JFK Airport, New York City.
Dr. Evelyn Sato stepped off flight from Honolulu as eleven hours traveling crossed five time zones, 5,000 miles from volcanic mountain observatory to concrete jungle.
Manhattan skyline visible through terminal windows with December cold biting after Hawaii's perpetual warmth. Black hair pulled back practically as lab coat was replaced by winter jacket, rolling suitcase containing portable atmospheric sensors worth more than most cars.
Ten years studying ionospheric patterns from isolated mountaintop.
Never conducting ground-level investigation of impossible atmospheric phenomena.
First time.
Calling taxi as driver navigated Queens traffic toward Manhattan, skyscrapers growing closer, city density overwhelming after Big Island's sparse population.
Somewhere in this city, electromagnetic anomalies originated.
Twice.
Time to discover why.
Midtown Manhattan hotel offered modest accommodation, functional not luxurious as physicist's budget stretched for week-long investigation.
Room small but adequate as she unpacked portable atmospheric sensors, compact devices measuring electromagnetic signatures, ionospheric resonance patterns, ambient energy fluctuations.
Calibrating equipment methodically while checking baseline readings as Manhattan's electromagnetic noise proved substantial with millions of devices, power grids, radio signals, cellular networks creating constant background interference.
Filtering signal from noise required careful adjustment.
Evelyn worked patiently as decade of experience reading atmospheric data meant understanding equipment intimately, trusting calibration process.
"Baseline established. Ambient electromagnetic levels recorded. Anomaly detection threshold set."
Talking to self as solitary research habit maintained focus.
Sensors ready with detection grid prepared for deployment.
Tomorrow: systematic Manhattan coverage. Tonight: reviewing triangulation data from Mauna Kea, identifying probable origin zones.
Two signals from this city.
Somewhere within fifteen square miles, source existed.
Find it.
Next morning brought walking Manhattan streets with portable sensor in shoulder bag as tablet displayed real-time readings.
December crowds moved past with commuters, tourists, delivery workers as millions of humans compressed into small island while normal city life continued obliviously.
Evelyn observed everything as scientific eye noted patterns, behaviors, environmental factors.
Nothing obviously wrong.
No visible atmospheric disturbances, no unexplained phenomena, just city existing as cities do with loud, crowded, chaotic, human activity.
But sensors detecting something.
Subtle, almost imperceptible as ambient energy levels showed slightly elevated above baseline, not anomaly-level spike but wrongness as background electromagnetic signature was off somehow.
"Atmospheric composition normal. Temperature normal. Humidity normal. But electromagnetic baseline 2.3% elevated above standard urban environment readings."
2.3% wouldn't concern most researchers.
2.3% meant something changed to atmospheric physicist who'd studied baseline readings for decade.
Frowning at tablet while reviewing data.
"What is this 2.3%? UV radiation increase? Electromagnetic pulse residue? Is some research lab conducting experiments nearby? Industrial equipment malfunction?"
Hypotheses forming, all conventional, all within known physics as she searched for rational explanation to unexplained elevation.
Manhattan saturated with energy that shouldn't exist.
Low-level, continuous, source unknown.
But explainable, must be, science explained everything eventually.
Systematic deployment over three days positioned portable sensors across Manhattan.
Sensor One: Upper West Side near Columbia campus area as Signal One and Three origin zone.
Sensor Two: Midtown for central coverage.
Sensor Three: Lower Manhattan for southern coverage.
Sensor Four: Upper East Side for eastern coverage.
Sensor Five: Riverside Park for western coverage near Hudson.
Grid established as five sensors created triangulation network with real-time data streaming to tablet, any anomaly would be precisely located within minutes.
Professional methodology with systematic coverage as evidence-based investigation proceeded.
Evelyn monitored continuously, walking city, reviewing readings, waiting for next signal.
If pattern continued, if next anomaly occurred, she'd be ready at ground zero with direct observation, finally understanding what elevated Manhattan's electromagnetic baseline.
Waiting.
Watching.
Recording.
***
Mount Sinai Hospital, Emergency Room.
Evening shift brought typical chaos with typical patients as typical December night in Manhattan ER unfolded.
Then patient arrived.
Male, adult, brought by ambulance as 911 call from neighbor reported aggressive behavior, violent outburst, incoherent screaming.
Restrained because necessary as patient fought paramedics, thrashing violently with superhuman strength requiring three people holding him down, eyes wild, pupils dilated, screaming incomprehensibly.
Not drugs as paramedics checked with toxicology preliminary negative. Not alcohol with no smell, no signs. Not psychotic break as no psychiatric history according to ID.
Just rage.
Mindless, violent, inexplicable rage.
ER physician Dr. Sarah Chen approached cautiously as thirty years emergency medicine experience meant seeing everything drugs and alcohol and mental illness produced.
Never seen this.
"Vitals?"
Nurse reading frantically. "Heart rate 140, blood pressure 180 over 110, temperature 102.4, respiratory rate 28—"
Everything elevated, everything wrong as body was in overdrive somehow.
But why?
Dr. Chen examined patient while nurses maintained restraints as physical assessment revealed nothing obvious.
No head trauma, no signs of stroke, no visible injuries, no medical explanation for behavior.
"Run blood panel, complete metabolic, toxicology comprehensive, check for infection, encephalitis, anything neurological."
Standard protocol: test everything, find cause.
Blood drawn as patient still thrashed, still screamed with inhuman sounds as vocal cords strained, animal rage from human throat.
"Sedative?"
Dr. Chen nodding. "Lorazepam, 4mg IV—"
Nurse administering as medication entered system.
No effect.
Patient still violent, still screaming as sedative proved completely ineffective.
"Try haloperidol—"
Second medication, stronger.
Still nothing.
No calming, no reduction in aggression as medications that should incapacitate normal human had zero impact.
Dr. Chen stared as thirty years never showed medications failing completely.
"What the hell is wrong with him?"
Question unanswered.
Tests processing, blood work analyzing, minutes passing.
Patient deteriorating.
Then change.
Visible change.
Patient's skin along forearms darkened, not bruising, not natural discoloration as veins blackened, spreading like ink through water with dark tendrils crawling beneath flesh.
Eyes shifted with whites yellowing, pupils constricting then dilating irregularly as bloodshot vessels pulsed with unnatural rhythm.
Teeth grinding as enamel cracked audibly, jaw clenching with force beyond normal human capability.
Muscle spasms wracked entire body as convulsions strained restraints, bones creaking under tension while physical structure changed somehow.
Not disease, not poison, not anything medical science recognized.
Cellular mutation occurring in real-time.
Dr. Chen backed away as horror crossed professional features.
"What... what is this...?"
Nurses stared, witnessing impossibility as medical training proved inadequate while watching human body transform into something other.
Patient screaming louder.
Higher pitch.
Inhuman.
Nurse checked patient's wallet, identifying amid chaos.
"ID says he's 28, lives in Upper Manhattan—"
Pausing while looking at belongings bag.
"Strange, police report from few weeks ago. Filed missing property report. Lost his smartphone somehow. Said it just vanished."
Same person.
Same individual who lost device in early November when dimensional gate expelled objects from Earth to Theia.
High mana exposure.
Direct contact with dimensional anomaly.
Body saturated with magical energy.
Mutating.
Patient's final coherent scream echoed through ER with agony, rage, transformation—
Then just inhuman howling.
Animalistic.
No humanity remaining in that sound.
Medical staff frozen.
Horror witnessing.
Something wrong with reality itself.
Mana showed no mercy in choosing—blessing or curse, determined by chance alone.
💖 Enjoying the story?
👉 Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/sa2quasar