The 21st of September, 2027
Trinity River, Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area, State of Texas, United States of America
5:30 PM, 17:30
"I got another largemouth bass. The is the the thirteenth one this day!" Lucas shouted
"Something feels suspicious, there is something strange about this day. I feel that my life will be changed." Lucas thought to himself.
"You have plenty of bass there mate! You have that many fish but have not even spent fifteen minutes! You sure are a lucky one!" His friend John said.
"Whenever you spend an hour, you get that many fish... I wish I had your luck..." His younger sister Lucy told him.
"I don't even know why I catch this many in a short period of time. It would usually take someone a few hours to have a catch this many, but I have spent fifteen minutes and I have this many." He said.
"I only have six catfishes, and four crappie. While your sister Lucy over there has seven and two carps. Meanwhile, you have caught Thirteen largemouth bass, five carps, seven catfishes and eight crappie! You could have brought Thirteen back home if there is no bag limit forcing you to release eight of those largemouth bass. For all we know, it could be the same fish." John said with jealousy.
"I think this is enough for now, we'll go here next week." Lucas said. "Get to the truck everyone, we'll put our fish into some ice." He added.
"Where did I park my Ford F-150 again? Oh, I remember, it was just behind us. I must have forgotten that because of some suspicious things I expected to happen." Lucas thought to himself.
"You guys are lucky, I only caught two catfishes. Can we spend some more time here." Lucas's friend Monika complained.
"I think it's already late, we would want to go home early. I'm going to write a fantasy story for fun." Lucas said.
"Why this early?" Monika asked.
"It is going to be night if we go this late. We should go home early." Lucas told his friend Monika. "Besides, this is just something we do before the sleepover." Lucas adds.
"Wait, why are you writing a novel, but you are not publishing it?" Lucy asked her brother.
"I only write it for fun, not to get money. If I will, I can share my imagination." He replied.
"What is that story about?" John asked.
"It is about a kingdom defending itself from invasion, using new inventions and tactics to fight them, but it has no heroes." Lucas answered his brother's question.
"That is interesting. Having heroes is already seen in so many fantasy story, they usually save kingdom's or the world but I rarely see the main character overthrow the kingdom they serve or just manipulating the world the their will, I think Game of Thrones does that, I haven't seen it though." John told his brother.
"It is rare to see that. It will be something bold, something that will surprise the reader unless clues are shown." Monika told her friend. "I would like to see something like that happen."
"I also worked hard to research historical military equipment. I tried to make it partly realistic, but I added my own aesthetics to it. I made several cultural references to French culture." Lucas told everyone.
"Really! I never knew you were into French culture!" Monika told him.
"We have French blood, with Seminole, Himalayan and Quechua ancestry too." John told Monika.
"Wait, is that true? You look mostly European and your full name has European origins." Monika curiously asked.
"Yes, me and my siblings have Seminole, Himalayan and Quechua ancestors aside from our French ones. One of my great-great grandfathers on my father's side is Seminole, so despite his mostly French blood, he is partially native American. My mother also has French ancestors but one Great-grandfathers is a Quechua immigrant from Peru, my grandmother on my mother's side came from Nepal." Lucas told her.
"That is one very diverse family, if it is true. I still don't believe you guys." Monika said in disbelief.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Here is proof. Lucy's full name is Lucy Quyllur Berger LaVoie. My full name is Tenzing John Berger LaVoie, I am named after Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two people who reached the peak of Mount Everest." John told Monika.
"Fine, I believe you..." Monika said, in disappointment.
"I don't think discussing your ancestry is entertaining, what should we do?" Lucas asked.
"How about discussing history facts? That could help Lucas in his hobby." John told him.
"You guys do whatever you want, I'm going to sleep in the car, wake me up when we arrive at home." Lucy told them, as she tries to fall asleep.
"I guess I'll do the same, I was awake until 3 AM." Monika said. "I need some sleep." She adds.
"I think that is a good topic." John answered. "But before we start, Lucas, what time period is your story based on?"
"It is based on 13th to 16th century Europe and Mongolia." Lucas replied. "I think I should apply real life events in history, not just ones from fantasy books and shows." he added.
"I think you should take inspiration from real life battles such as Agincourt and Ain Jalut." John told Lucas.
"People always talk about the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 but tend to forget what happened in the Battle of Patay in 1429 where 180 French knights and 1,300 men at arms defeated a force of 3,000 to 5,000 Englishmen. English longbowmen are terrible by themselves, especially when they are on open terrain or they failed to put stakes to repel enemy units." Lucas stated.
"Well, how about the Mongol invasions of Europe? I heard they were successful for some time." John asked.
"At first, but not later, the Mongols got slaughtered the second time they invaded Hungary, the same thing happened when they invaded Poland for a third time. After that, there were no major Mongol invasions in Central Europe." Lucas answered.
"So how will you apply actual historical events to your fantasy story?" John asked.
"The characters will study each other's tactics and how to deal with the enemy. How they are organized, how they deal with the enemy's weaknesses, how they change the situation to be in their advantage." Lucas told his friend John.
"So how about their technology, magic and their world in general? Do they have flying creatures to use? What is their armor like? If they have magic, how do they use it?" John asked.
"In terms of technology, they are in some areas, far more advanced than ancient and medieval Europe, and even medieval China. They have things like paper, some form of gunpowder cannons, and standardized full plate armor. They also have giant eagles which they use to scout, harrass, and if possible, inflict heavy damage by dropping pots of oil or gunpowder barrels. They do have full plate armor for the elite units, but most of them use padded armor with chainmail and brigandines." Lucas explained, trying to make his friend understand.
"So how do they use magic?" John told him.
"They usually apply magic to enhance weapons, they also use it to change the weather and terrain, though this is very expensive and in rare times, useless." Lucas answered.
"Why is magic useless in certain times?" John asked again.
"It is because it is too expensive to be used. It could have changed the circumstances in a battle, however, it is so expensive that military leaders will only use them as a last resort. There are also times when magic will not be necessary or have too little of an effect." Lucas responded to his question.
"I see. So this story is about a war, and you tried to make it more realistic by restricting magic." John told him.
Lucas replied with: "Yes, that is true."
"So, you said that they are more advanced than medieval China. In what ways are they more advanced?" John asked his friend again
"In terms of gunpowder weapons, then yes. In that fictional world, they invented gunpowder 80 years before the current events, yet they already have cannons, something that took the Chinese two to three centuries to make." Lucas answered his friend's question.
"Wow Bro, I did not know that, I thought they invented cannons immediately." John exclaimed.
"What they invented was the fire lance, a literal lance with a gunpowder explosive on its tip." Lucas responded.
"That is an interesting concept to be added in a medieval fantasy world. Most of the time, it's either no gunpowder weapons or muskets." John told his friend.
"I rarely see those things too, I think that is because of magic in those worlds, which removes the need for the author to add gunpowder weapons." Lucas said.
"So you said that they have giant eagles over there, and they use them to scout, harras and even inflict heavy damage if possible." John told him, as he tries to know more about Lucas' book.
"Correct." Lucas replied.
"Then how will they inflict heavy damage when they can? Do they have fiery breaths, acid sprays, or do they just swoop down?" John raised a question.
"They don't do any of those things, except for that fiery breath, but that is not as effective because archers would be often ordered to shoot the rider and the giant eagle's eyes and other unarmored areas even before the it gets in range thus, causing them to flee, instead, they drop long, thin metal darts to the enemy while out of range. A tactic not seen in the real world until the First World War." Lucas responded.
"I never thought of that. But still amazing." John replied.
"I watched a video on YouTube and I found that concept. It's from a channel called Shadiversity, which is mostly about Medieval Europe." Lucas said.
"That is interesting, I'll check it out later." John told Lucas. "Anyway, since we are already going home, what do you think we should do to the fish we caught?" He added.
"Fry them, then roast some. I think that is good enough." Lucas replied.
"How about we ask the girls at the back for some recipes?" John asked Lucas.
"Sure, we'll do that when we reach home." Lucas said.
The 21st of September, 2027
Dallas Fort-Worth Metropolitan Area, State of Texas, United States of America
6:17 PM, 18:17
"Finally, home at last." Lucas says as he gets out of his truck. "You guys go get some rest first. I'll grad to my room." He added.
"Dude, I'm tired too. Any beds or couches where we can rest?" John asked, waiting for a moment when he can rest.
"There's a guest room beside mine. You can go get some rest there." Lucas claimed.
"Finally, some rest." John says, before running towards the guest room.
"It's time continue that worldbuilding. What should I name that civilization again." Lucas thought, as he enters his room.
"Time to see where I left off." Lucas says as he opens his Windows Laptop.
"Good, I still remember the password." Lucas thought.
"Which one should I work on? I must rename a faction, I want it to have a very nice etymology. I need a name that sounds like it's a French one. Another will have a Polish one. One will have German or Swedish. Ah, language is amazing." Lucas said to himself.
"I remember doing the map on an M3 MacBook that I have. Where did I put it, oh, it's in this drawer." He thought.
"Hold up, what's this blue light surrounding me and my electronics?" Lucas asked himself.
Then suddenly, he is in a different place, a place decorated with gold, silver, gemstones, ivory and marble.
"Bonsoir Monsieur. Je me excuse pour le dérangement. Je suis Jean-François de Merblanc. Pouvez-vous comprendre ce que nous disons?" A man with a luxurious decorative cuirass and a glaive asked him.
The man said this to Lucas: "Good evening sir. I apologize for the inconvenience. I am Jean-François of Merblanc. Can you understand what we are saying?"
"The man is saying something I can understand, good thing I learned French when I was working on my story. Is he a Frenchman? No, that is unlikely, he has some grammatical error, he said 'Je me excuse' instead of 'Je m'excuse'. But I must reply, I must hold whatever emotions I have right now. I need to have my usual cold, calm expression." Lucas thought to himself.
He then drops the Windows laptop and MacBook that he is holding, and then responds: "Je m'appelle Lucas Lafayette Marie-Joseph Moses David Lafayette Berger LaVoie. Oui, je peux vous comprendre. Mais d’abord, pourquoi suis-je ici?! Où suis-je?! Qui m'a amené ici?!"
"My name is Lucas Lafayette Marie-Joseph Moses David Berger LaVoie. Yes, I can understand you! But first, why am I here? Where am I? Who brought me here?!" This is what Lucas said as a reply.