Kai Dorian was used to weird. In fact, it was the kind of normal you'd expect when you had a job like his—one that required you to step through portals and deliver packages to worlds that felt as real as your own, but were nothing like it.
He didn't exactly remember how he'd ended up as a postal worker for the Multiverse Express. One minute he was a high school dropout, trying to figure out how to scrape together enough to pay rent, and the next he was suited up in a uniform with a patch that read Interdimensional Courier across his chest. Most people were freaked out by the idea of delivering things to entire alternate realities. Kai? He'd grown to find it routine. Almost too routine.
Today was no different. He was back at his usual post in Parcel Station 9, which, like the rest of the world, wasn't quite real in the traditional sense. You couldn't find it on any map, even though it existed in between dimensions. The station, a boxy, gray building with cracks in the walls, was always full of the dull hum of technology and the faint crackling sound of magic. The smell was the same too—paper, old wood, and that weird metallic tinge of magic in the air. You got used to it after a while.
"Dorian," called out Tessa, his supervisor. "You're up for the first delivery. Get moving."
Tessa was a no-nonsense kind of boss. She didn't care about Kai's daydreaming or the fact that he still hadn't figured out how half the portal system worked. As long as he did his job, she left him alone. He liked it that way.
Kai grabbed his satchel from behind the counter. It was simple, worn-in leather—nothing fancy, but it could hold a ridiculous amount of parcels. One time, he'd shoved a small fridge into it. Not that he'd ever tell anyone that.
Stepping outside, he felt the cool wind whip through the cracks of the portal station's entryway. The street was an odd mix of familiar and alien, like the forgotten outskirts of a city you might have visited in a dream. The place was silent, almost too silent, with only the occasional flicker of an abandoned neon sign to break the stillness.
Kai didn't mind it. He liked the quiet. When you had to walk through worlds where magic could literally tear the fabric of space apart, you didn't really crave noise.
He pulled the first package from his satchel. It was small, but heavy. The label read "To: King Harlan, Realm of Olanthos." Kai glanced at the date: "Delivery Due: Immediately."
Of course, the due date was always immediate. He couldn't exactly tell time in other dimensions, and neither could the postal system. If the package was late? Too bad. Not like anyone had complained so far.
The rift appeared with a soft whoosh, the edges of the portal swirling like liquid glass before solidifying into a rippling oval of purple and blue.
Kai stepped forward, adjusting his satchel. The portal was a weird thing to get used to, no matter how many times you stepped through it. One minute, you were standing in the same place, then—whoosh!—you were somewhere entirely different. Sometimes, it felt like you hadn't moved at all. Like reality had simply folded around you.
Olanthos was one of the more mundane realms, at least by interdimensional standards. You didn't get giant creatures or terrifying magic here—just an endless expanse of rocky, gray terrain under a sky that was permanently overcast. The "city" (if you could call it that) sat on the far edge of the realm, its spires jagged and uneven, a place where ancient buildings stood as if they were stubbornly refusing to crumble.
Kai always wondered why they couldn't just fix things. But then again, what did he know about ancient kings? His whole job was to deliver parcels. He wasn't getting into local politics.
The path through Olanthos was uneventful. He kept his head low, just following the same cracked dirt road, boots kicking up dust, eyes scanning the horizon. He had a rule about deliveries: get in, get out. Don't talk. Don't ask questions. Don't linger.
The last thing he needed was to be caught in a conversation with one of the realm's creatures—those half-human, half-bird hybrids who liked to stare a little too much. Kai didn't mind being alone, anyway. Being alone made his job easier.
When he arrived at the palace gates, he showed the guards his ID. They didn't even glance at it before waving him in. They were used to postal workers. After all, who else would deliver the mundane stuff that people needed in a world where time didn't quite exist?
Inside the palace, the hallways were quiet, too. The stone floors echoed with his footsteps as he moved deeper into the labyrinthine corridors. The air here was a mix of cold stone and a hint of incense. The dim, flickering torches on the walls barely lit his path, casting long shadows that seemed to move on their own.
At last, he arrived at the Throne Room.
The king wasn't what Kai had expected. King Harlan sat at the center of the room, his regal presence a stark contrast to the dilapidated state of the palace. His long white beard flowed down to his chest, and his robes shimmered with the faintest hint of magic. He looked more like someone who had once been powerful but now simply existed. Still, he was the king. And for all of Kai's indifference to the idea of royalty, Kai knew better than to assume things.
"Your package, my lord," Kai said, holding the small parcel out. It was the same one he had been carrying all this way, the weight of it a constant reminder of his job.
Harlan didn't move for a long moment. His dark eyes studied Kai, almost like he was waiting for something. Finally, his fingers reached out and took the package, examining the wax seal.
"This is... strange," the king muttered under his breath, more to himself than Kai. He cracked the seal carefully and opened the letter inside.
Kai shifted uncomfortably. There was something about the way the king was acting that made him feel uneasy. The tension in the room thickened, and for the first time, he wondered if maybe this delivery wasn't as simple as he'd thought.
"Is there something wrong, my lord?" Kai asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
King Harlan looked up at him then, eyes narrowed. "You didn't hear it from me," he said in a low voice. "But sometimes, deliveries... they aren't just deliveries."
Kai had heard rumors. Old ones, whispered in the darker corners of the multiverse, about how some parcels had hidden meanings. Or how certain items weren't really meant to be delivered at all, but instead were dropped in places they weren't supposed to go. But those were just stories. Everyone knew that the job of a courier was to deliver. No questions, no second thoughts.
Still, the unease gnawed at Kai's gut. But he pushed it down. "I'm just doing my job, my lord. If there's nothing else…"
The king waved him off, his mind clearly elsewhere. "You may leave now."
And just like that, the encounter ended. As he stepped back out into the gray landscape of Olanthos, Kai couldn't shake the feeling that he'd just delivered more than just a letter. There was something hidden in that package. Something bigger than him.
He could feel it in his bones—the calm before the storm.
Back at the portal, he glanced over his shoulder one last time at the crumbling palace, the heavy weight of the delivery settling in his chest. For a moment, everything felt... off. But maybe that was just the nature of his job. Portals, realms, strange kings. It was all part of the routine.
Right?
Kai shook his head, stepping through the portal to his next delivery. Little did he know, this was just the beginning.