Year 1980, somewhere in a plaza full of people.
Adrian Vale looked at the crowd that was there to witness the miracle stunt he was going going pull off tonight.
His face lit up, he could not hide his proud smile. Looking at all those people coming there to see his stunt, his heart was filled with excitement.
Woo....woo....
The constant cheering of the crowds only made him more and more excited.
Contrary to his cheerful and excited face, a man who was also at the stage was not happy at all. It was his assistant.
Standing way distance at the edge of the stage, away from people's attention, he gritted his teeth with hatred.
On the other hand, standing in the middle of the stage and beside him was a glass tank filled with water.
As a street magician chasing for fame, that night was his most important thing. If he could pull that miracle stunt off, he would become a celebrity overnight, not in the small city but around the world. Maybe his name would go down in history.
That was also the reason why his assistant was gritting his teeth in hatred and in jealousy.
With an excited face, Adrian put on the cuffs and chains with locks on himself. Then, he called his assistant to help him with the stuffs.
Still smiling, he slowly climbed on the ladder with the help of his assistant.
As he sat on the top of the edge of the tank with the lid opened, many people looked at him with encouragement. Little did he knew that it was all for their enjoyment.
Turning his face toward his assistant, he nodded. His assistant nodded back.
Then, he umped into the glass water tank and he stuck his chain on the bottom of the tank with a lock.
With a thumbs-up, his assistant closed the lid. Unbeknownst to Adrian, his assistant let out a chuckle.
As the crowd was focus on him, nobody saw the expression of the assistant.
Inside the water tank, Adrian was still smiling and waving towards the crowd. Then, he focused his attention of unlocking the lock on his hand.
With ease, he successfully unlocked the hand cuffs.
The crowds let out a cheerful loud noise as he did that.
Woo....
Then, they waited for more.
As the countdown continued ticking down, Adrian's heart was beating loudly and wildly.
Inside the tank with no sound, all he could hear in his mind was his heart beating fast and wild.
As slowly reached down towards the lock that was locking both his feet at the bottom of the tank, he secretly revealed a wire like lock picking pin.
It was the one his assistant prepared for him, he simply needed to just insert the pointy pin into the lock and his feet would be free.
Like that, he easily unlocked the lock from his feet, freeing both his feet.
Once again, the crowd went wild, screaming on the top of their lungs.
Seeing all that, Adrian assistant felt more and more jealous. His hatred grew more and more. But then, he calmed himself and smiled.
As this time, so much time had already passed. His breath was nearly at the end. But Adrian still believed he could pull off the stunt.
Now, all that come down to was the last and final act, opening the lid of the tank from inside.
It was the most difficult part of his stunt and also the easiest too.
He simply needed to push opened the lid from inside. But it was difficult since he was inside a water with no air.
As he swam above towards the lid, he could feel the screams and excitement of the crowd through the vibration.
Even though he was almost at the end of his breath, he still felt the excitement flowing through his body.
In that excitement, he thought to himself. 'Adrian, from tomorrow, no. From tonight, you will become someone who performed a miracle act. A celebrity from tonight.'
As he thought that, from the corner of his eyes, he saw the face of his assistant. At first, he thought he was smiling at him to encourage him. But when he looked closely, he realized it was smirk, that of telling like your efforts are futile.
Instinctively and instantly, he felt a bad feeling.
Without wasting a second, he immediately swam up and reached the lid.
With all his strength, he pushed the lid. But he could not even move it a bit. Like a mountain was sitting on it.
At this moment, he felt his breath running out. A little more and he would be dead.
As soon as he felt the weight of death and dread closing in, a surge of adrenaline rushed through his body.
With all his might he pushed the lid once again. This time, he could move the lid.
Excited and a sense of relief, he continued pushing the lid.
At the same time, the crowds could feel something was wrong but no one knew what exactly it was.
To show their support, all they could do was cheer for him.
One the stage, as soon as he felt the lid moved, the assistant's smirk faded. Thinking quickly he secretly activated a small mechanism placed just below his feet.
The moment he clicked that, Adrian felt the lid that was slowly moving, felt stuck completely.
At that moment, he felt desperate and despair rushed into his mind. With one last look, he frantically turned to the crowd and banged on the glass.
Seeing his action, the people knew something went horribly wrong. Some thought of rushing but didn't do that.
Some put their hands on their mouth.
But with each ticking of clock, Adrian slowly started losing his vision.
Finally, he could not hold his breath. Opening his mouth, he passed out.
Gasp.....
The whole crowd went silent.
Some reacted quickly and rushed forward.
By the time, he was dragged out of the water tank, it was already too late. The third rated street magician Adrian Vale had passed away. From his own stunt.
------
After what felt like an eternity, Adrian suddenly opened his eyes. He frantically breath for air.
Unlike what he expected, instead of suffocating feeling, he breath a fresh smell of air.
Thinking quickly, he looked around. Instead of the dark plaza filled with people, he saw clear blue sky.
Squinting his eyes, he felt the clouds were like too close, like almost he was just a few meters away from it.
When he turned away, he realized he was on a ship.
But not like those ships back on earth, running on water. It was flying in the air.
That's why he felt the cloud was too close.
"Where the hell am I?" he muttered, blinking as he looked around, still dazed.