Papal Reich

A collective roar, muffled and distant, reached his ears. He sensed the impatience of the throng outside as they waited to greet him, their new leader. Inside, an expectant hush descended on the group. Very deliberately, he turned to meet the gaze of each man present in the room. He saw fear in some, and respect in others.

He closed his eyes and collected his thoughts as he prepared to greet the masses and face the television cameras. He wondered how many in the room, in the crowd outside, and among the billions watching on television grasped the historical significance of the moment. This was not just a changing of the guard, this was the birth of a radically different form of global power.

For a brief moment, he was transported back to another time, another place. September 7, 1934. Nuremberg, Germany. The Zeppelin Wiese. Goose bumps crawled up his spine as his mind flashed back to that evening. The Fuhrer raised his hand and two hundred thousand people were stilled to a deathly silence. Nothing moved except the eerily dancing shadows of the twenty thousand flags that caught the glare of the circling searchlights. Then, the Fuhrer began to speak. What he witnessed that day rocked the bottom of his soul.

It was his turn now. But the present time did not resemble the world of the Fuhrer. It was different. Better. It hearkened to a time before the Fuhrer. More than a thousand years before.

Then, like now, the world was in turmoil, fueled by religious, ethnic, and racial unrest. Yet, in the midst of the upheaval, one man was able to draw diverse peoples together and create a global supernation, an empire that lasted nearly ten centuries. The man was Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire was a grand example of enduring power. It was the empire that the Fuhrer referred to as the First Reich and sought to emulate through his self-proclaimed Third Reich, with disastrous results.

But what the Fuhrer couldn't accomplish, he would, starting today. And it would be just the beginning.

History would record this day as the dawn of the first global Reich. Posterity would recognize him as the leader whose power transcended national boundaries and prevailed over race and ethnicity across the world. The first leader to be a true global master.

After a lifetime of planning and waiting, his moment had finally arrived.