We Are Ashes
The setting is a small French village during the late 1500's. Clashes between state religion and folk superstitions, as well as Catholicism versus Protestantism, combined with a spread of hallucinogenic fungus, institutionalized gender inequality and normalized violence and torture have lead to horrifyingly brutal witch hunts. Witch hunters carry their how-to manual, the Malleus Maleficarum and make deals with the leaders of small towns to weed out witches. The witch hunters are paid on delivery, rather than on salary, meaning that most witch hunters will find witches in every town. They would be unlikely to examine a town, declare it witch-free, and move on. Because of this, many falsely accused townspeople must endure suffering and death. Perhaps the death would come by hanging, beheading, during the blood loss or pain of torture, or perhaps it would be by being tied to a stake and set on fire. As this comes at a time before standard education, literacy rates among the common folk are very low. Very few have actually read religious texts, so most of the religious practice is filtered through high-ranking religious figures, often with their own agendas.
In some celestial sphere of abstractions, the persecuting lawyer of the God of Abraham demands that a small town of LaCroix be tested for their faith. The archangel Lucifer calls upon Asherah and Molech to reap the benefits of the souls who fail this trial. In Biblical history, Asherah was a fertility goddess. Rather than having carved idols to her name, she was represented by a wooden pole or a stake. The dark god Molech was antagonized by the Jewish people for the practice of burning children alive. Both deities are hungry for offerings to them.
Pierre Maçon is a stonemason who is continuing to help build a cathedral in LaCroix. He has a wife whom he loves by the name of Justine Maçon. Unconventionally, Justine is a midwife not because she has had any children (when, usually, midwives would be very experienced with birthing themselves) but because she knows a number of folk remedies such as herbs.
Justine and Pierre have been attempting to have a child for quite a long time. Pierre, due to his family's profession as Cathedral-builders, had seen the wonders of Illuminated scripture and even learned a little bit how to read a Bible. He reads aloud the Song of Songs, or Song of Solomon, as a way of consecrating the consummation of their marriage. However, Justine suspects that she is barren. She does feel upset about this misfortune, but allows herself to take joy in how much she loves her husband, in daily chores, and how much good she does for the town by allowing others to become mothers in the healthiest and least painful way that she knows how.
One day, however, she wakes up with a night terror and confesses to Pierre that she suspects something dark and evil is about to sweep the town. She and Pierre both pray until she feels better.
The witch hunter comes to LaCroix, with the approval of the mayor, and goes about interrogating the townspeople. Suspicion immediately falls upon Justine, the childless midwife, for putting more faith in herbs and tinctures than in God who (according to the witch hunter) would allow a woman to suffer only as much as she deserved to, in childbirth, for the sin of the first woman Eve, and for the sin of sexual gratification.
When Pierre claims that he keeps a holy house and a good wife, the witch hunter gives Pierre the benefit of the doubt, saying that Pierre must be under the thrall of Justine's womanly wiles. The witch hunter advises Pierre not to show Justine quite so much affection, in case Pierre suffers spiritual drain. Pierre, of course, considers this absolutely ridiculous. As a result of suspicions about her, Justine is forbidden from using herbs and tinctures to help another woman in labor.
For a particularly difficult case, Justine must attend to the pregnancy of Marie Anne Boulanger, the town baker's wife, who confesses that she was raped by her brother, Eugene LaCroix, the mayor's son, and that the child might be his. Justine counsels Marie Anne to tell the baker, which Marie Anne refuses to do because Monsieur Jean Boulanger is a much harsher husband than Pierre Maçon. While Boulanger does not beat Marie Anne, he is very swift to assign fault and very slow to forgive or admit his own faults.
While speaking, Marie Anne forgets to take some gingerbread out of her own oven. Molech appreciates the smell of burning gingerbread people, but admits that it's not the same as the worship that he was used to.
Justine confides to Pierre, who rather naively suggests that Justine confront Eugene. At that, Eugene retaliates by publicly claiming Marie Anne seduced him, that she bakes ginger bread people as a form of witchcraft. Marie Anne is tortured into a false confession and allowed to carry the child to term.
Jean Boulanger blames Justine for going to Eugene before telling him, leading to Marie Anne's persecution and suggests that Justine could easily be a witch, as well. When Marie Anne goes into labor, Jean forbids Justine to come into the prison cell and help her and Marie Anne dies of exhaustion. The child is stillborn.
A grieving Jean Boulanger re-sells stale bread to the town, which has hallucinogenic mold growing in it. The witch hunter begins to take in more people who begin to hallucinate macabre, awful things around town. When the elderly Mathilde Tailleur claims that she saw Justine eating Marie Anne's baby before the Marie Anne's labor went horribly, Justine is once again put under suspicion of witchcraft and of using witchcraft to steal a child's life for herself.
Pierre continues to pray for Justine, as the witch hunter tortures her for a confession. Grief struck, Pierre denounces his faith and attends Justine's stake burning, going up onstage out of turn and onto the pyre.
The demons reunite to discuss their dubious victory.
CHAPTERS:
Chapter one: Asherah introduces herself with memories of wanton lust during ancient civilization and asserts herself by saying that she is not the source of the evil, but merely called to a natural impulse in human beings-regardless of consecrated marriage, consent, or love. Molech introduces himself as a force of destruction, of burning and pain, and then death. Lucifer introduces himself as the king of Hell, and notes that he has been observing Earth and it is what the human people refer to as “the year of our Lord 1589”and Lucifer proposes to test their faith. Asherah and Molech volunteer to harvest weak souls in the quiet and pastoral town of LaCroix in France.
Chapter two: Introduces Pierre, the stone mason for the town cathedral, and his wife Justine. It introduces them during their daily life in the 1500's. Pierre and Justine wake up at dawn, Justine cooks, Pierre gets ready for work and Justine gets ready for her work as a midwife. Pierre assures Justine that they will have children and that the townspeople respect her work as a midwife. Justine goes to see one of the townswomen, whose milk has been stuck since the birthing and offers the woman teas and treatments. Both Justine and Pierre hear gossip about distant witch hunts and return home to pray.
Chapter three: Asherah and Molech do some commentary on the self-righteousness of the town and urge the path of the Witch Hunter. Their evil spiritual energy wakes up Justine, who Pierre soothes back to sleep. The next day, a Witch Hunter comes to the town and begins his observations. The Witch Hunter disparages Justine's profession and warns Pierre of feminine wiles.
Chapter four: Justine sees Marie Anne, the baker's wife, and as Marie Anne bakes some gingerbread people, she confesses to Justine that Marie Anne's child might be her own brother's. Distracted by this confession, Marie Anne burns her gingerbread, which Asherah and Molech appreciate. A troubled Justine goes home to confide in Pierre, who discourages Justine from keeping this secret, which would (to Pierre) not be in good conscience. Pierre encourages Justine to confront Eugene.
Chapter five: Eugene publicly denounces his sister Marie Anne as a witch, as retaliation against Justine's accusation. When the witch hunter takes Marie Anne away, the baker accuses Justine of ruining his family. Jean Boulanger, the baker, begins to be sloppy with his work as the Witch Hunter moves on to picking on the oldest woman in the town, Mathilde Tailleur because Mathilde actually looks like a typical witch.
Chapter six: When Mathilde visits Justine at the Maçon's cottage, Justine says that she was not allowed to help Marie Anne with the birthing. Both Marie Anne and Marie Anne's baby died in prison during the childbirth. Mathilde and Justine both bond over being considered useless to the town and Justine grows anxious once again about whether or not she gets to be a mother—and then, pessimistically, if she wants to be a mother in such a terrible world.
Chapter seven: Hallucination from the ergot fungus in the bread begins to spread around town. Justine and Pierre are safe because Jean has a grudge against them and refuses to sell them bread, so the Maçon family has been living on cheese, fruit, and sausages. Other townspeople see the Devil at night and the Witch Hunter brings Justine forward once more because Mathilde had confessed to the Witch Hunter that she “saw” (likely hallucinated) Justine in the woods, eating the corpse of Marie Anne's child.
Chapter eight: When Pierre visits his wife in her prison cell he is heartbroken by how badly she had been tortured. The Witch Hunter says that Justine had confessed to being a witch. Pierre returns to the almost-completed cathedral to pray for his wife's salvation, but as Asherah and Molech put doubt in his heart, Pierre instead renounces his faith and then runs to meet Justine before the townspeople burn her at the stake. Pierre jumps onto the pyre and embraces Justine, both of them dying in the flames.
Chapter nine: At the epilogue, Lucifer observes that the town of LaCroix was deserving of its name in some ways, such as its welcoming of suffering—and unworthy of it in other ways, as Asherah and Molech got their offerings. Asherah and Molech disagree, saying that the spirit of love was in Justine and Pierre, meaning that this was a sacrifice for God. Lucifer contests the claim, saying that Pierre denounced God and the cathedral. The three demons turn to God to await the answer judging the souls of Justine and Pierre Maçon.
CHARACTERS:
The Witch Hunter (known as The Hunter)
Age: 36 Height: 5'9” Hair: straight, platinum blond Eyes: blue
The Witch Hunter is a mercenary who is very well-practiced at manufacturing religious fervor.
Josef LaCroix
Age: 60 Height: 5'9” Hair: bald, with a snowy mustache Eyes: brown
Josef LaCroix is the mayor of LaCroix town, which was peaceful and pastoral, slowly developing… until the Hunter passed by.
Eugene LaCroix
Age: 26 Height: 5'8” Hair: straight, honey blond Eyes: brown
Eugene is the rather spoiled, occasionally violent son of the town mayor.
Marie Anne Boulanger
Age: 16 Height: 5'8 Hair: straight, honey blonde Eyes: brown
Marie Anne is the daughter of the town mayor and the wife of the town baker.
Jean Boulanger
Age: 35 Hair: wavy, auburn turning white Eyes: brown
Jean is the town baker and Marie Anne's husband. They might have bonded over Marie Anne's family recipe for gingerbread.
Mathilde Tailleur
Age: 80 Hair: wavy, gray Eyes: blue
The widow Tailleur was aware that she would have a high risk of being accused of witchcraft, despite her own piousness. It might be this, as well as the fungus-infected bread, that moved Tailleur to accuse Justine Maçon.
Justine Maçon
Age: 20 Hair: straight, brown Eyes: hazel
Justine Maçon works as a midwife and is the devoted spouse of Pierre Maçon.
Pierre Maçon
Age: 23 Hair: wavy, strawberry blond Eyes: green
Pierre is a literate, dutiful stonecutter and bricklayer and the devoted spouse of Justine Maçon.
Lucifer
An angel who tests the faith of God's people.
Asherah
A demonized fertility goddess. When unleashed onto a human town, she meddles in the reproductive processes of women, depending on which circumstance would give them the most despair: barrenness in a woman who wants a child in Justine's case, or an unwanted child of incest in Marie Anne's case.
Molech
A mysterious god from the same region as Asherah, to whom human sacrifices were made— men, women, and usually children were burned alive as sacrifices.