Dies irae, dies illa (Day of wrath, that day)
Solvet saeclum in favilla (Shall consume the world in ashes)
Teste David cum sibylla (As prophesied by David and the sibyl)
Quantus tremor est futurus (What trembling is to be)
Quando Judex est venturus (When the Judge is come)
Cuncta stricte discussurus (To judge all of us)
It was 1460. Officers of the king's bodyguard and peers groups patrolled the streets to maintain order. And there were in Paris many poor homeless. Some of these outcast were beggars, Gypsies disables, sicks and thieves. These elements were perceived by society as a threat.
The king of France ordered the immediate deportation of all outcasts who try to enter France without papers. An ecclesiastical judge became popular among the monarchy thanks to his exceptional dedication and services. The judge Claude Frollo longed to cleanse the world of vice, sin and corruption. That was his only purpose in life. Different from the other judges that longed for money, woman and power. Things that mortal man longed.
Claude Frollo personally made rounds, traps and ambushes. He hunted men like a cat hunt rats. Arresting all men, women and children.
One night of just another patrol when everything happened. The night Claude Frolle, the judge clutches of iron, died.
It was cold. The winter started, and the streets were still clear of snow. The judge was on his huge black horse, both hot breath white in the air.
"More gypsies. They are like ants… the more I crush, more appear! I don't know what's going on in Wallachia, but there gypsies are constantly emerging from the ground!" He thought as looking around and noticing that his soldiers have not returned from their patrol. They should have to meet after that to patrol the other side of the city.
"Where are those fools?!" He said to himself as looking around.
"AAAaaaAAAaaaaAAAAAAHHHH!" A terrible scream of a man. A scream of horror and pain. Frollo quickly kicked his horse and runed to the scream direction. They were near. And found a dark alley. What he saw… made him almost throw up.
His man… all of them. Louis, Matteo, Raphaël, Éliott, Lyam and Mylan. Six of his best mens. They were dead. Not simply dead like he has seen dead men before. Stabbed… or with their guts open. These men were shattered.
Frollo drew his sword and got into attack position. Walking slowly down the alley. Whatever killed his men, it wasn't human.
"Maybe a bear?" He thought as kicked a rat that was about to eat a piece of flesh of, what Frollo thought was, the rest of Louis. He once saw a gypsy with a bear. The gypsy taught the animal to do tricks.
Frollo looked at what was left of his men. Some were without their members…Their belly were open. One was without their eyes… his face of pure terror eternized. Others were missing his head. "My god… Even a bear wouldn't do that much." " he whispered to himself.
Whoever did this…was having fun. Frollo thought, swallowing. As the first flakes of winter snow began to fall onto the blood-red crimson that soaked the cobblestone floor.
Frollo did a quick movement, doing the signal of the cross over himself and whispered. " Dear God. What kind of beast could have done it?"
"Hehehehe…" A nefarious and sinful laugh echoed inside the shadows of the alley.
Frollo looked to its direction and pointed his sword as screamed. "Who is there?!"
A huge man came from the shadows. As if himself was made of it. His skin was a strange tone of pale brownish olive. He was covered in blood and was walking at Frollo direction, smiling with devious white, sharp teeth. The glow of the moon made the creepy men shine with the glazed blood. His hands and mouth were still very wet with fresh blood.
He used the blood o his hands on his long wavy dark hair, as if fixing it in place. As said with a mockery tone. "So…this is the famous judge clutches of iron. I didn't expect someone so old. Your blood must taste like dust."
He licks his lips, clearing some of the blood that was still there. "They say you are not an ordinary man… Yeah… They have a special name for you… Do you wanna guess?"
Frollo barely could understand. The men as covered in blood. Did one solo men did that with six men?! He could not run. He would revenge his men and clean this world of this sinner. No… he is not a sinner.. not a man… he is… "A MONSTER!" Frollo screamed as pointed his sword at the man. Ready to fight.
"Yes! Exactly! Took the words out of my mouth. That what they call you…" The gypsy said now finally in front of Frollo.
"Go to hell, you demon!" Frollo screamed as he jumps to attack. But the gypsy simple defended himself with the arm. The flesh was cut, but he didn't scream. Didn't care. He laughed and said. " Oh my…you are pretty quick for an old man! I'm bleeding! I can't remember when was the last time that happened! Hahaha!"
Frollo start to sweat. " That is impossible. I have sure I hit his bone at least! He must be a demon!" He clashed his teeth and started to do what he thought he could do. To pray. "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing!"
The gypsy laughed. "Hahaha! Your God is weak, old man!"
Frollo faith was strong. He contiued "HE makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters!" UGHH! Frollo barely could finish his phrase when the claws of the gypsy cut his chest. The pain was terrible, he fell in his back on the hard ground of stone. Frollo's sword was sent away.
"Your god will not help you now…Judge…" The gypsy said, walking over the Frollo's body.
Frollo breath hard. His head a bit dizzy. Perhaps he hits his head on the floor when he fell. With effort, he slowly sat down. His face looking the floor as continued to whisper his prayer, "ugh… He… HE refreshes my soul…"
The gypsy tried to interrupt. With scowling expression he said: " Nah… You will not have time to finish your prayer. Human…"
Frollo ignored him. " HE guides me along the right paths…"
"You are starting to irritate me!" the gypsy said, clearly annoyed.
Frollo still ignored him. "...for HIS name's sake… Even though I wal-"
"SHUT UP!" The gypsy screamed and gave a very violent headbutt to Frollo's face. Crushing Frollo's Nose. Immediately exploding blood everywhere.
Frollo fell on the ground on his back again. The gypsy licks the new blood that was now running from his forehead to his mouth. Tasting the judge's blood. "As I thought. Dust. Not even your blood is worth. Your filthy piece of meat…" he said with disgust. Rage for all that Frollo has done to his people.
He was kicking the judge in the ribs with inhuman violence. Making the judge rolls again and again. Rolling in blood and fresh snow. The sound of broken ribs resounded in Frollo's head.
Groaning in pain, Frollo rolled on his belly to try to get up as he whispered."E-even thought I walk…through the… d-darkest valley.. I..ugh.. I…"
"Arg!" Frollo screamed in pain as suddenly his hair was grabbed. The gypsy was forcing Frollo to look at him and screamed madly. "LOOK AT ME! DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT YOUR GOD WILL HELP YOU?! YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN ME! MORTAL! NOW YOU DIE!"
Frollo smiled at the gypsy. His nose crooked in an unnatural direction and eyes swollen from the blows. He coughed some that was in his throat preventing him from talking, and then he said, "I will fear no evil…."
The gypsy opened his mouth, showing his sharp fangs. He pulled Frollo's hair and hold the judge shoulder to fully shows Frollo's neck. "Send my regards to your god!" He said ready to bite the judge neck.
Frollo saw this as an opportunity. The gypsy was very close. His neck was as exposed as much as his own. He felt that the madman had bitten his neck.
Frollo was good with a sword, but what he was a real master with daggers. A weapon less valued in honor, considered a weapon of cowards by many. But for Frollo it was a weapon of opportunity. He had two, always hidden inside his sleeves. With a quick movement, he withdrew a dagger and stabbed it on the gypsy's neck. Directly into an artery. Blood in a great stream spurted up all over the judge's face.
"Because He's with me!" Frollo replied, still continuing his prayer.
The gypsy screamed in panic. "Damn you! You fucking pig!"
The gypsy was terrified. Before he could place his hand over the wound in his neck, he found himself frozen by the cold gaze. The eyes of a monster with iron clutches. Even wounded and with a terribly deformed face from the blows, Frollo looked placidly at the gypsy. A true soulless stare. As if what he was about to do was something trivial.
Frollo drew his second dagger and with one clean sweep crossed of the blades, he decapitated the gypsy as screamed: "There is no place for your filthy soul in this world, demon!"
The decapitated body fell on the ground away from the head that rolled in the snow. Rats were already bouncing over the meat, that somehow seemed to rot faster than it should.
Frollo thought he was seeing things. "The damn gypsy must have hit me in the head." He thought as he tried to get up. He spat on the floor, trying to get rid of the taste of the gypsy's blood that had splattered into his mouth.
"Ugh. Disgusting. I'll have to rinse my mouth with holy water." It was the last sarcastic thought he could think as he got up, leaning against the walls, suddenly he was hit with a searing pain on the base of his neck.
He dropped to his knees, trying to cover the bite with his hand in an attempt to stop the pain, but it was useless. It was getting worse. "Argggg! Is throbbing! P-Poison? He poisoned me?!"
He thought as he curled himself into a ball. It hurt so much he couldn't move. He couldn't scream. He started to cry. His teeth were so clenched, his gums started to bleed. "I'm going to die!" He thought as tried with all his might to move or scream.
"I'm going to die!" He thought as tried with all his might to move or scream.
Suddenly, like an explosion. Everything came at once. And he finally screamed. But the howl that came out of his mouth wasn't human. His jaw shifted down, and a terrible sound came out of his throat. His eyes rolled back, and he started ripping off his beloved black uniform. He felt her skin burning. Like a fire that burned but didn't consume.
In a final moment of despair, he screamed. "HE shall wipe every tear from their eyes! There will be no more death or crying pain!" The sensation of fire in his skin was too much, what was left of his clothes actually looked like they were on fire and turned to ash.
His ears were assailed with loud, lacerating sounds. They sounded like beating hearts, screams of rats, horses' hooves on the stone floor, voices and voices that wouldn't shut up and hurt in his ears.
In agony, he cried out to the heavens. "My Looordd! Why put me to the test?! Why?! I only live to serve youu! Just take me at once!" In desperation for the sensation of fire to stop and to be able to just die, he went to the bridge and without thinking twice he threw himself into the icy waters of the Siena River.
Biblical verses echoed in the judge's mind as he sank into the dark waters. The moonlight getting farther and farther on the surface. "My feet are deep in the soft earth… where there is no support… I have come into deep waters… the waves are flowing over me…I am tired with my crying, my throat is burning… My eyes are wasted with waiting… for my God" He embraced the comfort of those icy, silent waters. And finally he died.
To her surprise, he opened his eyes. His was still dark, but on the horizon you could see the sky turning slightly orange.
Frollo floated in the freezing water completely naked. He blinked a few times until his thoughts finally made sense. "I'm dead?" White snow began to lightly fall on him. It was so beautiful. "But wait, there's no snow in Heaven. Has?"
His head finally touched the riverbank. Still confused, he grabs the wild grass that grew by the river's edge and crawls out. With an effort, he stands up.
He looks at his hands, still with his rings, and realizes. "I'm alive. I survived. But how?" He closes and opens his hands a few times, feeling very firm and strong"
He looks at his own naked body and gets embarrassed. He looks at the horizon and realizing that the sun has not yet risen, he decides to head back to the Palace of Justice before the streets get crowded, and he has to walk around the city naked.
The river had carried him close to the palace and in a few minutes he was able to reach the palace gates. He managed to enter through the stable, knowing that there would be no soldiers there. There he used one of the blankets they used on horses and wrapped himself around him.
As he walked the halls of the palace wet and barefoot, wrapped in a blanket that stinks of horse. He walked normally with his chin up as if it were just another day walking the halls of the palace. Some soldiers who were patrolling watched with their mouths open, not knowing if they should ask what happened. The years working for the judge had taught them that if the judge didn't ask for anything. Don't offer.
Frollo entered his room. In front of the great fireplace he dropped the stinking blanket and from a drawer took a tunic to make himself more decent until some maid woke up and could prepare a decent bath and a clean new uniform.
" Ah… I need to ask someone to collect the bodies of my men in that alley. Their families need to be compensated." He thought as he ran his hand over his wet hair as he looked out the window. Watching the sun rise and light up the Notre Dame Cathedral.
"I don't understand… How? Why dint I froze in the river? And how my wounds have healed so fast? I'm pretty sure my nose was broken. As well as some ribs. Not to mention the cuts on my chest and the bite on my neck… In addition to being cured, I can clearly feel that I am much more vigorous. It's like I was born again…" Frollo thought calmly, trying to make all this crazy situation make sense. And finally thought what he always thought about most everything. It was God. God saved him and gave him a second life.
He made the signal of the cross over himself and whispered. "I shouldn't have questioned Your actions! I doubted. I was weak. And yet the Lord was generous and spared my life…"
Before Frollo could finish his prayer, he felt a tingling on his hand. A ray of sunlight touched his hand. His skin there was turning red. Frollo looked at it confused. Until the sunbeam grew more intense and his skin boiled. Blisters formed and even smoke came out of the wound. "Arg!" Did a small scream. "My… my hand… What is that now?!" He step back, away from the sun. He could not believe.
Still scared, he needed to be sure. With tentative steps, he reached out his hand again to touch the sunlight. Only to burn his skin again.
He didn't pull this time. He stared wide-eyed at the skin frying, bubbles growing and bursting. Until it became unbearable and in one motion quickly closed the windows. Making his room dark and safe from sunlight.
With his back against the windows, he stared into the dark room that was strangely not as dark as he remembered it used to be. It was as if he could see in the dark.
"It can not be…. The sun. The sunlight of our Lord creator... the light burns me. How is this possible?!" He thought in panic. He looked back at his hand. The burn no longer hurt and was closing quickly. A light steam of water exhaled from the place. It was a miracle.
Frollo sighs and turns to the closed window. He put his head on the wood that separated him and protected him from the sun. "I deserve. I have sinned. I doubted the Lord. And now I get my punishment! The Lord is generous, but it is also justice!" He slowly bangs his head against the wood.
Again he looks at his hand that now has no trace of being burned. "The light of the Lord hurts me, but his benevolence heals me… But… Why? Why HE wants me in darkness? I don't understand what the Lord wants to show me with that…"
Frollo walks to the fireplace and lights the fire to light the place. The huge iron cross over the fireplace glowed in the new light. With his arms outstretched, he prayed to heaven. "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth!"
With his eyes closed, he waited. Hearing the crackling of wood in the fire. This made him anxious. He needed answers. Clear and simple. He needed to make all of that make sense. Otherwise, he would have to believe he was crazy.
He then kneels. His arms still open as he stared at the iron cross. "Please! Answer me! Please my Lord! It has been said that we are the light of the world! And the path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day!"
He lowers his arms and slams his fists against the floor. He was scared. Desperate. "And why now the darkness seems so bright?! Why I can't touch your light?!"
He waited and waited. The fireplace slowly went out from the lack of wood that Frollo ignored. The room was getting dark again.
"Why don't you answer me? What do you want me to see here in the dark? Why you leave me in silence? There is something to be seen? Is that what you want me to understand?"
He was looking at the floor. He wanted to cry. But no tears came out. He was catatonic. Feeling abandoned. Feeling the soft, comfortable hug of the surrounding shadows. He felt strangely good.
Slowly his eyes lifted to where the iron cross was, now in darkness and impossible to be seen by an ordinary human. His face was serious. A determined look. "So that's it? Should I stay here? Your silence allows what I presume? If this is Your will, my Lord. I'll let the darkness embrace me. Use me as an instrument for Your justice. To reach the filthy who do not live under Thy light!"