Chapter 122: Apparition: The Art of Teleportation (2/2)

Haldor nodded and started. ”There are three important things you need to remember while apparating...” Haldor paused for a second before continuing. ”... In English, they would be Destination, Purpose, and Deliberation.”

”How about we call them, Destination, Determination, and Deliberation,” smiled Quinn as gave him the three concepts he had read in some books. ”That would make it three D's. The three D's of apparition.”

”I see. Alright, let's go with that,” nodded Haldor at the suggestion. It didn't matter what the three principles were called as long Quinn understood what the three points meant. And it was Haldor's job to explain to him right now.

”Step one: Focus your mind firmly on the desired destination,” started Haldor. ”We already have done that. You've already memorized the yellow patch, which is the destination that we will be going to. But still, concentrate upon that destination once more, please.”

Quinn nodded and immersed himself into the memory book that held the image of the yellow patch of grass.

”Alright, I'm done,” informed Quinn.

”Step two,” said Haldor and tried to put some strength into the speech. ”Focus. Be determined, as if you were occupying the visualized space! You have to long for it. Let that thought invade your mind, to every particle of your body! You want to feel from the bottom of heart that you want to be on top of that yellow spot!”

Quinn followed the instruction and willed his magic to transport him to the yellow spot. Quinn called upon the magic inside his body to permeate all over his body.

”Step three,” called Haldor, ”And only when I give you the command... Rotate around yourself. Feel yourself delve into nothing, but always with deliberation! At my count of three. On my command, now... one -”

Quinn took a deep breath, looked at the yellow grass patch, and focused on the image that he had created in his mind.

”- two -”

The sight from his eyes and the image in his mind started to overlap as Haldor continued to countdown.

”- THREE!”

Quinn triggered and felt himself spin; he momentarily felt the tug and the slight feeling of being sucked, and just when Quinn thought he was successful, then proceeded to lose his balance, and fell over the ground... on his butt.

What greeted him was the clear blue sky staring down at him with fluffy clouds carelessly floating away.

”Never mind, never mind,” said Haldor dryly, who did not seem to have expected anything better. ”Get up, please, and we will try again...”

Haldor had been teaching apparition for a while now, and even though he didn't get students regularly, he had enough teaching experience to be used to seeing his students fail.

Aksel, on the side, under the shade of the tree, also didn't look surprised. He had learned apparition in a group with his friends and remembered that it had taken him and his friends a lot of time to get themselves from one spot to another.

And even though Aksel was supposed to protect Quinn, he couldn't protect him from splinching mishaps. Of course, Aksel was going to make sure that if Quinn left behind some of his body parts, the damage would be fixed as soon as possible.

Quinn got up from the ground and brushed his clothes.

”That was fun,” said Quinn. ”Let's do this again.”

He thought back to his recent and first failed attempt at apparition.

'What went wrong? The first D, that is, destination, was perfect. My memory wasn't the problem,' thought Quinn, 'which means it was one of the last two Ds.'

Quinn prided himself on having firm control over his emotions and, consequently, his will. As long as it was magic, Quinn's will was the one thing he could count upon. And as Quinn never used a focus, so he was pretty sure his will when it came to magic was quite strong.

'Let's hope it's not will that I am lacking,' thought Quinn.

Determination was the part where Quinn had to imagine traveling to the place that he was imagining; wanting his magic to make him travel to the destination. Deliberation was the part where he would trigger the magic to apparate; it was the thing that would let his magic do the job and appear on the other side.

Quinn closed his eyes and imagined the yellow patch of grass. He then let his magic flow throughout his body so that every part of his body could apparate when he triggered the magic. And then, he triggered the magic so he could transfer his body to the yellow grass patch.

Once again, Quinn felt the tug of the apparition and felt being sucked in. This time it was a little more than before, but once again, the magic was interrupted. And Quinn, once again, fell down.

”Damn,” muttered Quinn as he admired the clouds. ”That cloud looks like a wolf, or is it a dog.”

Haldor sat down on the grass beside Quinn and said. ”Don't give up; it will take a lot more time to get to the destination. Apparition is a difficult art; it takes a lot more practice time to get the hang of it.”

Quinn didn't reply and used his hands to roll on his back. He then pushed himself into a handstand, and then he thrust himself up to get up on his feet.

He walked to the starting point, lightly held his fake wand in his hand, and slightly tilted his head as he gazed at the yellow patch ten feet in front of him. Magic once again covered his body, and the desire to get to his destination coursed throughout the active magic.

A cool breeze rustled the grass on the ground and the leaves on the trees. Flapping of wings could be heard as birds took off in the distance. The sun shone warmly from above the clouds. All of it came together to create the perfect day to be outside.

Then everything went silent as the wind paused for a moment.

Aksel was looking at the leaves above his head and the light filtering through the gaps in the canopy. Haldor let his eyes drop to give them a rest after a night of drinking and short sleep.

And in that moment, Quinn imagined traveling through the fabric of space to the yellow patch.

Quinn recalled the words that Haldor had spoken to him.

'Feeling my way into the nothingness. That's it.'

Quinn felt the tug and pull of the apparition. It wasn't like a side-along apparition; it wasn't his entire being was being remodeled to be fit into a pipe. No, this felt much natural, a little uncomfortable, but natural.

And then he was gone.

*Pop*

Haldor and Aksel heard a loud pop, one that akin to a small explosion. Their eyes widened after they noticed what happened. Both adults looked up to see Quinn, who had disappeared from where he was standing.

Their eyes immediately went to the yellow patch of grass, and there he stood, looking at his arms and body with a watchful eye.

The two grown men looked at Quinn with their eyes as wide as saucers. Haldor even had a slightly open jaw. Both were shocked that the kid in front of them only took three attempts to successfully apparate.

But to Quinn, it wasn't surprising. Even though it was Quinn's first day performing apparition; it wasn't his first day at reading about it. He had read a lot about apparition magic. Knew what to look for, and that's what he did.

In his first turn, Quinn attempted to apparate and failed. But in doing so, he was able to identify the process of activating apparition. From that identification, Quinn was able to draft a list of possible fail-points.

In his second turn, after activating apparition, Quinn analyzed every fail-point he had considered and checked listed to see what caused the travel to fail. And in doing so, he was able to find what the problem was.

After thinking about it, Quinn realized why his magic failed— his magic had resisted aparating. Apparition was magic that, when activated properly, made sure that the user would be teleported without fault.

Splinching happened when some parts of the body weren't covered with the 'apparating magic' and, thus, was left behind. As long as the entire body was covered, apparition magic would take care of the rest by itself.

But Quinn's apparition had failed because he didn't relinquish control to the magic. Apparition magic wanted to teleport Quinn, but his magic wouldn't let the 'apparating magic' take control. Quinn's tight rein over his magic after the sin vault interfered with his ability to apparate.

When Quinn was lying down on the ground, looking at the sky, he also thought about why he could side-along apparate just fine. Why didn't his magic resist side-along apparition?

Quinn concluded that his magic didn't act up because he let the other person take him along. It was like he was letting someone drive him to a place, and as such, his magic didn't act up.

Back to the problem. What was the answer? Quinn had to let the magic do its job.

If this was any other situation, Quinn wouldn't have relinquished control, but this was his own magic, so he let the apparition magic take him.

And his imagination of traveling through the fabric of space became a reality through the use of magic.

Quinn had traveled from the spot beside Haldor to the yellow grass patch.

He turned to them and grinned. ”I am whole. I didn't leave anything behind. But I think I need to work on the sound. It was rather loud, wasn't it?”

Quinn looked at the stunned men and then at the sky above.

”It's a really good day today.”

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Quinn West - MC - ”I can teleport! Pop-pop-pop!”

Haldor - Apparition instructor - Hungover but debt-free, so he can't complain.

Aksel Thorn - Standing under the tree - ”... How?”

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