Game Master in Another World

As we approached the towering gates of Freyton City, the guards appeared to be on high alert. There was only one other cart in the process of entering. We pulled up to the front, and a tired-looking soldier with a clipboard looked us over.

“Where have you come from?” the soldier asked gruffly.

“Osworth,” Eric replied, his voice still a bit shaky.

“How did you get through the blockade?” The soldier narrowed his eyes, his voice laced with immediate suspicion.

“I incinerated the soldiers who approached us,” Juliana replied cheerfully, flashing her bright, unblinking smile.

The soldier paused. “Ah. So you must be a magic user, then? What level of spells can you cast?” he asked, getting his quill ready to make a routine note on his board.

“Level nine,” Juliana stated proudly. “Although, only around twice a day for those.”

The guard froze. He just stared at Juliana, his quill hovering motionless over the parchment.

“Did you say... nine?” he asked, his face a mask of utter bewilderment.

“Yes! I can also shapeshift, if that is helpful knowledge for your records,” Juliana replied, her smile never wavering.

The guard stared at her for another long second, clearly deciding he did not get paid nearly enough to deal with a potential demigod. “Right. Based on that information, I’ll have you immediately report to Lord Dimetrius. My colleague here will escort you.”

He aggressively waved over another armored man, who came jogging over.

“Please take this note, and the elf, to report to Lord Dimetrius immediately.” The guard then motioned for us to follow the escort.

We parted ways with Eric and Clara—both of whom looked profoundly relieved to finally be rid of us—and followed the soldier briskly through the heavy stone gates.

As we entered the city proper, the first thing that hit me was the overwhelmingly muted atmosphere. It felt as though everyone was doing just the bare minimum to survive. Most of the painted shop signs were heavily faded or chipped, and several storefronts were completely boarded up. There were no street vendors calling out their wares, and the few citizens walking through the cobblestone streets moved briskly, heads down, actively avoiding conversation with one another. It was the depressing, suffocating reality of a fifteen-year war.

We arrived at the central administrative building, the city was truly large, it took around twenty minutes of walking to arrive there.  The building was imposing, and remarkably well kept compared to the rest of the city.  The escort showed the note to the guard and we were ushered in.

The inside of the building was extravagant, there were impressive looking columns and the floor was immaculate, it resulted in a sense of awe. The halls were busy with bureaucrats walking between rooms and having discussions in the hallway.

We marched through the halls till we found some impressive double wooden doors, the escort knocked, “I have a message from the gate, it is urgent, may we enter?”

From inside we heard “Please come in.”

The escort opened the doors and led us into the room, presenting the note to a well dressed man sitting at an impressive desk.  The room was extremely large with expensive looking couches in the centre and the desk by a large window overlooking the city.

The man after reading the note looked at us, as if he were inspecting a new object.

“You are dismissed, corporal.”

Our escort saluted and left the room quickly, shutting the door.

“Welcome to the humble city of Freyton Juliana, my name is Lord Dimetrius”

Juliana smiled, “Pleasure to meet you Lord Dimetrius, how may I be of service?”

Dimetrius smiled back, “Well, now that you mention it, you might have seen that we at present have an issue with an invading army, we expect them to attack this city imminently.”  Lord Dimetrius then cleared his throat, “I require all able bodied citizens to help defend this city, and as one of those citizens I’m calling on your assistance.”

The way it was phrased it didn’t seem like it was optional.  But Juliana being good aligned replied immediately.

“Why of course, I will always help protect the innocent from harm.”

Lord Dimetrius reached out his hand, Juliana took it and shook it.

“I look forward to your assistance on this matter, and thankyou for being so understanding.”  Lord Dimetrius then sat down and hastily wrote on a  piece of parchment, folded it carefully and then added a wax seal.

He then handed the letter to Juliana, “Please take this letter to the mage tower, and report to Lady Evelyn, she will get you properly enrolled in the army, now I’m very sorry but I’m rather busy so that is all the time I have for our meeting right now.”

We were practically shooed out of his office before the door was closed.

Having no idea where the Mage Tower actually was, we approached the front desk to find a receptionist. He was working his way through a massive stack of paperwork, his quill scratching frantically. As we approached, he barely even looked up.

“How may I help you?” he asked briskly.

“I have been summoned to the Mage Tower, but I have no idea where it is,” Juliana said sweetly. “Could you please tell me how to find it?”

The receptionist stopped writing and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked as though he would rather be doing literally anything else in the world than dealing with a newcomer.

“Look for the giant tower, maybe?” he drawled sarcastically, glaring up at us.

Juliana just smiled serenely back, completely immune to his tone. “Thank you, I shall do exactly that! I really appreciate your help.”

The receptionist let out a long, suffering sigh and went straight back to his paperwork.

We headed out the main double doors and immediately spotted a massive, spire-tipped tower looming over the city skyline in the distance.

Okay. Now knowing that it was, in fact, the Mage Tower, it did seem glaringly obvious how to get there. But internally, I firmly maintained my defense. Just because a city has a giant tower, one shouldn't automatically assume it's full of magic users. It could easily have been a bell tower, a guard post, or a rich noble's vanity project. Verifying the location before walking across town was just good, basic adventuring practice.

We made our way through the city, and the streets continued to be utterly depressing to behold. Dozens of people were begging in the gutters, dressed in filthy rags. Just as in Osworth, it was almost entirely women and children. Many of them didn't even have the energy to ask for coin; they simply sat with hollow eyes, staring blankly at the cobblestones.

Juliana stopped and knelt beside a young boy huddled in an alleyway. He seemed dangerously close to death, lying weakly on his side and struggling to breathe.

“Do you have a name, child?” she asked kindly, her voice a stark contrast to the grim surroundings.

The boy struggled just to lift his head to look at her. “Toby,” he managed to whimper.

“Well, Toby, where are your parents?”

Toby’s sunken eyes began to water. “They’re both dead.”

“Oh, you poor child. May I heal and feed you, then?”

Toby let his head fall back against the stone. “Why bother?”

That answer broke me. Hearing a child utterly devoid of hope was a terrible thing to witness.

Juliana let her warm, serene smile return. “Because if I do, you will get the chance to do something meaningful with your life. And I can help you achieve that.”

Toby simply nodded weakly, barely mumbling, “Okay.”

Juliana spoke a gentle, melodic incantation. A faint, warm blue light enveloped Toby's frail body. Instantly, his shallow, rattling breaths steadied. The sickly pallor of his skin faded, his sunken cheeks filled out, and a faint spark of life finally returned to his hollow eyes.

Juliana then cast a second incantation. A crack formed in the cobblestones, and the familiar green plant sprouted from the dirt beneath, rapidly producing a handful of glowing purple berries.

“Now, eat this. It will completely fill your belly for the day,” Juliana instructed gently. “But these berries will not last past tomorrow, so do not try to hoard them.”

Juliana plucked a berry from the stem and held it out to him.

Toby sat up, taking the glowing fruit and hesitantly shoving it into his mouth. Almost immediately, a look of sheer wonder—and then a wide smile—spread across his dirty face. “This tastes amazing! It’s been months since I haven't felt hungry.”

Juliana continued to smile, standing back up and dusting off her clothing. “Now that that is sorted, why don’t you come with me? I am sure I can find someone to look after you properly.”

As we left with Toby in tow, Juliana motioned toward the glowing bush in the alleyway to another starving family.

"Help yourselves to some food, but please, only eat one each."

The mother and her three children looked at the plant, nodded in silent thanks, and cautiously crept toward the strange fruit. We continued toward the Mage Tower, not waiting to see if they made use of the gift or not.

I took control of Juliana’s vocal cords for a moment. "Unfortunately, I don’t think we can help everyone in this city the same way we helped Toby," I whispered softly.

I released my grip, and Juliana immediately replied. "I know. But I couldn’t just walk by a boy about to die from starvation."

As we drew closer to the Mage Tower, the streets became noticeably better-kept. There were no beggars in the gutters, and the pedestrians actually looked well-fed. Another glaring detail caught my eye: the proportion of men here was vastly higher than in the outer rings. It seemed the magical and wealthy were well-insulated from the brutal front-line draft.

We drew plenty of stares from the people walking the cobblestones, prompting Toby to press himself as closely as possible to our side.

The Mage Tower itself was impressively tall and deceptively massive. Several wizards strolled the manicured grounds, and in an adjoining small park, a few apprentices were practicing basic incantations.

We found a sign pointing to reception and stepped through the heavy doors at the base of the tower.

The interior was magnificent—immaculate marble flooring and massive stone pillars that supported this incredible feat of engineering. As we walked up to the front desk, I realized just how much attention we were drawing. Everyone else in the grand lobby was draped in standard wizarding robes. There were no other Nhalyri in sight, and poor Toby stuck out even more in his filthy street rags.

A sharply dressed woman at the reception desk greeted us as we approached.

"Welcome to the Mage Tower. How may we be of assistance?"

Juliana handed over the wax-sealed letter. "I have been summoned to speak with Lady Evelyn upon Lord Dimetrius’s orders."

The receptionist inspected the heavy seal before beckoning a young runner boy over. "Could you please take this to Lady Evelyn immediately?"

The boy snatched the parchment and sprinted up a spiraling staircase.

"You may take a seat over there while you wait," the receptionist said, pointing toward a pair of plush velvet sofas.

Juliana smiled serenely. "Thank you for your hospitality."

We moved over to the sofas and sat down. Toby hovered awkwardly nearby, hesitant to soil the expensive furniture with his clothes, but Juliana simply patted her lap.

Toby gingerly climbed up. Without a word, Juliana wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a warm, protective hug. Toby stiffened in shock for a second, unaccustomed to the affection, before completely melting into her embrace.

After ten minutes of waiting, a stern-looking woman approached. She wore deep, midnight-blue robes accented with heavy gold trim. Her hair was greying at the temples, though it still held hints of its original brown.

“Juliana, I presume?” she asked briskly, her eyes darting down to cast a disapproving look at Toby.

“Yes, that is I,” Juliana responded smoothly. She carefully lifted Toby off her lap and stood up.

“Great. I am Lady Evelyn. Follow me, please. You can leave the urchin outside.”

Juliana shook her head gently. “Toby will be coming with me, I’m afraid.”

Lady Evelyn scoffed slightly. “Fine. But please be aware that should he die during the assessment, it is entirely your responsibility.” She turned on her heel, motioning for us to follow.

We hurried after her, weaving through the grand halls of the tower. “I am guessing Lord Dimetrius has informed you of the dire state we find ourselves in?” Evelyn asked over her shoulder.

Juliana smiled. “Yes, he has. I have offered to help Freyton City in these dark days.”

“Excellent. However, I need to personally confirm your skills. We are going to a secure outdoor testing area, where I expect to see your most powerful spells.”

Juliana simply continued to smile, taking Toby’s small, dirty hand in hers.

We eventually arrived at a small, circular room with intricate silver runes etched into the stone floor. As we stepped into the center, Lady Evelyn spoke a sharp incantation.

There was a sudden, sickening twisting sensation in my gut, as if the world had been violently pulled inside out. When my vision cleared, the stone room was gone. We were standing in the middle of a vast, featureless grassland. In the distance, the earth was heavily scarred and cratered from previous magical testing.

Lady Evelyn stepped back and crossed her arms. “Now. Show me what you can do.”

Juliana tapped her chin, thinking for a moment. “Well, I suppose we can change the weather first. This bright blue sky is a bit painful for my eyes.”

Juliana spoke a flowing incantation. Almost instantly, unnatural clouds began to materialize out of thin air. Wispy and white at first, they rapidly darkened and thickened, rolling across the sky and blotting out the sun until the harsh light dulled to a moody grey. Seconds later, a cool, light drizzle began to fall over the plains.

Lady Evelyn’s arms dropped to her sides. She stared up at the sky, utterly taken aback, before scrambling to pull out her notepad. Toby was doing the exact same thing, staring up at the rain with his mouth hanging wide open.

Next, I shall become a dragon, I think.

Before I could even process the thought she projected into my mind, Juliana spoke another incantation.

I felt our body violently twist and expand. The sheer, overwhelming surge of raw magical power welling up within us was terrifying. I felt the sudden, massive weight of huge wings bursting from our shoulder blades, and the heavy drag of a thick tail behind us. The view from our new eyes shifted drastically, our neck elongating until we were towering high above the grass, looking down at Lady Evelyn and Toby, who now looked no larger than mice.

Lady Evelyn let out a choked gasp and fell hard onto her backside in the wet grass.

Juliana opened her massive, scaled jaws and breathed out. A roaring, blinding cone of radiant, platinum fire washed over the plains, instantly incinerating a massive swathe of the grassland into white ash.

Lady Evelyn scrambled backward, her voice trembling into a stutter. “That... that color! Platinum! Did you just change into a Platinum Dragon?!”

Juliana slowly nodded her gigantic, horned head.

“That’s unheard of! I’ve never read of anyone in history achieving such a form!”

Down below, Toby was cowering in absolute terror behind the panicked Lady Evelyn. Seeing the boy's fear, Juliana didn't hesitate. She immediately dismissed the impossibly high-level spell. Our massive form evaporated, our limbs shrinking and warping until we were standing comfortably in our Nhalyri body once more.

Once we had returned to normal size, Toby cautiously peeked out from behind Lady Evelyn, a massive look of relief washing over his face.

“I can do much more than this, of course,” Juliana said, smoothing out her clothing in the drizzle. “But I wanted to provide a modest example of my capabilities.”

Lady Evelyn swallowed hard, slowly climbing to her feet and desperately trying to brush the mud off her robes and regain her composure. “Right. Yes. I... I think I have seen enough. We shall return to the tower at once and begin making a plan for the defense of Freyton, with you as the linchpin.”

As we stepped back into the teleportation circle, a staggering realization washed over my mind. If this level of power was truly unheard of by the city's highest-ranking mage... Juliana wasn't just a powerful asset. It was highly likely she was the single most powerful entity in this entire world.

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