Formation of Gates

The first shimmer appeared at 2:17 PM, between a hot dog cart and a newspaper stand on Fifth Avenue. At first, Jorge Martinez thought it was just heat distortion rising from the asphalt – until the air itself seemed to tear open, revealing a swirling vortex of iridescent light that hung suspended like a vertical pool of liquid mercury.

Mei Chen, finally having left her office for a late lunch, nearly dropped her phone mid-text as she watched the phenomenon materialize. The portal – if that's what it was – measured roughly three meters in height and two across, its edges rippling like disturbed water. The code she'd been debugging all night suddenly seemed insignificant compared to the impossibility before her.

"It's just like Solo Leveling!" shouted a young man in a tech company hoodie, his voice carrying across the rapidly gathering crowd. He held his phone high, livestreaming the event. "Look at it! It's a Gate! Just like in the manhwa!"

Officer Tanaka's training hadn't covered anything like this. He established a hasty perimeter, calling for backup while keeping the growing crowd at a safe distance. His radio crackled with similar reports from across the city – Downtown, Central Park, near the universities, in residential neighborhoods. Each description matched: shimmering portals, seemingly stable, purpose unknown.

In the library, Sarah O'Connor's quiet morning dissolved into chaos as patrons crowded around computers and mobile devices. Social media exploded with videos and photos from around the globe – a portal in front of the Eiffel Tower, another bisecting the Sydney Opera House's distinctive sail-like structures, one hovering above the Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo.

"Look at this!" A teenager thrust his phone toward his friends, showing shaky footage from London. "They're saying there's hundreds of them! Just appearing everywhere!"

Ahmed Rahman's taxi sat idle in gridlocked traffic as people abandoned their vehicles to get a better look at a portal that had manifested in the middle of Times Square. The massive digital billboards above continued their commercial displays, creating a surreal backdrop to the supernatural phenomenon. His daughter Amira called, her voice excited:

"Dad, are you seeing this? It's all over campus! There's one right in the middle of the quad!"

Isabella Torres found herself treating the first portal-related injury at the emergency room – a young woman who had tried to touch one of the mysterious gateways and received a mild electrical burn for her curiosity. As she applied burn cream, Isabella listened to the patient's breathless explanation:

"I just knew I had to try! What if it's like in the stories? What if we're about to get powers? You know, like in those Korean webtoons where people become hunters and awakened ones?"

Television producer Karen Chen had already switched her entire network's programming to breaking news coverage. Reporters stationed around the city provided live updates while experts – hastily assembled physicists, science fiction authors, and religious scholars – offered theories and speculations.

"The portals appear to be stable but impenetrable," announced a quantum physicist from Columbia University. "They're emitting an unknown form of radiation, but initial readings suggest it's harmless to human tissue. What we're seeing defies our current understanding of physics."

Social media influencers and streamers flocked to the sites, their concurrent viewers skyrocketing as they documented the phenomenon. Priya Sharma watched from her office window as a group of young people posed for selfies in front of the nearest portal, their expressions a mix of excitement and apprehension.

"#GateDay is trending worldwide," David Kim announced to his café patrons, all of whom had abandoned their laptops to cluster around the windows. "People are comparing it to dozens of different comics and games. Solo Leveling, Tower of God, The Gamer – everyone thinks they know what's coming next."

In the elementary school, Aisha Hassan struggled to maintain order as her students pressed against the classroom windows. A portal had appeared in the playground, its swirling surface casting strange patterns across the swing sets and jungle gyms. School administrators debated whether to send students home early.

"My big brother says we're going to get super powers!" one excited third-grader declared. "He says in all the stories, this is how it starts!"

The construction site where Marcus Johnson worked ground to a halt as workers gathered at the edge of the scaffolding, watching multiple portals materialize across the city skyline. Someone had started a betting pool on what would emerge first – monsters, aliens, or divine beings.

Wei Zhang continued playing her violin in the subway station, but her classical repertoire had shifted to theme songs from popular anime and games, matching the surreal atmosphere. Her case filled faster than usual as crowds gathered underground, either seeking shelter from the unknown or trying to catch glimpses of portals reported in various stations.

In the park, Nina Petrov noticed that dogs acted strangely around the portals – not barking or aggressive, but watchful and alert. The golden retrievers sat perfectly still, their eyes fixed on the shifting surface of the nearest gateway. Other dog walkers reported similar behavior across the city.

Raj Patel's fitness center emptied as clients rushed to windows or their phones. Someone pulled up a global tracking website that had appeared, showing the locations of known portals. The map updated in real-time, new dots appearing with increasing frequency.

"Over ten thousand confirmed locations worldwide," announced a news ticker. "Scientists baffled. Military units mobilizing. Religious leaders call for calm."

Public spaces transformed into impromptu gathering sites as people sought community in the face of the unknown. Street vendor Jamal Williams had never served so many customers, as people remained outdoors, unwilling to miss any developments. Conversations blended anxiety and excitement:

"Did you read 'Tower of God'? This is exactly how it started!" "My cousin in Seoul says they're seeing the same things!" "Check this livestream from Rio – their portals are exactly like ours!" "What if we're about to get a system interface like in those cultivation novels?"

Sofia Rodriguez's market stall became an informal information exchange as customers shared stories and theories. An elderly professor from the university argued with a teenage manhwa enthusiast about the nature of the portals, while others debated whether to stock up on supplies.

The morning's comforting rhythms had dissolved into a maelstrom of speculation and disbelief. As the afternoon sun tracked across the sky, the city's soundtrack shifted from the familiar – honking horns, rumbling buses, the chatter of pedestrians – to a rising murmur laced with apprehension and awe. No one knew what to make of the portals, but theories proliferated like wildfire through the collective consciousness.

In the financial district, Zara Thompson had closed the gallery early as her staff gathered around the news broadcasts, unable to focus on upcoming exhibits. One of her assistants pointed at the television, where a prominent scientist attempted to calm the growing hysteria.

"While we don't yet understand the nature of these portals, I want to emphasize that there's no evidence they pose any immediate threat." The astrophysicist's measured tone contrasted with the frantic energy around him. "They appear stable and self-contained. We're studying them, but for now, the best advice is to avoid direct contact and remain calm."

Zara shook her head skeptically. As fascinating as the portals were from an artistic perspective – all those swirling colors, like abstract canvases suspended in mid-air – she couldn't shake the sense of foreboding that had settled in her gut. She thought of the priceless artworks under her protection, and wondered if it was time to start moving them to secure locations.

Outside a community center in Brooklyn, a crowd had gathered where Jamal Williams now served not just coffee and donuts but a running narration to accompany the events unfolding around his cart. His baritone carried through the throng as he pointed to the nearest portal.

"See how the edges keep shifting, like they ain't quite set in this reality? That's just like in those Chinese cultivation novels my customers were always talkin' about – where the portals would open into new planes of existence, whole other realms and worlds."

A young tech entrepreneur listened intently, then lifted his voice above the spectators. "He's right! In 'Stellar Transformations', the portals were called Cosmic Tears – gateways into higher dimensions where those who cultivated their spiritual energies could ascend to immortality!"

Cries of "Quiet!" and "Let him speak!" rippled through the crowd as Jamal raised his hands for silence. He smiled at the eager faces turned toward him.

"Way I see it, we got two possibilities. Either them portals open up into some crazy fantasy world like the stories...or they the path for us to become the fantasy ourselves. Awaken some hidden powers, maybe even level up our mortal selves into something more."

His audience erupted in excited chatter, fueled by the innumerable tales of ordinary humans transcending their mundane existences. Jamal gave a slow nod, his eyes twinkling with the same sense of possibility that electrified the air around him.

Not far away, Isabella Torres took a momentary break from the endless stream of emergency room patients – cases of panic attacks, minor injuries from shoving crowds, and a concerning number of attempts to interact with the portals. She stepped outside, seeking fresh air and perhaps a moment's clarity.

The nearest gateway rippled a mere twenty feet away in the hospital's ambulance bay, its iridescent surface casting everything in flickering prisms of refracted light. Isabella felt the hairs on her arms rise, her instincts issuing a primal warning about the phenomenon before her. While others fantasized about superpowers or new planes to explore, her mind remained anchored in the logic and empiricism that had guided her medical training.

A weary voice beside her shattered the trance. "You look as freaked out as I feel." Isabella turned to see Miguel Santos, one of the paramedics she worked alongside frequently. His face was haggard, his uniform disheveled from another brutal shift.

"Aren't you tempted?" He nodded toward the portal. "Even a little bit? To reach out and see if we'd get, you know...abilities? Like in those comics?"

She shook her head, her eyes never leaving the hypnotic surface before them. "If I learned anything from those stories, it's that newfound powers usually came with a heavy price. Corruption, moral decay, the inability to live a normal life."

Miguel let out a hollow chuckle. "Yeah, well after a decade of this job, maybe a drastic life change is exactly what I need."

They stood in silence for several heartbeats, each lost in their private contemplations of what might come next. Around them, the city thrummed with that same palpable mixture of trepidation and reckless hope.

Outside one of the university's science buildings, a cluster of students had wedged themselves against the doors, forming an impromptu blockade. Their voices carried determination and fear in equal measures.

"We can't let anyone try to breach the portal! We don't know what might happen!"

A young man waved a tattered printout, its pages filled with scribbled notes and highlighted excerpts. "Don't you guys remember the rules from 'The Gamer'? You never enter a dungeon blind! We need to gather information first!"

One of his classmates rolled her eyes. "First, this isn't one of your stupid webcomics. Second—" She jabbed a finger toward the shimmering portal hovering silent and inscrutable on the rain-dappled lawn. "That's not a dungeon entrance. It's a complete unknown!"

Tempers flared, theoretical knowledge sparring against youthful bravado. In that moment, their textbooks held less sway than the accumulated lore of years spent consuming stories where ordinary humans found themselves thrust into fantastical circumstances. Each imagined themselves as a potential hero – or perhaps doomed to join the ranks of the fallen side characters who inevitably perished in the opening chapters.

Their debate raged on, a microcosm of the city's own volatile mixture of fear and longing for something...more.