ghosts. For some reason, Daniel again remembered the ash tree and the ghostly children who had taken a round dance on the highway. Sometimes it still seemed that their figures were flickering in the thickets, but they are not denser than the fog that is about to disperse.
One quite tangible creature in front of the cinema nevertheless showed up – some beggar in dirty rags and clearly crippled. He walked with a limp on both legs. Beggars are much more common on the porch in front of churches than at the entrances to cinema, theaters or clubs. But here, apparently, everything is different. Daniel had some cash with him, he called out to the tramp, but he hurriedly trotted around the corner of the building and disappeared into the thickets.
The cinema itself was still free to enter. The luxurious doors with a metal openwork sheathing and stained glass inserts remained unlocked. Was there a lock on them at all? Daniel noticed only a small ring embedded in the nostrils of the head of some mythical bird, like a griffin. The head itself replaced the doorknobs. And such a magnificent building was still going to be demolished, according to rumors. Daniel did not believe there was danger inside. The structure gave the impression of being solid and completely new. It didn’t even need repairs. When he entered, he first noticed the ligature of golden hieroglyphs that adorned the walls and outside. Reliefs and bas-reliefs stretched everywhere here: in the walls, around the stucco molding, on the capitals of the columns, pediments and plinths. Mostly they belonged to the era of the Ancient Egypt, but there were also later periods.
There was no one in the lobby and spacious foyer. Cordelia and Nefert no longer played in the narrow vestibule. The corridors were empty. Only some suspicious black animal, almost the size of a man, suddenly jumped out from somewhere, bumped into Daniel and hissed fiercely, but he didn’t scratch or bite. The guy sighed with relief when it bounced around the corner and did not appear again.
Alais sat in an empty cinema and tossed gold coins. They rained down on her palm and seemed to be singing, not ringing. None fell to the floor. This is real gold. Neither fake nor low purity. Bright yellow gold, as from an ancient treasury.
She either did not notice Daniel, or she pretended not to notice. Tossing coins was like a game to her. The round yellow discs glowed like miniature suns and moons. Their brilliance fell in glare on her face.
What dexterous hands she has. Even jugglers don’t throw balls as quickly as she does small coins. Obviously, he jinxed her, because one coin was still missed. She rolled with clink between the seats and then down the steps that divided the rows. Daniel bent down, hoping to catch it, because it almost reached his feet, but that was not the case. Someone’s black claws poked out from under the seat and grabbed the coin first. It was as if it had never happened. And claws too.
“Alais!” Daniel called her before he noticed that there was no one in the auditorium. Where did the girl go? He looked around helplessly.
Everything is empty. Wherever you look, there are only rows of empty chairs. Where did the rain of gold coins in the hands of Alais go? Was it a dream?
Oddly enough, he again came on time. The light began to fade slowly. This time in stages, not in an instant. At first it became a little darker, then it was semi-dark, and a second before the light went out, Daniel again noticed a vague silhouette in the corner of the auditorium. Before he could see it, the rows of chairs had already sunk into darkness. The credits flashed across the screen. The same film began that had impressed even before the madness a few days ago. “And his name is Dennitsa.” This time, the credits were interspersed with an eerie creature made entirely of gold that crawled across the screen like a cuttlefish, and it seemed that it was about to crawl right into the audience. The first time it was also present in the film, but there was no feeling that it was as real as the chairs and walls around. It seemed that it was nearby, its numerous hands reaching out to the spectator’s throat. And now it is no longer in the frame, the same film is going on about the commander Taor, who returned from the war, where he fought not with people, but with evil spirits. He bows before the throne of Pharaoh, looks up and suddenly sees that the queen of evil is already here, rules Egypt and whispers her decrees to the king.
Not that he didn’t want to watch the movie again, but he felt a little uneasy. The film showed that there are fatal lines of fate in life, and they twist into such a tight ball that it can no longer be unwound.
As planned. Destiny? Taor and Alais. He just won his first big victory, she just experienced the first and grandiose defeat in the fight against heaven and now takes revenge, taking possession of the earth. Two heroes are like two poles. They must become great enemies to each other. But the film is built so that the viewer watched and thought: what kind of lovers they could be!
They were supposed to stay together. Why didn’t the screenwriter bring them together? To shock the audience with an unexpected spooky ending? Nothing affects the psyche worse than a bad ending.
“You just see yourself as Taor. And you don’t want to do what he did.”
Daniel turned around. The radiation from the screen was enough to see that all the rows behind him were completely empty. There was no one to turn to him with words. So maybe it was the voice of his reason. He really wanted to see himself in the role of Taor. A very winning role! How many prestigious awards could one get by playing it. Someone told Daniel long ago that the actor is famous for his successful role in a well-directed film. But this role already belonged to another. Daniel envied both the unique appearance of his opponent and his ability to adequately stand in front of the camera.
Where in the modern world can you find a guy with such a strikingly beautiful face and athletic body. No amount of sports and exercise equipment helped Daniel to develop his figure in such a way. Only scenes with Alais distracted him from contemplating Taor. She played with symbols of royal power and lured the high priest into the net.
“Show me one pure soul in the universe, and then I will not destroy the whole world,” she promised, she promised, believing that such a soul cannot be found. The owner of such a soul, of course, turned out to be Taor.
And then there was a conspiracy in the palace. Alais executed the courtier and priests and bathed in their blood. In the frame, her naked body was almost visible, with wings growing directly from the shoulder blades in the back. How unexpected it is that when you look at the film for the second time, you begin to notice a lot of things in it that you hadn’t seen before. For example, Daniel noticed that the snake bracelet on Alais’s forearm is alive and crawls up and down her arm, and her golden curls move and curl like living snakes.
Someone distracted him from watching. Another spectator entered the hall? Or has he been here before? Someone moved smoothly between the chairs, and the hem of a long robe slid along the floor behind him. The quiet but monotonous steps began to annoy. Daniel looked around. The silhouette in a bright red cape contrasted sharply with the darkness, as if the cape were illuminated from within with electricity. This cape was sewn from blood and fire.
Daniel had already seen this scarlet hood and wide old-fashioned sleeves somewhere. Is this the very same person who handed out tickets to teenagers. What is he doing at the cinema? He probably works here and sometimes goes outside to give out invitations. Nice way to lure the audience into watching, but this is kind of the VIP zone. It is not customary to admit everyone here.
Someone in a scarlet robe sensed that Daniel was looking at him and raised his bulldog face. Daniel shuddered and hastily turned away. It’s good that they are separated by dozens of rows, otherwise one could be frightened.
Self-consolation turned out to be premature. A moment and someone in red was already nearby, just in the back row. How
