was the mechanical rustle of a spinning reel. A golden scarab was crawling across the screen. How did he get there? No, it’s not real. Daniel looked more closely. In fact, the show has already begun. The screen lit up, as if some gates had opened from within. No commercials before the movie starts. Amazing! The credits went straight away. He had never seen a gold title before. And the letters are strange. He couldn’t read them. Or double in his eyes? The scarab crawled between credits in every frame.
Someone touched Daniel on the shoulder. He did not turn, fearing to see that one of the statues was already standing right behind him. Better not to spoil your nerves once again. All the same, the doors of the hall are now closed, there is nowhere to run. Until the session is over, it is worth enjoying the film. However, instead of enjoyment, many questions arose. At the beginning something like “Lady of the Pharaohs” flashed in the credits. Strange, but still understandable. Probably, it was about some kind of goddess. But the next line, highlighted in especially large print “And his name is Dennitsa” evoked frightening associations. Dennitsa is one of the names of the devil, it seems, the one under which he gained fame in paradise. The name of the most beautiful angel! Bible! Daniel remembered some of it. But how are the biblical devil and Ancient Egypt connected? In those days, no one had ever heard of the Bible. Therefore, no one knew about the devil either.
Daniel was confused. The feeling of being inside the screen was strong and without the 3D effect. Rapidly flashing footage of ancient palaces mixed with some kind of horror, as if sucked consciousness into a funnel. What if this feeling does not go away, but remains with him forever. Consciousness swept through the ancient Egyptian halls and pyramids, past bloody wars, witchcraft and the rituals of burying mummies, as if in search of something. Luxury mixed with horror, which only intensified the all-encompassing nightmare effect. It seems that this is not horror, and not a historical drama, and not an action movie, or a biblical story, but all together. And it all has a kind of crushing realism.
The film was about a golden creature that has conquered rulers since the beginning of time. It crept across the screen. Its claws were palpably close. Palaces, temples, pyramids remained behind it in the frame as a background. The time of action was in fact not only the Ancient Egypt, but all eternity, from the war in the heavens to the present day. But the main action, apart from numerous digressions to the twenty-fifth frame, was concentrated precisely on Egypt during the reign of Akhenaten. His commander Taor, who returned with a great victory, at the moment of honoring the hero noticed a beautiful winged creature whispering advice to the pharaoh, and fell in love with her. This creature was the biblical devil who ruled the local kings like puppets. This creature, contrary to biblical descriptions, had a girlish face and body. The creature was called Alais, and this name contained some kind of magical wording. Alais was cruel to the point of horror and sacrificed people to resurrect the army of demons from the desert sands. Taor was noble and inclined to self-sacrifice so much that he could be called a true Christian, although no one knew about Christianity at that time. And such a generous guy, ready to beg Pharaoh for forgiveness even for those who intended to kill him, fell in love with a creature performing bloody rituals. Love for Alais so overshadowed his brain that he was ready to give up all his own beliefs. But Alais, as it turned out, is not capable of loving anyone at all. The rejected young man, not finding a place for himself, wandered through the deserts and met the Archangel Michael himself, who put a dagger with two dragons on the hilt in his hand, capable of killing Alais.
What a special effect! It was even painful to look at Mikhail, so he shone, and the dragons on the dagger moved and hissed as if alive. And here is the only goodbye kiss in the tomb. Taor sacrificed himself only so that a monster would come to replace the angel. Everything fused from gold plates, clawed, multi-armed, like Kali, vaguely resembling a precious scarab.
The frames flashed like a top. Pyramids, mummification rites, a fallen army rising from the sands, deserts, rivers, palaces. And everywhere it is. Dazzling! Overshadowing the mind! Spooky! And beautiful.
It was already crawling across the stark darkness of the screen. It reached out with golden claws to Daniel’s throat. It breathed heat and fire into his face. It was near. Already in the hall. Between his row of seats and the previous one. He was willing to swear it. He even had a chance to feel the touch of hot metal claws on his neck, to look into bleeding sand-colored eyes, sparkling from under a pile of thin gold plates twisted with bizarre symbols.
Is this a creature from hell or from Egypt? In any case, it is here and now he will die, as all the pharaohs who did not obey him died.
And suddenly the light came on. There was no golden monster around. And the film did not come out of his head. For some reason, the story of Taor and Alais felt like a cutting pain in his mind. Daniel was never sentimental, but now he involuntarily wondered: why did all the greatness of history end in tragedy? Why these two, as if created for each other, could not stay together.
Of course, he did not voice the question out loud, but someone’s ringing voice boldly and mockingly answered him from the other end of the hall:
“Because she was the devil!”
Dead star
No one around. Even the figures of marble angels disappeared somewhere. One and all. Daniel looked around in vain for the speaker. Could someone bend over and hide behind the empty chairs? Is it worth walking through the rows and checking? The hall was quite large.
Daniel frowned, not knowing where to go now. I didn’t want to leave at all. There was an unbearably strong desire to see the same film again. The story stirred up the blood, and the shots with alternation of luxury and horror did not go out of his head, almost driving him crazy. Daniel suddenly realized what exactly flashed in the frames, incredibly frightening. Rise of the angels and their overthrow. Fight winged, clawed and flaming creatures. Their transformation into monsters. Fall into the desert, burnt symbols in the sand. With the army of the devil, everything is clear, but there are many questions about Alais herself. If he is allowed to watch the film again, he will be able to understand everything, but who to turn to in order to ask for a repeat of the session and whether his request will be fulfilled.
Daniel sat motionless for ten minutes, waiting for someone else to talk to him, or at least that the exit doors would finally open, but neither one nor the other happened.
He was suddenly struck by burning jealousy for the actor who played Taor. This is handsome! A white-faced brunette with bright blue eyes. Doesn’t look like an Egyptian at all. And he played above all praise. Daniel, even in his best works, could not compare with him. I wonder what his name is? For some reason, his name was not indicated in the credits. And he is one of the main performers. Daniel remembered about the stupid Hollywood style of marking the first old but famous actors in the credits, who play only small roles, bypassing the main characters who were played by newcomers. This often caused confusion for the audience. But here all the actors except a few were completely deleted from the credits. There was clearly only one name. Starring – ATENAIS.
So she’s playing Alais? An actress who doesn’t even have a last name? The name seemed vaguely familiar to him. It seems that not so long ago it was very famous. Daniel saw him often in newspaper reports. He was not particularly fond of other stars besides himself, but all newspapers and magazines trumpeted Atenais for a while. She was at the peak of popularity, and then the press suddenly fell silent. After the tragedy. Daniel stumbled upon the recollection of one article like a sharp blade. Atenais died in a terrorist attack several years ago.
The guy felt that he could not get up from the chair. These associations struck me like thunder from heaven. It seemed that there was nothing to live for. Atenais is not the lively and capricious actress with whom fate will one day bring him on the set. This beauty has been like a corpse for years. Only her mystical image lives on the screen. She herself is dead! Why hadn’t he been so upset about her death earlier, when the news was fresh? Yes, simply because I did not watch a single film with her and did not know how beautiful she was.
They say love is like an arrow in the heart. He lived