To Change an Era

"What do you mean?" Meryl gave a bewildered look at Arthur.

"Do you think that the entire world could be enslaved to one perspective or have one similar opinion on a specific matter?"

"I'm not sure why you're asking that."

"Because it's necessary. The world has always followed a general perspective and lives according to the philosophies of an era. In fact, we've had many of those in our history and right now, we live in the Supra-Modern era. And along with it, comes a common perspective in things."

"I really don't get why we are talking about ideologies. What's that have to do with war and an alien race trying to take over this planet?"

"Everything. You see, it is in the present ideology of this world that can determine the success of the Aragarians plan. Depending on the worldviews that hold this world, nations may or may not ally with the Aragarians."

"Ideologies and worldviews can do that?"

Arthur pointed to the huge walls that towered over New Birth City.

"If the Aragarians revealed themselves now, would Australia join or oppose the Aragarians?"

"Of course they would oppose it! It's an alien race after all! Humanity would unite to fight that!"

"Really? Look around you. The power that Australia has, came from the Aragarians. You sure they would give this up?"

Meryl was shocked at Arthur's statement. She stood silently and gazed at the towering heights.

She recalled all the horrible actions that the Aragarians were doing in this place and remembered that they were still being protected by the police and the military.

"But that won't make this country fight for an alien race! Why would anyone want to exterminate their own kind?" Meryl argued.

"The benefits of the majority outweigh the survival of the minority. Isn't this the main thought in our Supra-modern society? If this was the Post-Modern era, we would have because that era brought was a desire for equality and acceptance. But now, our current ideology would drive nations to prioritize themselves rather than their neighbors."

Meryl remained silent. This has been the state of the world after the Continental War. Nations like Australia, the Americas, and the South-States have always had a xenophobic treatment of any other humans which isn't from their own race. And then it dawned on Meryl.

"Wait! Then that means that Continental Wars and the Minority Uprising-"

"Were probably being controlled by the Aragarians from the background. They are very cautious. They manipulated the world to be so wary of each other and broke the unity that once held that. Soon, they'll instigate another World War which will drive this world to its knees. And before we could even recover, they appear. And to top it all off, they will use the ideologies of this Earth to make nations pursue their own safety and join the Aragarians."

"If that's true, then in Zeek's future, who would oppose them? Why didn't the world just give up?"

"The world probably did give up. But something must have changed the minds of some countries. I'm not sure what made these countries fight back. I have a guess as to what, but I'm not too sure yet."

"So… Seeker wants to use the Jews to change this future?"

"You'll need to remember your history to understand," Arthur smirked as he took out his mobile device.

Arthur searched and opened a link which revealed pictures of ancient wars.

"Changes in ideologies always happened during great events in the history of the world. Way back since the Ancient period all the way to the Medieval period, Theism was the main ideology. Everyone believed there was a god. And through that era, do you know which nation stood out?"

"I don't know. Greek? Rome? Assyria? Babylon?"

"Those were the most powerful nations. But no. Assyria and Babylon are gone, Rome and Greece have fallen from its original power. I'm talking about the Jews. They continued to exist regardless of the fact that all of those nations you mentioned waged war against them."

Arthur showed Meryl several websites online detailing the exile of the Jews to Babylon and other events that threatened their existence.

"So what's so special about them that the Aragarians got all flustered?"

"Their existence. Their survival. But most importantly the religion that they brought in. Remember, Theism was the thing during that era. And soon almost all of the known world at that time adopted different forms of this religion especially during the rise of Constantinople."

"You mean Christianity? Why is this important? Is Jesus really the answer to everything?" Meryl gave a sarcastic remark.

"It's important because that's not how the world views things anymore. Theism had its run and peaked during that time but then, the Renaissance happened. And it shifted the focus from gods to men. What became important was the good of man and not a belief in god."

Meryl had a slightly impatient expression.

"First you tell me that the Jews are important because of religion and now it's important because religion became outdated?"

Arthur unusually gave a light smile.

"I didn't expect that explaining things to someone would be this fun... I guess that's why I fell for you… Humanism, which came out of the Renaissance introduced a new ideology. Rationalism. With the pursuit of man's greatest good, they found that technology could be the answer. The good of man achieved through science. In fact, we still carry remnants of that belief today. And the pursuit to Rationalize eventually led to Atheism. The very opposite of Theism."

"Ok? So what? People stopped believing in the God which the Jews introduced. So how can that help us in an intergalactic showdown?" Meryl ignored Arthur's candid statement and hid her blush with an impatient face.

"Let me finish. Rationalism instilled the idea that newer is better. Science made life easy. And this pursuit of the new gave birth to a world of new possibilities. Out with the old and in with the new. Anything for progress. And you know what that progress brought?"

"People got smarter?" Meryl hazard a guess.

Arthur shook his head and presented yet another series of images on his mobile phone. This time it displayed primitive tanks, guns, and other weapons.

"Modernism. Which brought revolutions and more wars. Because men continued to progress, the old system was deemed obsolete. Revolutions such as the French and American revolutions occurred. Communism came and various progressive solutions to governance were also invented. This search for progress led to the first two World Wars. The aftermath of those wars led to the abandoning of Modernism and embracing the Post-Modern era."

"I remember that in class. Because people were sick of war and the idea brought by the Nazis in being a superior race, we decided that every system and culture had to be too respected."

"Exactly. Hitler's control over men on being the master race gave the world a terrible shock. And so, we stopped pursuing progress on the opinion of each nation and embraced every other views, race, and culture. The idea of a master race was deemed evil. So racial, cultural and sexual discriminations were scorned upon. People who were racist, and who did not value equality for all, became hated. Everyone wanted everyone to accept each other."

"But those all ended when…"

"Right. The Minority Uprising. That rebellious time led to Supra-modern era. The Aragarians manipulated the world to adopt this new ideology. Lastly, they need to display their power. Make a powerful nation for all to see and offer the choice of joining to a few nations."

"Why only a few?"

"The goal of the Aragarians is to make room in this planet for their people right? So they must push this Earth into a state of war. Offer the alliance to some nations and make them fight the rest."

"If you can't beat them… join them…" Meryl unconsciously quoted.

"Then how can the Jews help us?"

"Because of their religion."

"I'm confused… Didn't you just explain that religion is an outdated thing?" Meryl's frown resurfaced.

"Yes. That's why I think Seeker intends to take things back to the era when Theism was the thing. Seeker wants to use the acceptance of a worldwide religion to give Earth a better shot at winning."

"How can Religion help?"

"Because it has the capability to create fanatics and instill indomitable zeal to the masses of the Earth. Religion, if used properly can turn the tide and perception of this world. It has in the past, and it can in the future."

"Then why the Jews? I mean, there are a lot of religions out there!"

"Of all world religions, Christianity and Judaism arguably had the most evidence as grounds for their faith. We tie their faith to actual history, preserved literature and even to the accurate prophecies fulfilled in their teachings. I just explained that the Romans, Assyrians, and Babylonians took them into captivity and all the actions of those nations were somehow prophesized forty to a hundred years before it actually happened."

"I didn't know that!"

"That's because there was a lot of skepticism regarding those prophecies and so, most don't believe it. But what if something that could endanger the whole world would come and these sketchy prophecies suddenly become a glimmer of hope?"

"Like an evil alien race! The Aragarians!"

"Yes. What if the God of the Jews is real? And what if God will help the Jews and Christians? Wouldn't humans cling to whatever hope they could find? That's what Seeker is planning. Turning this small string of hope into a grand rope that will unite this world against the Aragarians."

"Then that means! The Aragarians had already noticed this!"

"Yes. They probably studied our history intensively and probably deemed that these two religions had to go because it could be used against them."

"But why the Jews and not the Christians?"

"There are too many Christians all over the world and too many countries holding on to that belief. However, Christianity has its roots in Judaism. Their faith both believed in many similar things and some branches of Christianity still hold the Jews as important evidence of their God's power. After all, the Jews continued to live on despite the many massacres they faced throughout history. So if the Jews are wiped out, the strongest evidence of Christian faith vanishes as well."

"So if you kill the Jews, you kill Christianity as well." Meryl summarized.

"Yes. That's one way to put it. The Book of Revelation holds the strangest prophecies about the Apocalypse. A desperate mind could easily cling to that for hope. However, the book also mentions 144,000 Jews. And since the Aragarians don't want people to tie an alien invasion as some sort of heavenly prophecy, they take away the Jews. No 144,000, then that book isn't true."

"They are going that far to remove hope?" Meryl was horrified at the thought that the Aragarians killed an entire race to simply stop the possibility of religious fanaticism in the future.

"That far? No. It makes perfect sense. Morale and hope should be extinguished to win a war. And that's why we need the Jews."

"So that's why they used human trafficking operations! Israel fell in 2063 and they were all over the world again!"

"They already were dispersed even before that. The Jews had always been all over the world due to the many times their country was broken apart and sent into exile. So the Aragarians set up their base of operations all over the Earth to accomplish this. All the other benefits, like the experiments, sex trade, were all secondary. The primary purpose had been the extinction of this race."

Meryl was silent. She couldn't believe the plans that they were involved in. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

"The Jews may have been extinct in Seeker's future. I'm guessing the surviving humans probably clung to the remnants of Christian faith. But that brought no allies. Seeker knew that if he could change things, it would bring more allies."

Arthur gazed at the dark skies above. Arthur gave a deep sigh.

"It's about time for us to move. Once we start this mission, the war will officially begin."

Meryl took a deep breath and displayed a serious expression.

"The Jews can wait. For now, we kill these traitors." Meryl spoke softly.

The time was 11:32 pm AEST.

Twenty minutes from that time, a battle which shook the world began.