about an educational scientific film about an ancient civilization. There was a spectacular action movie about a grand war and demons. Sam remembered the golden vision in the tent. Will the film feature the same fairytale character? If so, it’s worth the risk.
Just one soul
Moscow city center
“Come in, sit down!”
Kiril’s legs were numb. It was hard to believe that the superstar herself invited him, a simple guy, to her hotel room. And the room did not look like a hotel room. There was a pyramid-shaped fountain at the door. Multicolored lotuses floated in the water. Incense smoked on the tripods, which made his head spin. In the wall alcoves were statues of the beast-like Egyptian gods. They seemed to be squinting at the guest. Probably, this effect is created by smoke and semi-darkness. It looks like it’s not a living room, but a temple.
Only a bed under a thick canopy reminded of palace luxury. But the place for the guest was set aside on the couch. On a mahogany table was a tray of brandy and two rock crystal glasses.
A first aid kit would be more useful to him now than alcohol. He nearly fainted outside the cinema from blood loss. There he was found by agent Athenais, gave him his business card and explained where and when to come. So you can get caught in the arms of the mafia. What if the star keeps drugs, collaborates with criminals and is looking for a fool among fans who can be framed? Instead, Kiril thought only about whether to buy roses and condoms before going up to the top floor of the skyscraper hotel. The hotel was called Akhetaton, like the cinema. The building was somewhat reminiscent of the pyramids. Inside, everything is in Egyptian style, except for amphorae with lush bouquets of red roses. They are more like Roman ones.
“Go away!”
Is it the flowers whispering? They are so deep red that they remind of blood. And he was still wondering whether to buy roses for her. There are more of them here than in the flower shop! And the hotel itself inside resembles an ancient temple.
“It was like I got inside the film,” Kiril looked at Athenais. Live she was even more beautiful than on the screen. She didn’t change. A chic scarlet robe with wide, like a kimono, sleeves now replaced the dressing gown. The dragons embroidered on it with gold thread grinned menacingly. It seems that in some old film he had already seen a similar robe. And that movie was not with Athenais.
“I know your brother,” she admitted suddenly.
So that’s why she invited him here! Kiril felt uncomfortable. Everything is decided by connections! And he hoped that he liked her.
“You’re different,” Athenais looked at him appraisingly. “Mikhail always pokes his nose into other things. One day he will run into it.”
What to think and say now? Kiril was effaced. Athenais suddenly got up and walked around him. The dragons on her robes seemed to come to life. Is this some kind of visual effect? Or an optical illusion?
What kind of lighting and effects can be applied in general to make an actress look like a real deity. Up close, there was no trace of makeup on Athenais’s face. She didn’t even have makeup. No mascara, no eyeliner, no brushstrokes of powder or foundation, and the impression is that she’s a statue coming to life! This was impossible to achieve without the efforts of the makeup artist and operator. But he is now not inside the film and not in a dream. His star is really close. This moment is worth enjoying.
Why does he feel that not everything is cloudless? Because this moment will eventually end and be kicked out of here? Is it possible to expose someone from the tomb, which seems to be a hotel? They say that those who voluntarily enter the realm of ghosts remain in it forever. And it doesn’t matter that this idol lured you here. The pyramid is a symbol of death and eternity. And the Akhetaton hotel is a copy of the pyramid.
“I have always believed that one soul can be more important than all the souls in the universe. Once I promised that if I met such a soul, then for her sake I would spare the whole world. But a lot of time has passed since then. I’m not going to keep my promise, although I like you. And the priest to whom I promised this has long been dead. In this era, I am going to act by the method of exclusion, destroying in turn all the souls that might interfere with my plans.”
She did not read an excerpt from the script, although what she said was suspiciously similar to the plot of the first film with her participation. Kiril looked at her slightly dumbfounded. The wound on his wrist opened again. Under it, something like letters, or rather hieroglyphs, appeared on the skin. Athenais grabbed his wrist. She really has marble fingers.
“It’s real,” he guessed. “You don’t act in films, you live inside them, like in this hotel. Therefore, it looks like a pyramid both outside and inside. And I am not sleeping now!”
“People sleep all their lives, and I come to open their eyes to the truth,” a fire flashed in her pupils. Are there any orange pupils? They looked like two bonfires. Visions immediately hit my head: a fire under the pyramids, demons or ancient gods dancing around it. Some are practically indistinguishable from others. They dance to call upon someone, and from the sands of the desert something rises that threatens to destroy the universe. And then Athenais walks with a sickle across the field, killing Egyptian plowmen. Their blood irrigates the fields, from it, as from seeds, instead of the harvest, monstrous figures rise. And above all this, the bloody moon shines.
So who is this movie star in front of him? She came from those ancient times or straight from space. Lufcraft wrote something about strong cosmic beings, which weak people naively mistake for gods and demons. What if she is such a creature? Then who would have thought that aliens are so beautiful and seductive.
But the touch of Athenais was not pleasant. She squeezed his hand, kneading the meat and crumbling bone. The pain would have been enormous, if not for the hypnotizing look of a movie star.
“What did you want from me when you stood in the rain?” Athenais’s voice changed, becoming like a hiss of a cobra.
Kiril himself no longer knew what goals he was pursuing. At first, the fact that she invited him to her seemed like the ultimate dream. Now he realized that he had fallen into a trap, but he did not want to change anything anyway. He had to come here, had to see her with his own eyes. We can say that fate called him here.
“I wanted my routine life to end,” unexpectedly even for himself, he poured out everything that had boiled over the years in his soul, “so that I didn’t have to go to work that I didn’t love in the morning, didn’t have to go back to an empty apartment and see neighbors around who unpleasant to me. Ever since I saw the first movie with you, all people around the world have become disgusting to me. I only wanted to see you once so that I could return home in the evening, turn on the CD with your film and open my veins. Your film is one minute against your whole life. Better to leave this minute and take away everything else.”
“I think so too.” She let go of his wrist. Blood flowed in a stream. “Those who watch films about demons let them into their world, and then they won’t kick us out.”
“Go away!” The roses were still whispering. Now it became noticeable that their petals were indeed in blood, and the warning was not in vain. But he was not going to leave. Better to die in the arms of Athenais today than live your whole life without her. She hugged him with cold marble arms, and it was as if another movie had begun. Only it happens not on the screen, but in real life. Death
