Dawn: God's United Reich

By D. Alexander

Take the blind leap and fall into true love, even if you fall to it means your death.

Over a century ago, God's United Reich, a tyrannical religious ideology, conquered the American Republic, transforming it into a holy utopia. The heart of this oppressive regime is the Divine Leader and his unwavering military force called the

• Language: English
• Publisher: Belltower Books
• Release date: Feb 29, 2024
• ISBN: 9798868927690

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Dawn:

God’s United Reich

By: D. Alexander

Take the blind leap and fall into true love, even if you fall to your death.

Copyright © 2024 by Belltower Books

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Acknowledgments:

I want to thank a few special people who helped make this wonderful story come to life. This book was created and developed by an independent author, designer, musician, and editor. We support our independent community.

Joe H: Who always pushes me further to ensure that my stories are the absolute best they can be while ensuring everything with the content is without fault or error. Thank you for your endless devotion.

Crab Editing: Took the grammatical mess of a story and made it legible and enjoyable for you, the reader. Please check out this wonderful editor for your next story.

Craig Desjardins: Took my simple idea for a cover and turned it into a masterpiece that reflects the wonderfully, ridiculous story within. Please check out this independent article for your book's next cover.

And finally, to my dear friend who played the moonlight sonata for you, the reader, to listen to while Theodore plays it.

Dedication:

To the members of my family who were oppressed, enslaved, and murdered because of another's moral sense of righteousness, this story is for you. Dawn is my love letter to you, and I know that in my heart, we will never allow another’s free will to dictate how we live our lives or love.

To those who dare to take away our free will so you can feel superior or righteous under your ideology, please take this as a warning that your darkness, your hate, can never stop true love because it is the superior power in Creation, regardless of how you try to confine and define it.

Dawn is coming,

and we see you.

Content Warning:

Dearest Reader,

Be advised that this novel's content may not be suitable for all readers. The following chapters are fictional examples of religious abuse, trauma, murder, death, homophobia, oppression, various stereotypes, sexual content, graphic imagery, and a grim reminder of what could happen if we are not careful.

Any association with the Third Reich/Nazism is simply wordplay.

Please tread carefully into this gay dystopian romance.

All my love,

D. Alexander

The Rise of God’s United Reich

(Prologue)

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

That is what our forefathers fought and died for, christening a revolution that would change the world's path forever. The United States became the land of the free and shined like a beacon of prosperity and freedom. It became an example of what the world civilizations could be. America the free, America the brave, America that believed that all men were created equal and deserved to live their lives as they wished without interference from the government. While America thrived, however, not everyone was free, not everyone had the right to live their lives as they saw fit. America went through a bloody civil war that tore the country apart but won freedom for enslaved people everywhere.

While the country healed and states reunited, African Americans were seen as human and treated as equals under the new laws, which forged a darker society, the United Confederacy. They believed that not all men were created equal and that the white race was superior to all the other races, and this society became the precursor that would rise as God’s United Reich.

This society remained unchanged through the centuries until Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, the Third Reich rose in the East. The United Confederacy adopted the belief of a superior race and created an authoritative government to oversee and exclude other populations, thus putting the white race on the throne. The movement was slowly growing as Hitler conquered most of Europe, and people in the United States began to adopt this belief. People believed an authoritative government was the only way to bring America back to its former glory and restore order and peace to a morally corrupt society. The United Confederacy evolved into the United Third Reich, but when the Allied forces won and defeated Hitler, the newly created Reich went underground as the fear of communism began to sweep through the nation.

They did not want to be persecuted for their beliefs and became, once again, a secret society. However, they did not die off, as many fringe groups did, but thrived under the Leadership of Abel Smith III. Brother Smith believed that the only way to put America back on track was to alter our government the way Adolf Hitler had in Germany, and being one of the wealthiest men in the country, a political genius, and even more charismatic than Hitler, that was precisely what he did. He began to form a manifesto that would alter America.

While the fear of socialism and communism were spreading, and the firm belief in democracy was winning the battle of the hearts and minds of the American people, Abel Smith knew that the secret society had to adapt to something that the general population could stand behind, while allowing an authoritative government to be born. Being a devoted man of the Lord, he knew that the only way to bring back the moral glory of America was to have an authoritative government under the Lord instead of the republic. Therefore, he changed the United Third Reich into God’s United Order, based on The Lord's laws being the only Divine way to rule and guide the American people. First, however, he had to convince the American people that this was the only way for America to evolve. He was successful and influenced countless politicians, leaders, movie stars, and others to his cause.

This continued for several decades as God’s United Order penetrated local and state governments. Eventually, Congress and the Supreme Court filled their members and waited for the proper movement. The phrase a Christian Nation was born and spread like wildfire in the homes and hearts of the American people as these influential society members began to alter the beliefs and mindsets of the nation’s citizens. They used propaganda and scare tactics to make the American people believe that their way of life was threatened by the morally corrupt, by those they deemed sinful. They worked tirelessly, altering reality to sway beliefs and bring to light the darker parts of American life–such as drugs, prostitution, opposing religious beliefs, homosexuality, and communism–that would take away their version of democracy, thus manipulating the people.

They were highly successful in the 1960s, as the hippie movement began, and the righteous society saw threats to their way of life. It started in the South, as people began questioning what could be done to preserve their Lord’s white, privileged societies, and God’s United Order began to take control. They promised they could combat the morally corrupt, bring order and structure back to the American way, and preserve their way of life if the people followed Abel Smith III, and chose him to be the first Chancellor. The Lord's people flocked by the masses to join this society, and to the delight of Abel Smith, churches across the South began to unite under this righteous cause. People believed the Lord's Order was the only way to preserve the morally acceptable white way of life. However, this society hit a wall and could not escape the confines of the southern borders as Abel Smith III died. God’s United Order seemed to be on the brink of collapsing when it was taken over by Peter Thomas, a young politician quickly growing in fame for being a decorated war veteran, the perfect model of the American man.

He starred in movies, built charities, dated movie stars, and became one of the most respected men in the nation, and there were rumors that one day he would be the next president. During the Civil Rights Movement, he knew the only way to create the Lord's Nation was to include all members of society, including all people of color. This enraged the white fundamentalists, but he told them that the proper order would be reinstated under the new Reich, but they had to present it this way first.

Eventually, God’s United Order began to seep into other states, and into almost every home in the country. Churches of every denomination across the United States folded to this society, and Peter Thomas became the most powerful man in the United States, even more potent than the sitting president. Still, he stayed in the shadows, hidden under his senator’s seat in his home state of Alabama, until it was time.

In the Fall of 1970, Peter Thomas, beloved and respected, went on national television and radio and told the American people that he could no longer stand by and let the moral fabric of this country be undone by the morally corrupt and sinful. That he, as a devoted man of the Lord, would no longer tolerate the injustices and failures of our government, and it was on their shoulders that the people were broken and needed a righteous hand to guide their way back to paradise. He proclaimed that the Lord had shown him the right way to govern, the right way to lead our country, and that everyone should follow him and his new political party: God’s United Reich. It was time to ensure that the Lord's rightful nation thrived. He told all righteous men and women, regardless of color, that they were called to serve and bring glory back to America. He asked them to stand with him to ensure the nation thrived.

He thanked the people, and that was it; the course of America had been altered. In the two years that followed that monumental speech, the political world changed, and God’s United Reich became the number one party in the United States, surpassing both Democratic and Republicans. People tried to stop this by organizing protests, sit-ins, giving speeches and passing laws, but it was too late. God's United Reich had interwoven itself into society, and the people believed this was the right course for America. They blamed the government for the wars, the morally corrupt, and the fall of the American way of life. God’s United Reich was already too powerful, and the protesters, organizers, and anyone who dared to oppose them were silenced, removed, and destroyed as the media printed nothing but positive propaganda devoted to God’s United Reich.

Even Hollywood began to create movies about a strong nation of the Lord and what life would be like under this new regime. Peter Thomas's path to the White House was clear; millions supported him and his belief in a superior nation of the Lord. People believed that life—their American dream—would become a reality, and that the future generations would be that shining city on the hill. People deemed morally corrupt were dying by the hundreds, opposing religions were burned to the ground, the republic was overthrown, and no one could stop it. Countless didn’t want to.

On November 7th, 1972, the people voted, and Peter Thomas became the first Divine Leader of the United States of America. Congress was also flooded with new members of God’s United Reich as sleeper agents implemented decades before awoke and changed allegiances as the powers shifted. In the next four years, America changed dramatically; rights and privileges once protected under the Constitution were stripped away, and life changed dramatically. Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court were under the control of God’s United Reich. The republic we once knew and loved was gone, and God’s United Reich became the new government.

The Constitution was repealed, and the Jehovah's Accords were enacted into law. Women were stripped of their right to vote and were only allowed to be given gender-specific work roles, and were educated to only take care of the home dynamic. They were expected to marry and bear children but only under the child population laws that were put into place; no family could have more than two children, and special permission was granted to have a third if both children were the same gender. The government believed that the only way to combat unwanted pregnancy and abortion was to control the men, for their hearts were full of lust.

The Reich forced young men at the start of puberty to undergo a vasectomy that would be reversed when they were married. Under the population accord, once the family had created two or three children, the woman would go under a total hysterectomy, as she had fulfilled her Godly duties.

This was not the only thing the government began to control; homosexuality became illegal and punishable by death, or as they called it, a righteous cleansing. Other religions were banned, and the practicing of them was punishable by imprisonment. States' rights were taken away, and democracy fell.

The morality accord transformed the social norms on how people could dress, how they were to act, what they could watch, and what they could read or even listen to, as it was all created and approved by the Reich and distributed through the media they controlled. People of all races and skin tones were treated as equals under the new regime.

The military was forced to remove itself from the countries of the world, and military bases were closed. The armed forces—the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force—were relabeled as one unit called the NiBorr. God’s United Reich combined the Jewish word Gibborr, which means mighty, and the hero Nimrod from Genesis, a hunter, to create a new force to govern the people—the Mighty Hunters.

The NiBorr were to monitor the Reich’s flock to ensure they upheld the Accords and the Lord's morality was maintained. They would be stationed in every state, every city, and every neighborhood. Each chapter had a head commander to ensure things were done properly. They had become the eyes and the armed force of God’s United Reich.

Voting was no longer allowed, for the government—not the people—chose elected officials. The Divine Leader closed the borders, and no one was allowed in or out of America, and any immigrants or deserters trying to enter or leave the country were cleansed on the spot.

In four years, the United States Government had become a tyrannical institution that would force its citizens into one way of life and bring back the medieval reign of The Lord. The world religions crumpled under the new regime, and other denominations were disbanded. A new church called the United Church of the Reich was established, and every single person was obligated to attend church every Saturday or be punished by the law. They monitored this by implanting a chip into their flock at the age of sixteen to replace their driver's license, so that their personal information could be scanned at any time.

People tried to fight, to take back their country, but were met with tyrannical force, and hundreds of thousands died. Families were snuffed out for of their outspoken beliefs against the government.

After another four years, there was no election, and Divine Leader Thomas became the leader for life. The tyrannical government was complete, and the course of America had been changed forever. The American life had changed; the American dream became The Lord's Standard.

It should be noted that it took several decades for this regime to touch every corner of the United States, but most of the population caved to the new Reich and believed this was the way The Lord had chosen for his chosen people. The government became everything the founding Father’s feared, but the American people had chosen their path. People still remembered the old ways but dared not speak of them. They were afraid and had every right to be, for the government was watching.

The people became the Reich’s sheep and tried to live without bringing attention or death upon their families. Anyone who broke the law would become publicly shamed, outcasted, imprisoned, or cleansed under Jehovah's Accords.

Since 1972, the United States had developed on its ordinary course, and technology had evolved and thrived under the new regime. Still, the Reich controlled and censored everything, and all themes always came back to The Lord as its center. The country had been altered, but history had taught them that all tyrannical governments eventually fall.

It has been one hundred and fifty years since the fall of the American republic. Our story finds us in the small farming village of Williams Field, Wisconsin, with a young man named Leon Grady, whose life will change forever when he meets Theodore Dawn.

I

My heart wants to be happy.

I swung, and with a deafening crack, I watched the white ball soar into the consuming darkness above, the red stitching illuminated like blood in the field lights. My hand shook as I threw my bat to the grass. It was inscribed with the name Stone, which I had been gifted by my father for my thirteenth birthday. The baseball diamond was slick with morning dew, and the scent consumed my senses as I tried to calm the war surging inside me. I had come to my happy place to try and regain my composure from the hope, the desire, for a life that could never be, a life that haunted my dreams.

My cleats kicked up the grass as I ran after the ball, giving its fall a few seconds longer than I usually would as I hastily put on my glove and tried not to think about the sorrow burrowing itself into my heart. I dug deep and sprinted after the ball that was seconds from landing next to third base. I lunged, extending my arm so my well-loved leather glove would snatch it from the dirt’s welcoming embrace. I felt the ball hug my fingers as I hit and slid on the dirt, trying my best not to eat it as my chest came to rest on the square white base.

No one is around to see the tears, I told myself as that fool’s hope stung my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. Not because there was anything wrong with crying, but if I were caught now, it would raise questions I couldn’t answer. I had put on my Blackhawks uniform to refocus my mindset and get my emotions back in control, which generally I could do without problem, but on nights like this one, I had to sweat it out of my system.

I wanted to embrace who I was, but who I am is an abomination to God’s United Reich, or as the followers call it, G.U.R. If I wasn’t vigilant, my indifferent mask would not be in place, and those around me would notice that I was not behaving in the manner they had come to believe was my truth. No, I had to maintain the lie I had crafted when I understood the truth about my own heart.

Be still my breaking heart, for it was only a dream. My heart was ricocheting in my chest, but not from the exertion. It was the way his skin felt against mine that stoked the fires of my heartbreak. I shook it away as I got to my feet. My black uniform had no hints of grass stains as I brushed off the rogue blades of grass and dirt. I took a deep breath, as I always did right before the pitch, to try and quell the inferno threatening to burn down my walls.

My heart’s not wicked, I responded to the words that have haunted me since I was a child. I opened my eyes and turned to the left to see the crescent moon high in the blackness of the night. On the horizon, shades of pink, orange, and purple were beginning to bleed through, and I knew my time was up. Dawn was coming, and with it, Saturday morning service. I had to return home before morning prayers and back to the world that would cleanse me on the church’s steps if they discovered the truth about me.

I moved to the dugout to throw off the field lights I had turned on when I arrived. I had not been surprised that I had not seen any of the NiBorrs on patrol turn me away; being the son of the village’s head NiBorr gave me leeway. My blood was still racing, but I needed to return home and ensure that my mask was in place before my father came into my room. I picked up Stone from where I had tossed it aside and moved toward the blacktop and my Chariot.

It was a small, purple, four-door compact vehicle that my father had bought a year before he married my mother and had been passed down to me for my sixteenth birthday over a year ago. It was suspended in mid-air by magnets embedded into the streets.

About fifty years after the G.U.R. rose, they had done away with fossil fuels and devoted themselves to clean energy to eliminate the energy crisis. The Lord’s Living Translation states that we are supposed to be shepherds of the earth, after all.

They interpreted that to mean to stop polluting the world with carbon emissions and to focus on renewable, Lord-given resources so we did not need to rely on other countries, which also kept our borders secure. The advancements in renewable energy have grown over the last hundred years, and our energy needs were being met without complications.

I threw my bat, glove, and ball into the trunk before grabbing my private stash of Eden’s Seven Apples that was delivered to me about every half year from my absent uncle. It was a bubbly, sweet beverage that tasted like apple pie, but it had a burn that tickled the back of my throat. It was one of the few things apart from baseball that made me happy.

I rolled down the windows, shifted into gear, and pulled out of the high school parking lot where I would start my senior year tomorrow. A love song began to play through the speakers, and the dream’s happiness filled me for a moment before my finger collided with the off switch.

Don’t let that fool’s hope in. I needed the courage to put my heart back in the deepest dungeon, away from the light of day. I took a swig so the burn in my throat could take away the hurt stinging my eyes. Music, especially love songs, made it difficult to breathe because of the desire for a life I could have only in my dreams.

The streets of the small farming village of William’s Field were deserted except for the single NiBorr on patrol, who nodded at me as we passed each other. They all knew my Chariot, and that touch to his helmet forewarned that my father knew I was out past curfew, which I had only done twice now. I wasn’t worried about the conversation that would ensue when I arrived home. I did a three-point turn in the street and glided the vehicle to the curb and the charging pad.

My feet touched the road so I could stare at the two-story cottage painted and styled identically to every other cottage in the neighborhood. They were all two-stories, painted red to embody the village's theme, with white trim around the triangular roof and windows, which was accompanied by a brown, barn-style front door. Each cottage had three bedrooms and an office for the patriarch, which could be an extra bedroom if the family had been blessed to have three children. Under Jehovah's Accords, my parents could have had a third child since Abel and I were both male, but my mother did not want to go through another pregnancy and childbirth.

In moments like these, I wondered what life would be like if I had a sister. Would we be close, or would she hate me, just as Abel did? My younger brother was like a thief in the night and could break through the walls to my bare emotions.

I placed my finger on the lock and waited for it to open, taking a deep breath to ensure my face was indifferent in case my father was waiting in the living room. When I walked through the door, the cottage was dark and still, and my relief came out as an exhale. I moved to the stairs and allowed the carpet to muffle my steps as I went to my room. I had left it cracked open and slid into it without turning on the light.

I turned to the room I had lived in for seventeen years. It was small, with a full-size feather cot pushed up against the wall, with my desk under the window that overlooked the front lawn. I had a dresser next to my door and a closet to the left of the door where my clothes were hanging up. The only thing on the walls was a signed and framed poster of my baseball hero, Jeremy Honso, from the Milwaukee Knights, which had been my father’s and my team since I was little. I was the best player on my high school team, and there was a chance I could even be the best player in the state, based on the countless wins I had under my belt as my plan was to go pro after university.

I stared at the picture of the man in his tight uniform that showcased his beefy body and those dark, soulful eyes that stared back at me; the desire burned hotter. I turned away, stripped off my uniform, and hung it back in the closet before putting on brown cotton shorts and turned towards the washroom that connected Abel’s and my rooms. I heard my mother once call it a Jack-and-Jill layout, but I never asked who they were. Abel kept his door shut, so I turned on the light and stared at my reflection. My bright green eyes were indifferent, and my expression was neutral, but gooseflesh covered my muscular, warm amber-brown skin.

I ran a hand through my short chestnut brown hair. It was customary for men my age to have the standard haircut, and no one was exempt from the grooming standards. That meant I would have to shave before church due to the slight stumble on my rounded jawline. I placed both hands on the white marble countertop and ensured no hint of any emotions that would give me away when my father entered my room, even if my knicker-knacker was being stubborn. I went to the desk and grabbed my Halo-T, a sleek holographic tool used for communication and identification. A white light projected the screen onto my forearm, which read it was four-forty-five in the Lord's Morning.

I had two messages waiting for me. The first one was from my best friend, Dylan Otterson, who had been by my side since kindergarten. We had met on the first day of lessons when he tripped coming in the door and knocked me over so hard that I busted my lip. He laughed at me when he saw the blood and my tears but offered me his hand and had never left my side since.

Dylan: MUTT! I need to knock heads with you before church tomorrow. Can you make sure you are at the steps before nine?

I sighed because I knew what he wanted to talk about. It was the same thing he had been talking about for weeks now, and I was sick