The woman hastily turned her head. It was hard to get a good grasp of the situation, with the rain and near total lack of light. Next moment, she knelt on the floor. I could tell something was wrong.

I grabbed an umbrella and ran to her. The rain had dampened her hair, turning it into a wet curtain over much of her face.

“Are you OK?” I said, opening the umbrella to cover her. She grunted and, without saying another word, collapsed.

“Damnit!” I said. I dialed 911 as quick as I could. The ambulance would be here in a minute, the operator told me. “Please hang in there.” Had she been struck by the lightning?

It was my first time taking a hard look at her, and that raised even more questions. The woman wore an outfit that was as revealing as it was ridiculous. Five bone-colored fingers cupped each of her breasts, acting like some sort of bra. They were connected by a line of curved spikes of the same color that ran down either side of her stomach, joining down in a black bikini. There wasn’t an anime convention anywhere near here, and I certainly had no idea what kind of show her outfit referenced. More importantly, her pulse was alive and well.

The ambulance arrived on time. The paramedics asked me what seemed like a thousand questions. She had no name and no ID. The only information I could provide was that I think it had something to do with the lightning strike.

“We’ll be sure to take care of her,” said the paramedic as she and her partner loaded the woman onto a stretcher. They tied her down, probably to prevent her body from shifting on the way to the hospital.

“Do you need me to come with you?” I said. It sucked feeling useless like this.

“There’s no need,” she said. As they pulled her into the ambulance, the woman stirred to life.

“Gah!” she shouted. She tried to move her arms and legs but the bindings kept her in place.

“What the hell is happening?” I said.

“We don’t know,” said the paramedic. “This is unusu—”

The woman in the stretcher shook more, making the two paramedics holding her up fall back. “Get me out of this!” she shouted. “Ahh!”

“Calm down!” I said, putting my hand on her arm. “You’ll be OK. You’re going to a hospital.”

My words had no effect. To the contrary, she grew more agitated. Her body gathered a light purple hue. The color jumped from her to me. It became darker and denser, until it was all I could see in my vision.

It was a weird, out-of-body experience. For a few brief moments, it felt like my body had been squeezed through a small tunnel. Everything folded on itself. Anything I tried to say or think or do was lost in the void. Stripped of every sensation, all I could do was exist.

I landed on my feet. As I gathered myself, I found myself in a familiar scene. In front of me was the woman, who seconds ago had been thrashing and screaming bloody murder. My umbrella was in hand, shielding her from the rain.

“It’s this scene again,” I said.

“You…” she said, looking up at me. She brushed strands of her off her face, revealing a set of piercing red eyes. “You summoned those people that restrained me.”

I stood with my mouth agape. Was this really a repeat of the last scene? Where was the ambulance? I gulped. Had we… traveled back in time?

“Answer me!” she said. The woman drew her hand up. Out of thin air, she materialized a long, pointed broadsword, like the ones used in medieval times. Its end was inches away from my throat.

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“I, uh… yes,” I said.

“You will not do that again. Otherwise, you will die.” While she threatened my life with one hand, her other hand clasped the side of her stomach. I could make out a wide gash with blood trickling through her fingers.

“But you’re hurt,” I said, trying my best not to pay attention to the clearly-supernatural events happening right in front of me.

“I can’t recover here,” she said, talking to herself. She raised her blade up, so that its tip pressed lightly on my neck. “Take me to your dwelling.”

“M-My house? I have to take care of my coffeeshop, you see…”

“Now!” she said. Her words were more thunderous than the lightning strike from earlier. I pulled out my keys, pressing the unlock button. My car beeped behind her.

“What was that?” she said.

“My car.” I said, every fiber of my being shaking.

“Car. Car… You mean carriage?” she said.

“No—Yes—No—Yes, yes it is,” I said.

“Take me there. Now,” she insisted. I took her to my sedan. She sat in the passenger seat, her oversized blade pricking my neck. Sweat trickled down my forehead like the downpour outside.

“Your carriages operate without the need of horses?” she said, sounding more curious than menacing. “Interesting.”

“Yup…” I said, keeping my eyes firmly on the road. I switched on the lights, giving me a better view of the conditions outside. She pressed her blade further, drawing blood for the first time.

“You! Did you signal to your allies?”

“No, no,” I said. “I don’t think I have any of those.”

“What about the ones that restrained me earlier?”

“They were taking you to a hospital, which is where we should be going. Not to my apartment.”

“An infirmary? I have no need for nurses, fool. I am capable of healing myself.” She eased her hold somewhat, giving me room to breathe and pull out of the parking lot.

“You’re sweating profusely. Why are you nervous?” she said. I took a quick look at the sword-end and focused my gaze back on the road.

“Kind of fearing for my life here.”

“Just take me to your dwelling, fool.”

It was a short drive with minimal traffic, during which we exchanged no more words. As soon as I parked, she made the sword disappear.

“Help me out of your carriage. Try to kill me again and you will die a death not even fit for the lowliest of street dogs.”

“I get it,” I said. I put her right arm around me and helped her climb up to my second floor apartment.

“If I had known getting access to your dwelling would be so difficult I would have killed you on the spot and found someone else to take me,” she said, her voice dotted with heaving breaths.

“Almost there,” I said. I unlocked the door to my apartment. She stumbled onto the couch.

“You live alone, yes?” she said. I nodded. “Good. Anyone else approaches me and they die.”

The woman lifted her left hand, caked with blood. She set it on the sofa—earning a sharp yelp from me—and lifted her right hand in the space in front of her. It was imbued by a green light. She pressed her glowing hand over her wound. What happened next made me gasp.

The gash, broken flesh running six inches long down her left, was closing before my own eyes. It was as if months of numerous operations and stitchwork had been condensed into mere seconds. In the blink of an eye, a life-threatening injury was gone.

“A-Are you healed? Just like that?” I said.

“My physical injury is, yes. But that’s the least of my problems. Torn flesh is easily fixed. My mana circuits, however…”

“Mana circuits?” I said. I struggled to process the chain of events that led to this moment. A flash of lightning and now I’ve gone through time travel and seen a critical wound heal like it was nothing, not to mention I’ve been threatened at sword-point. And it’s not even 6:00 AM yet.

“Very well. Though I owe you nothing, fool, I will present you with an explanation.”

“How humble,” I said.

“What was that?” she snarked.

“N-Nothing!” I said.

“I’m not from this world. More specifically, I travelled across dimensions to get here. You see, I was the king of my previous settlement. Ruler of the Divine Kingdoms, Conqueror of the Endlands. There was not a single speck of space in the entirety of my world that didn’t submit to my authority. Unfortunately, I was betrayed by my closest advisors. Rebellion surrounded me from all sides and sealed much of my power. I used what little energy I had to travel through dimensions and arrive here. The last remnants of power were consumed when I was forced to travel back and undo the bindings you placed on me.”

“That’s… intense,” I said. I couldn’t process half of what she was telling me. I believed it all; the time travel, the disappearing sword, the weird outfit… How could I not believe it? If using time travel was something she did with the tiniest bit of energy, how powerful was this woman? A part of me wanted to turn and run.

“So, fool, we arrive at the present. You have the honor of housing me, Malquea Karrancar, Lord of Lords.”

“…what?”

And thus, my life of living with the dimension-hopping Lord of Lords began.