Yang Ji was 14 years of age when he discovered the art of moving without crossing space. It was a simple talent, he would later insist, and not at all something inborn; simply tense and relax the right muscles (he was never clear which ones) and anyone could do the same. No one who studied his method ever mastered the trick, though, and most people were content to assume that Yang Ji was a sorcerer as it was a simpler explanation.
At first, Yang Ji could only drift across short distances, his newfound gift more a simple party trick than a fantastic power. Never one to stop at trivia, Yang Ji practiced his art every day, sending himself across ever longer distances until at last he was gifted enough to pass freely through walls. He promptly squandered this gift on simple pranks and petty payback, minor stunts to impress young ladies or to bolster his reputation. His favorite trick was eavesdropping; it came naturally to him, being an inquisitive young man. Soon, Yang Ji knew everything there was to know about his town, and everyone paid due respect to the keeper of their secrets.
By age 15, this bored him, and Yang Ji set his sights higher. Now able to drift across long distances, he sought to use his power to enrich himself. Yang Ji was no thief, at least not by his own standards – he took not money but information, tidbits and facts that could allow a clever person to earn a fortune. It so happened that his father, while weak in many ways, was a profoundly clever man, and soon the Yang family's bank accounts swelled with their (some would say dubiously acquired) wealth.
But while he enjoyed the wealth, Yang Ji found this use of his gift to be trivial as well. By the age of 16 he had developed his power such that he could pass freely and easily across borders and oceans, and so he began a world tour. Ignoring the usual tourist attractions, he instead pried into the lives and secrets of the powerful. World leaders, corporate titans, great scientists, notorious criminals – their security meant nothing to him, and soon Yang Ji was more knowledgeable than any spy who ever lived. This time, he did not use this information for anything as crass as money or as noble as justice – it was simply the idle interest of a bored young man.
On his 17th birthday, Yang Ji declared that he was weary of Earth itself, and he was training himself to travel the stars. He would start small – a brief jaunt to the moon was within reason, just to prove that the feat was possible. His parents begged him to stay – Yang Ji, don't leave this planet, you'll perish out there and never be found. He didn't care, because youth and power had placed him beyond fear.
"But why?" his mother said.
"Because it is boring here," he replied.
"But son, you were once happy to just walk down the road," she said. "Have you lost this joy as well?"
It was then that Yang Ji realized that he had not walked in three years, had not taken a step since he had begun his campaign of mastery. Stretching his weary limbs, he went for a walk through his neighborhood and the woods at the edge of town. The grass struggling through the cracks in the sidewalk, the rustle of the wind captured by the trees – these things had drifted from his head in the previous years. He had, indeed, forgotten the beauty that was all around him, the magic that he simply floated past.
Yang Ji never again employed his special gift, except for one very special occasion - but this is a story for another time.