as a person."

"That's what you think, but you do it without even realizing it," Catherine said.

"Huh?"

"You know I used to have black curly hair just like Emma until the day Emilia showed up and it suddenly turned red because you seemed to like her hair better than Emma's."

"My mind does all these things and I don't even know about it."

"You do, you just think you don't, right from the first day you heard my voice in your head, you began to form a picture of what I would look like as a person and it reflects."

"How is this even possible, how am I able to see you if you can only take a human figure in my mind, am I in my mind?" He asked with a confused expression on his face.

"Sort of."

"Huh?"

"You're in the subconscious state of your mind, this is what your mind pictures every time you fall asleep, an endless white space for some people it can be an endless dark space," Catherine explained.

"Are you sure because I'm pretty sure this is the first time I am seeing something like this after falling asleep?"

"Because you're not meant to see it until you start dreaming," Catherine said.

"Then why am I seeing it now?" He asked.

"Because I want you to." She said,

"Why?"

"Because there's a lot that you can achieve with your mind." She said,

"You're confusing me."

"Humans as a race have always limited the things that they could do with their mind, you want to be a better goalkeeper but getting better at what you do doesn't only rely on physical stats only, there's a lot that you can do with your mind but you just don't know it yet."

"Just go straight to the point Catherine."

"Human dreams work based on imaginations, those imaginations can either be self-imposed or they can be imposed by an external force, humans never have proper control of these forces while they are asleep, they don't even have control of the one from them but with the help of your system, you now have control over your dreams."

"What do you mean I have control over my dreams?" Dave asked.

"Let me show you an example of the external force I was talking about." Catherine said, walking ahead of him."

The goalkeeper had an amazed look on his face as he watched the whole area begin to change until it had turned into a large stadium.

"How did you do that?" He asked, looking around from the middle of the pitch where he was standing.

"I am an external force and just like I said, the external force can impose imaginations on you and cause you to dream about something, that's why some people get strange dreams sometimes," Catherine explained.

"Like nightmares."

"Yeah, like nightmares," Catherine said before turning to face him.

"So, why did you bring me to a stadium?"

"To train of course." She said,

"Is it necessary?" He asked. "I mean this is my dream so any training I do here won't improve me physically."

"That's true," Catherine said, walking closer to him. "But if you had been listening carefully you should have heard when I said that becoming the best in what you do isn't all about physical stats."

"Do you care to explain more?"

"Training in your dream will not improve your stats in any way but it can improve your expression, your reaction, and teach you a lot of other things which you will find out later," Catherine explained.

"Experience is something you gain from living your life every day and doing the things you do, you can't get that from dreams," Dave said.

"That's true for other humans, not you Dave," Catherine said.

As soon as she said that, the stadium began to get noisy as people were beginning to troop into the stands and before Dave knew it, the stands had gotten filled up.

"What the?" Dave said, looking around the now filled-up stadium.

"You have full control over your dream Dave, that means you can gain as much experience as you want but for now, I'll be your guide," Catherine said before snapping her hand.

As soon as she snapped her hand, the goalkeeper found himself in front of the crowd but he wasn't alone, he was lined up with his teammates and they were all in their orange home jerseys while he was in the black jersey.

"Mateo." He called.

"Not now dude, they're singing the anthem," Mateo said without even turning his gaze to him.

"This is insane." He muttered to himself.

As soon as those words left his mouth, everything paused as he spotted Catherine walking toward him from the bench area.

"I've never felt so much awake in a dream before, this is insane," Dave said, looking at her.

"Because your mind has always been limited just like everyone else's but with the help of your system, that has changed." She said,

"You said I have control over things here right?"

"Yeah."

"But I don't feel like I'm in control of anything." He said.

"You don't have to feel anything, all you have to do is imagine it and it will happen," Catherine said.

"Imagine." The goalkeeper said looking down at his blue boots and just as he was looking at them, the boots suddenly turned red. "Waooh."

"See."

"That was awesome."

"Now back to the experience I want you to get," Catherine said.

Dave wanted to say something but before he could say it Catherine had vanished and everything had resumed but now he was no longer lined up with his teammates, he was now in between the sticks with his teammates standing in their wings on their side of the pitch while the other team players were also standing on their side, the players were putting on white jerseys.

"We are just waiting for the referee's whistle for the game to be on the way," Jim said.

As soon as he said that, the referee blew his whistle to signal the beginning of the match.

A player from the opposite side had quickly rushed toward Fred as soon as the whistle was blown but before he could get to him, the center forward passed the ball to Minino.

"We are on the way to determining the outcome of what could be the greatest night in the history of Unique FC," Jim said.

"It could go both ways, it could be the greatest night in their history or it could end as what would have become the greatest night in their history because I don't think Real Madrid is going to make it easy for them," Steve said.

"Real Madrid," Dave muttered.

"Yeah, Steve, we'll have to watch and see if Unique FC will be able to dethrone the current champions of Europe," Jim said.

"Champions League final," Dave said with a wide smile on his face.

He has never been in a UCL match before and despite this being just a dream, he was beginning to get that feeling of excitement he knew he would get in his first-ever champions league game.

****

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If I get up to a hundred golden tickets before the end of the month I will release six chapters on the first of December.