He had something much better. Athenais had sent links to his movies, after all.
The first film was called “Mistress of the Pharaohs.” It began with a grand war in the heavens and the fall of the angels into the sands of the Sahara. The very scene of the battle of the winged beings was already the embodiment of horror. How much worse could it get? Already in the battle, the furious angels turned into monsters. Their eyes darted sparks, their lips breathed out flames. Athenais, as Dennitsa, led the legion of rebellious angels. She breathed fire like a dragon. The pegasus beneath her also exhaled flame from its nostrils. Dennitsa’s visor and shield were riddled with runes, the sight of which made him dizzy for some reason. Nikita even wanted to take a pill for a headache. The film’s prologue was filmed in some unfamiliar language. Was it Arabic? It was hardly ancient Egyptian. No one speaks it now. Or do they still teach it in some universities? They still study Latin, even though it’s a dead language.
There were no titles in the film. Nikita didn’t understand what it was about. If you remember the Bible, the blond, handsome man who fought against Dennitsa was supposed to be the Archangel Michael. The movie was designed so that the opponents seemed to be former lovers. Dennitsa could win. Michael was giving up his position. It was noticeable that he was in pain to look at the leader of the rebellious angels. Anger kept him from concentrating. Michael wore the same armor mottled with runes and shield as Dennitsa. Only Michael wasn’t as handsome.
He would have lost, but an unarmed, dark-haired angel was suddenly thrust into the battle. The name Gabriel could be well understood in an unfamiliar language. He tried to separate the warring men. Dennitsa’s sword suddenly pierced his shoulder. From the wound instead of blood grew a lush lily, like a living parasite. The flower took root directly in the wounded angel’s flesh.
Athenais feigned horror. She herself was stunned that she had struck an unarmed man. And she’s a good actress! She plays it so naturally! It’s like it’s really not an act.
The special effects are over the top. The angels grow claws. Their wings turn black. Angels fight in flight like birds of prey. Angels transform, becoming monsters.
Nikita’s eyes dawned on him. The sounds of an unfamiliar language somehow made his ears hurt. He watched Dennitsa’s legions fall, but the torture scenes had to be replayed later. The angelic bodies writhing on the stakes were shocking.
In the following shots, the bloody desert was replaced by a valley of ashes. The sands absorbed the ashes. The angels were recovering. Centuries of torture must have passed before they rose from the sand already monsters. There was nothing beautiful or graceful left in them.
But Athénaïs is still beautiful. She’s a maiden, no matter how you look at it. And according to the Bible, Dennitsa was male, like all the angels. Athenais must have been aiming for a strong female role.
Nikita once watched an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Metzergenstein.” There, too, the main male role was turned into a female role to make the story more expressive. But there it did not look sacrilege. Using his meager knowledge of the Bible, Nikita remembered that all the angels, even though they had maiden beauty, but for some inexplicable reason, people appeared in the guise of boys. Are there any exceptions? Or is religion adjusted to the patriarchy? Strange, then, why angels are ascribed feminine beauty.
Making Lucifer a girl turned out to be a very successful plot move. And for Athenais, it was a sensational role. Such a role is worthy of all the awards. The actress underwent a metamorphosis that not everyone could play. The haughty look of the ringleader was replaced by an all-consuming sorrow. When the angels fought for her, Athenais disliked them, though they were beautiful, but now that they had become burnt monsters, she realized that she deeply sympathized with them.
Her name is now Alais. For Nikita, it was hard to pronounce. The “a” sound was unaccustomedly hard. He couldn’t twist his tongue to pronounce it that way. It sounded like the name of an Oriental genie. It meant something. Nikita missed that, although starting with Fall of Angels, the movie was dubbed into Russian. Underneath the dubbing, English phrases were guessed.
In English, Nikita knew only the most mundane lines, so he was glad that the film was dubbed. Reading the credits is quite tiresome, live dubbing is better.
Something squeaked outside the window, as if someone hit a pigeon with a slingshot. Nikita was distracted from watching for a second. It seemed that some dead bird had actually crouched on the balcony. What an abomination! How many neighborhood boys could bully. If he were their father, he would have taken away their slingshots long ago and taught them decent behavior. It’s a shame that some parents are irresponsible about their children’s behavior and raise juvenile bullies.
He was spoiled for a romantic moment. Alais wandered across the barchans. Not flying, exactly walking. In the Sahara she realized for the first time that she could walk. Her wings had become a mere decoration. From her feet Alais left a path in the sand. Where she walked, the sand turned golden. Soon the entire desert glistened with gold, but a sad fate awaited the robbers who entered it. Hungry monsters tore them apart.
And then a wounded warrior wandered into the desert. His blood attracted the fallen angels, but Alais recognized him as the defeated Pharaoh, and something in her snapped. Before, she had watched emotionlessly as her monstrous legionnaires tormented men; now she felt pity. She seemed to see a reflection of herself in the defeated ruler.
“Your troops are dead,” she said. “My troops are almost dead… or worse than dead.”
The monsters hissed unkindly. They swarmed across the desert. Never mind that the sand is full of gold and jewels. Above all these riches roar the legions of death.
“I will raise your armies from the dead, I can do it. Here on earth all is in my power. It’s a pity the enemy I want to get is left in heaven.”
She must have meant Michael. She ended up with him quite tragically. She was a split second away from victory. Maybe she didn’t need to win in heaven, though. Falling into the wilderness, Alais realized that she was now mistress of those sands. The place of exile became her kingdom. And then suddenly a human king was dying at her feet. Why had she decided to help him?
Could she love him? She didn’t seem to. Alais kissed Pharaoh on the forehead only to be branded a slave. Her kiss froze a red seal on his skin. Did Pharaohs only wear oureaus to conceal such a seal?
Alais had managed to raise entire armies from the dead. It had cost her nothing. All she had to do was recite a spell! Upper and Lower Egypt were united. Pharaoh Menos became a debtor to the demon. All his descendants became slaves of Alais. An era of terror began.
The movie lasted about two hours, and the action managed to go all the way through eternity. The screenwriter managed to cram an entire list of kings and queens into the script, running their stories through Dennitsa’s biography.
Back in the desert at the dawn of time, Alais heard someone dark and disembodied calling to her. The creature from the black mist assured her that it was the black part of Alais. Then a black statue appeared in the pharaoh’s palace. From it the same voice was calling. Only Alais could hear it.
Nikita missed the frightening scenes of bloody rituals and sacrifices. Even for him, it was too much. And he still thought his nerves were strong.
The movie was slowly starting to drive him crazy. He should choose another hobby instead of watching the horror movie, but Nikita could no longer tear himself away from the movie. The mysteries of Ancient Egypt were fascinating.
