As the monsters black claws stretched from the telephone receiver, caressing her ear
Stop! Thats not his thought anymore! This is a frame from some horror movie. Nikita suddenly regretted his childhood fascination with horror movies. Athenais was provoking him to return to his former fascination with horror.
He was looking to meet a nice girl, and he found a sinister hobby. Now you can chat about horror for a long time. He really wanted to meet her. What a miracle it would be if she were there, if he could touch her, give her signs of attention, invite her to tea. In the modest surroundings of the city apartment, the beautiful Athenais would have looked like a fairy from a fairy tale.
It was chilly outside now. It was already cold in Moscow in the fall. You couldnt go outside without a warm jacket. Nikita tried to imagine what Athenais would look like in a half-coat or quilted jacket. For some reason Athenais image did not fit with his thoughts of casual clothing. It was hard to imagine her without wings, a top that exposed her shoulders, and massive Egyptian jewelry.
Athenais had the role of an angel. There was nothing to be done about it. Nikita spent a long time surfing the Internet looking for pictures of Athenais in plain clothes. Everywhere there were only pictures of her in the role of an angel. Most likely, they were not even pictures, but pictures from the movie.
Athenais only played angels and only the fallen. It wasnt hard to click the link again and review the movie with her in it. Nikita acted like an investigator adding up the details of the mosaic. Thats how his life became a detective. If you watch the movie several times, you start to understand more of the meaning behind it.
Athenais played the most beautiful angel in heaven, who once, at the dawn of time, rebelled against God. The angels name was Dennitsa, which meant dawn.
It seems that in Slavic mythology there was also a goddess of the morning dawn with the same name Dennitsa. He had studied mythology, just as he had studied history. Now that knowledge of history would come in handy for him now. After all, from the fires of the Battle of Heaven, the action took him to the deserts of Egypt, and then to the palaces of the pharaohs. Athenais became a personal angel under the Egyptian kings. At all the ceremonies she was present near their thrones and whispered her advice to them.
It seems that the advice of an angel is goodness. The pharaohs were lucky. Nevertheless, Athenais advice awakened evil. All sorts of horrible things began to happen around them. The dead rose from their graves, monsters went to war with people, crops rotted in the fields, poisonous black rye grew on the cold fields of battle and gave birth to evil spirits. The terrible epidemics began. The Pharaohs power grew stronger thanks to Athénaïs, but it cost the people their blood.
Athenais, in the footage, drank the blood of the condemned, like a vampire. She didnt need blood to survive, unlike vampires. He guessed drinking blood from precious goblets is purely symbolic and means victory over her enemies.
By the way, Athenais had an unusual name in the movies, consonant with her own acting pseudonym. For some reason she was not called Dennitsa, as she was supposed to be, but the goddess Alais.
Nikita had to rewind the film to the beginning to understand where the second name came from. It turns out that Alais had given it to herself. Under her first name, Dennitsa, she had lost the war in heaven, so the name was considered tainted.
The name you lost by once will bring you further defeat, whispered one of her supporters. Change it! You can only win with a new name. The name is your banner.
The main character heeded this advice and wrote the letters of the first names of her fallen standard-bearers in the sand. It was a new name Alais. It had to become a magical talisman, because the power of the dead heroes lay in it.
Somehow, after the fall, Alais herself remained beautiful, but her armies became burnt monsters. Instead of tearing her apart for leading them to defeat, they continued to serve her. Indeed, Alais is a goddess, since she knew how to keep them all in subjection.
Nikita paused on the film. He thought he heard someone call his name.
Nikita Goncharov!
That was how his professors usually shouted at him at lectures if they noticed he was looking sleepy. But now they were not around. Who could call him? He was probably just imagining things.
Perhaps his conscience should have been awakened in him. After all, he was skipping lectures and seminars again. He should be commended this time. He is self-educating.
Nikita goes back to watching the movie. The play icon suddenly froze. The movie switched from moment to moment on its own.
The desert, where legions of monsters dwelt among the golden sands, had disappeared. Alais negotiated something with the first pharaoh of Egypt. It seems that both he and all his descendants were obliged to obey her for helping him win some battle.
You are helping him in vain, whispered one of the monstrous legionnaires to Alais. Men should be exterminated. They are no longer useful on earth. It should be just us. Men will never appreciate us.
So what are they all? They were a race of fallen angels? Nikita watched and couldnt get into the plot. Yes, the horror special effects in the film were amazing, but what was the point?
How hard for a two-year old to grasp the wisdom of cinema! He used to just watch movies, not really thinking about the content. Well, flashing around on the screen, and let it go. The pleasure of watching is purely visual. Now he was interested in the meaning embedded in the frames. It was as if Athenais was trying to tell him something through this film. It was not for nothing that she had left a link to a free file for him to watch. Surely you cant watch such a gorgeous movie on pay sites in a standard subscription. A gorgeous spectacle always comes at a price.
Or did Athénaïs just want to show off? Like, shes a star and hes just a guy and should respect her.
Nikitas father had lost all respect for his mother when he accepted the fact that his wife would never cook or do housework. Instead of cooking lunches and dinners, his mother bought tickets to the theaters and spent all her free time attending operas, operettas, and ballets. Eventually the marriage broke down. Many men are only able to respect women who are good cooks. Only a few are able to get along with female bohemians.
Perhaps Nikita did not go to his father, because he admired Athenais career. She played the angel beautifully. Who would have thought of the soulless winged creatures from the frescoes that they can behave with such regal dignity and they give advice to rulers. Athenais made the fallen angel look like a hero. The image of Dennitsa, deeply worried about his defeated army, captured the heart.
Thats whats wrong with this movie! All sympathy is on the side of the devil. It is he who is the hero.
And who told you what was really wrong?
Nikita turned around in a whisper. Theres no one in the room. Why would anyone be here? Even if his mother returned unexpectedly from a business trip early, he locked the door with a bolt. No one would come in without calling. No uninvited guests to worry about. But for some reason it feels like uninvited guests are already here. He probably couldnt even call them uninvited, because it was as if he himself was calling them, surfing the Internet.
Nikita has a strong feeling that he is looking for something or someone on the Internet. He just doesnt know who yet