Stories rarely appear fully formed. They whisper first — quiet, almost afraid to be heard.
For me, it began on an ordinary East Texas morning.
I was sitting outside on the back patio, a mug of coffee in my hand, letting the stillness of the day settle in. A lizard darted across the warm stone, pausing in the sunlight. Birds sang in the trees, their songs drifting lazily over the yard. The world felt simple… yet, in that moment, I couldn’t shake a thought that hit me harder than I expected:
What am I not seeing?
It was a strange, electric question. One that hummed in my head like a melody I couldn’t stop replaying. The longer I sat there, the stronger it grew.
I could see the physical world — the sky, the trees, the lizard, the steam rising from my cup — but what if there was something else? Something hidden? Something ancient and powerful, just outside the reach of human senses, shaping history without us even knowing?
That thought didn’t leave me.
It became an obsession.
Two Realities, One Thin Veil
I started to imagine two overlapping worlds: the one we all know — where battles are fought, empires rise and fall, and men like Elias Mercer live and die — and another, invisible realm running parallel to ours. A place where power, darkness, and destiny collide. A place that explains why some wars feel… bigger than men. Why some leaders seem driven by forces beyond themselves.
I imagined this other world as a shadowed reflection of ours — unseen but always present, influencing events, whispering to those who would listen. A thin veil, fragile but holding… until someone or something tries to tear it apart.
That idea became the heartbeat of The Last Patriot.
The Spark of the Eye
Once I had two realities, I needed a bridge — something that could connect a man to that hidden world. That’s when the Eye came to life in my imagination. Not just an artifact, but a living power. Something old. Something dangerous. Something that doesn’t choose lightly… but when it does, it changes everything.
And then came the question: what would happen if the wrong person — or even the right person at the wrong time — was chosen?
That’s when Elias appeared.
Elias Mercer — Born From Loss
Before he was a soldier, Elias was a man broken by tragedy. I could see him standing in a small colonial graveyard, burying the love of his life after she died in childbirth. Alone. Lost. A man with nothing left to lose. That’s when the story began to take form. What better character to thrust into a war bigger than he could understand — and ask him to carry a power he doesn’t want?
Elias was my answer to a world that often feels hopeless: an ordinary man who’s anything but prepared, yet somehow must rise.
Where It All Began
All of this — the Eye, the Veil, the Hollowing, the wars between worlds — came from one quiet morning and one lingering question:
What am I not seeing?
It’s the question that still drives my writing today.
Because the universe of The Last Patriot isn’t just about history; it’s about mystery. It’s about the unseen forces behind the events we think we understand. And maybe, just maybe, it’s a reminder that the battles we see aren’t the only ones being fought.