The Forgotten Age Trilogy
Composed of the three journals of Z, only one of which has so far been released, and the prequel series "The Seisoa Chronicles"; a story of the hero's hero, the man who united the world.
Daniel "Z" Hastings
I'm a human being
About
A dreamer who kept the rights.
“Daniel ‘Z’ Hastings lives the life of a dreamer. A student of science and inquisitive to the spiritual, he seeks out the truth behind the truth.” — AuthorHouse
- Name: Daniel “Z” Hastings
- Based in: Belgium
- Email: daniel.hastings@live.com
- Genre: Epic / dark fantasy
- Debut: Soulfire (2013)
- Available for: Readings, collabs, press
They used to call the whole thing just some idea. Friends made characters for the joy of it. Z started writing them out by hand. Late nights were not the plan. Then the chapters got long, and one book began to look like three, and the thing he would later name The Forgotten Age stopped being a hobby and started being the work of a life.
Soulfire arrived in 2013 — psychological thriller wearing the coat of epic fantasy, an amnesiac in a ward writing a dream that becomes Zack’s war under two suns. He took it to AuthorHouse UK so the copyright would stay home. Kirkus called the world hugely imaginative. He still writes from Belgium, still posts as @DanieltheZ, still follows the voices he listed on Goodreads: Margaret Weis, Nojima Kazushige, Eiichiro Oda, Anton Gill. Around the trilogy sit the poems, the Conclave, Collabeo, Z and the Tree, Imagination for Kids. The water never stops. Neither does he.
Stats
Epic worldbuilding 95%
Character-driven fantasy 90%
Independent publishing 85%
Story philosophy 88%
Video & music collabs 70%
Community campaigns 75%
Reviews
History
Summary
Daniel “Z” Hastings
Has travelled halfway around the world. Keeps the rights to The Forgotten Age Trilogy, because the story was never meant to belong to someone else. Trying to make the world a better place than he left it. Self taught freelancer.
The path
The first pages
High school
Handwritten drafts with friends
It began as play. A circle of friends, a handful of names, paper that filled faster than anyone expected. He has said it himself: the dream was still “just some idea.” Then the small chapters became large ones. Then one book started to look like three. That is how an age is forgotten into being.
Both heels shattered
The forced pause
Both heels shattered. The body stopped. The mind did not. Weeks that should have been wasted turned into pages, and the first movement of the trilogy left the drawer and became a book. Take your time, because there isn’t a moment to spare — Stein said it later, on the page. Z had already lived the line.
Arrival of Collabeo
2025–Now
A secure, ad-free collaboration platform for businesses, teams, and organizations.
- Created as a private space for teams to share ideas, communicate, and stay organized without the distractions of traditional social media.
- Provides workplace-focused tools for teamwork, projects, announcements, notifications, and internal communication.
- Protects company data through encryption, secure logins, company-level access controls, and private organizational workspaces.
- Offers customizable features, priority support, migration tools, and ongoing development for growing teams.
The Universal Conclave
2016-2024
Non-profit · Think-Talk · established 2016
- He invited the world in. The video is called Come Think With Us. Concept art, his name on it, a door held open.
- The work of the Conclave, as he put it, was a Think-Talk seeking “the combined answers of all mankind.” All were welcome.
- The addresses he gave were contact@universalconclave.net and universalconclave.net.
Publication & campaigns
Soulfire — Book I
August 2013
AuthorHouse UK · 228 pages · ISBN 978-1491801192
- An amnesiac in a psychiatric ward writes a dream journal that becomes the story of Zack in the Silver City of Teuran, a planet that orbits two suns.
- Reviewed by Kirkus Indie as “hugely imaginative,” with prose that is “often evocative.”
- Cover art developed with artist Donna of For Alice Artwork.
Belgium years
Ongoing
Belgium is where the desk is now. Poems in two languages. A terrasje when the sun is out and the birds are already singing. Music videos with friends — the leeches in the world, named out loud. Graspop 2022, filmed from the ground. A game he called Universal Conclave Lite, waiting on the art. The Forgotten Age Trilogy is still only 1/3 released.
Projects
Collabeo
Collabeo is a secure, ad-free collaboration platform that helps businesses and teams communicate, manage projects, share ideas, and stay organized in private workspaces.
The Universal Conclave
In 2016 he opened a door and called it a non-profit. Come think with us. A Think-Talk, he said, that seeks the combined answers of all mankind. Not a throne. A table. The invitation still sits on his channel. The Universal Conclave is not no longer a non-profit organization.
Z and the Tree
A series told in short film, on TikTok, under his own name. A comedy series that is a bit philosophical and fun!
Imagination for Kids
A children's book that shows different types of iagination through storytelling! Ari is a tiger that lives at the top of the mountain, and goes into town on her first adventure!
Poems
Birds Still Sing
Just wait, just watch, just listen,
find yourself surrounded by beauty.
Take a breath, close your eyes and see,
internal wonder that reflects the scenery.
Hear that one bird speak,
then comes the rest in chorus,
one by one, they all have a story,
and that is the same for all of us.
Yet in that world deep within,
we have a universe worth seeing.
Every step we have taken in our lives,
has been the creation of our own being.
Eyes still closed, hearing that one bird singing,
their choir like our own society.
Every story waiting to be told,
And in the past, the eternal experienced sea.
So when you open your eyes, may you never forget,
your voice as charming as their morning song,
and as you walk along in life,
there is no lesson that is wrong.
Non-Dualism
If you give a coin,
to a man on the street,
you had better make certain,
that he is light on his feet.
Wealth makes them a target,
as one can plainly see,
and the others without a home,
will cause him to fight or flee.
On the other side of town,
a murderer shows plans to me,
willing to sacrifice just one life,
to save the lives of a million and three.
And only by this murderous vice,
hearing the screams of merciful plea,
one life is taken, in a passionate moment,
that others may live out their lives and be free.
And so comes the answer,
and all doubt starts to leave.
Good and evil are but illusions,
and always depend on what you believe.
Contact
Based in
Belgium — American writer abroad
Social
Forever curious
I’m a creative and curious person. I keep science in one hand and spirit in the other; a hunt for the truth behind the truth. What I put on paper is that hunt, my perspective, my story. Unless I'm doing a commission. Then, I just tell yours!