YA Christian Sci-Fi/Dystopian
Date Published: 03-05-2025
When a man in power believes he's God, mankind doesn't have a prayer
Some people are just wolves in sheep’s clothing; we all know that now.
All that glitters is not gold, and so on and so forth. We all learned the hard way, and now, all of us were living in raw, cold fear.
We were running from Nero 24/7.
When he burst onto the scene in the Senate in 2104, most of us didn’t really know who he was. I was too young anyway. That wasn’t his name then, of course: it was Constantine Jedidiah Goodfellow. But history has always been rewritten by those in power as they see fit; it’s happening even now, certainly. There will be no mention of forced edicts, or worship…or even the Guardians. But we know they exist. I definitely do. My whole family knew they existed just before they were shot down and deprived of life, right after dad hid me.
We should have seen it coming. With a name like his, you might think that such a person was all good. Constantine means steadfast. Jedidiah means beloved of the Lord. Goodfellow means, well, good fellow.
That’s why no one saw it coming. I wish the stupid virus had never happened. That unquestionably set the stage for Nero to do what he did, and we, in our foolish blindness and extreme naiveté, trusted him. But all such wishing is futile, right? You can’t go back. None of us can. You can’t go home again. Forward is the only option, even if forward is through grinding metal and scorching flames, and all of us depending on the guy next to us to toe the line and hold firm in the faith.
No one even really knew how the virus happened. Unfortunately, there was a lot of supposition that Christians had spread it. There was nothing empirical ever presented for that accusation, but Nero ran with it, using it as grounds for further dissent. And then you had the wackos, the nationalists, and the crazies who whipped a lot of people up into a frenzy with scare tactics and polarizing viewpoints that galvanized people into negative action. You had Christians committing assassination attempts, thinking Nero was the antichrist. You had Christian preachers going crazy and stirring up dissension against him. The simple, pure message of the gospel itself got swallowed up in message dilution. People erroneously relinquished the gospel in favor of something far more aggressive.
That’s when the riots happened. A bunch of hotheads cried out for justice, pleading with others to take back our capitol, take back our country, take back our world for Christ. Their intentions were honorable; their execution sucked. That just added more fuel to the anti-Christian fire and spawned a lot of negative sentiment toward those who called Jesus Lord. It ended up being far too much to recover from reputationally, which gave Nero far too much license to stamp out Christianity for good. A lot of us did it to ourselves, frankly.
And then, no one was strong enough to oppose him. Before we knew what hit us, he and his military tech were empowered beyond measure. Beyond restraint. And where you have empowerment without oversight, you have a god complex.
Christianity itself, once the bedrock of our country’s democratic and ethical principles, became the scourge of the world: of ill repute, undesirable, and a government-labeled ‘unholy threat.’ All because Nero was at the helm.
And then came The Cleansing.
I was lost in thought, shaking my head at the memory and the horror of all of it.
“Sage, you still alive over there, buddy?”
His question jerked me out of my reveries. My eyes were released from the mesmerizing amber licks of the fire. I turned to Hunter, my best friend. His brow was furrowed as he watched me, his face framed by the fake flames coming from the artificial fireplace in front of us.
But not just the flames. From the back of his neck came the amber glow. The glow from the mark.
Same as me. Same as nearly everyone in here.
I nodded. “Just thinking. About time to hit the hay anyway,” I replied in a melancholy drone.
“Man, you said it. I’m worn out.”
“Me too. I’ve done three years’ worth of Remembrance in just one night.”
He chuckled and nodded solemnly.
Remembrance. That’s what Swifty called it. It was like what the Vietnamese and other cultures did. The Kinh people believed that the incense they lit would lead those who had died to safe passage. They believed it would guide them home as well. They did it in remembrance, and they were very intentional about it.
I guess when over half of the world’s population has been wiped out by a virus, and a malevolent, paranoid delusional, Machiavellian psychopath now occupies the highest throne on the planet, it’s good to do a little bit of Remembrance.
Even if it’s only ever filled with pain.
On this New Year’s Day – which was now little more than just another day – there was no celebrating; there was only remembering.
Maranatha. Come, Lord.
About the Author
Award-winning and bestselling author Aaron Ryan lives in Washington with his wife and two sons, along with Macy the dog, Winston the cat, and Merry & Pippin, the finches.
He is the author of the bestselling "Dissonance" 6-book alien invasion saga, the post-apocalyptic Christian fiction saga "The End," the sci-fi thrillers "Forecast" and "The Slide," the children's picture books "The Ring of Truth," "The Sword of Joy" and "The Book of Power," the business reference business books "How to Successfully Self-Publish & Promote Your Self-Published Book" and "The Superhero Anomaly", 6 business books on voiceovers penned under his former stage name (Joshua Alexander), as well as a previous fictional novel, "The Omega Room."
When he was in second grade, he was tasked with writing a creative assignment: a fictional book. And thus, "The Electric Boy" was born: a simple novella full of intrigue, fantasy, and 7-year-old wits that electrified Aaron's desire to write. From that point forward, Aaron evolved into a creative soul that desired to create.
He enjoys the arts, media, music, performing, poetry, and being a daddy. In his lifetime he has been an author, voiceover artist, wedding videographer, stage performer, musician, producer, rock/pop artist, executive assistant, service manager, paperboy, CSR, poet, tech support, worship leader, and more. The diversity of his life experiences gives him a unique approach to business, life, ministry, faith, and entertainment.
Aaron's favorite author by far is J.R.R. Tolkien, but he also enjoys Suzanne Collins, James S.A. Corey, Michael Crichton, Marie Lu, Madeleine L'Engle, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden, C.S. Lewis, Stephen King and Dave Barry.
Aaron has always had a passion for storytelling. Visit the Dissonance saga website at https://www.dissonancetheseries.com or The End saga website at https://thisisnottheend.com.
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