horror effect

At night, the wind blowing from the valley intensified, mixed with countless small snowdrops, which hit the skin like needles.Although the weather was terrible, the restaurant at the Cedar Hill Inn was brightly lit and warm.

The wedding banquet of the Boui couple was in progress, more than half of the people in the town came, and the atmosphere in the restaurant was a bit chaotic.If outsiders come to the town at this time, they will be surprised by the tranquility of the town and the noise of the hotel.There was something grotesquely ecstatic about any lively activity in this weather, like a witches' orgy on a full-moon night.

The Bouai couple thanked people for coming and accepted their blessings. People praised Mr. Bouy for his contribution to the town, Mrs. Boiy for her youthful beauty, and their generosity. Praise.

After this, the innkeeper Herbert Wernstein, who served as master of ceremonies, announced the beginning of the wedding banquet, and a sense of joy surrounded every participant.A wedding is a big event and a festival for a small town, especially in the wind howling and icy cold ground, it is like a bunch of warm bonfires.

The Bouilly couple, who were already tired, gradually lost their place as protagonists in the festive atmosphere. They took this opportunity to take a rest in the small room connected to the restaurant. At this time, except for Herbert Wohnstein, no one noticed that when the couple walked into the room, the Theolos couple also quietly followed.

Herbert, who saw this scene, obviously knew the reason. He looked in that direction and smiled meaningfully.

Not long after, the door opened, and the Theolos couple came out.

Irina Theoros' face was beaming with unconcealed joy.

As she expected, no one wants to be unhappy at the wedding, so facing the crying of her and Theoros, Bouai was disgusted and upset, and wished to send them away immediately, so he happily signed the check. It was in Elena's close-fitting pocket.

She also knew that this kind of method was too despicable, but—one must live!she said in her heart.The humiliation in her heart made her desperately try to express happiness on her face, so her smile looked strangely contorted.

In contrast to her was the expression of Theoros next to her - there was hardly any expression.He was listless, and he walked heavily, and his eyes, surrounded by dark circles, could not see any thought, as if he were blind and could see nothing.

But he did see something, something no one but he saw—a tall, dark figure sitting in the corner of the room from which all the shadows in the room seemed to emanate. No face, no expression, nothing but that lingering presence, as if he had been sitting there for thousands of years, waiting, waiting.And I never found him!Theolos said to himself, he has always been there, I knew it, but I just found him today!

ah!ah!With an incoherent grunt in his throat, he pointed in that direction.But others thought he was sick again, Irene immediately helped him sit down, massaged his chest, after a while, he calmed down, but this time he became more silent than before, like a corpse that just died, Although the heart is still alive, the hands and feet are already cold.

This kind of calm is deceptive. Everyone thought he was fine, so they all dispersed to join the banquet.

Elena and Nicholas sat with him for a while, but how did they know what Theolos thought and saw?Before long, their minds were elsewhere.

Nikolay was thinking about Dr. Hostatova, who was not at the party.Elena looked for Julian Raymond in the crowd.They haven't met these days, and with the matter of Theoros, Irene thought that her feelings for Julian had become cold. He was just one of the countless men she met everywhere, and she would not Think about him more, but once she sees him, she is completely immersed in a happy and satisfied mood.

So, she forgot her husband beside her, got up alone, and came to Julian who was also picking up the plate alone. "Long time no see." She said with restrained excitement.

"Ah... yes, it's been a long time, a month?" he said.

"Well, it's been more than a month, about forty days..." Why is she obsessed with numbers, Elena thought, what does it matter how many days?

"How is your husband?" Julian asked.

"Ah?" She was taken aback as if suddenly remembering, and then said, "Oh, it's okay, it's stabilized."

Julian filled his plate with food and was about to bring it to the table, but Irene took the plate from him and set it aside.She stared at him with intense emotion in her eyes, like lightning, torrents, avalanches, the flickering lights that trembled against the walls of his heart, and howled with pain and longing at the same time.

He looked back at her with a little pity.She is an excellent woman, smart, bold, and pungent, and she does not resent her fate, but bears its burden calmly.

But her understanding of love and that strong, persistent desire made her aggressive, overshadowing her good points.However, she is a special woman after all.

Elena slowly took Julian's fingers hanging by her side.In response, he squeezed her hand tightly.

At the moment of touching, some kind of raging joy ignited in their hearts together.

They came out of the dining room to the corner of the deserted hallway, and in the shadows Julian pressed his lips to hers.She was glad that honest and passionate lips could kiss her.She closed her eyes, felt his arms around her waist, and the heat of his body, all of which made her feel hot and made her feel indescribably comfortable.

"Let's go, let's go," she whispered, "Get out of here."

Theolos sat there, staring at the dark figure sitting across the dining room.

He was there, as if he had always been there, from the first day of creation—never left, and could not.He stands beside every life that has ever existed and will exist, waiting, waiting, like a sentinel obeying orders, never leaving his post without authorization.

Theolos stared at the man.

At the same time his eyes could see nothing else, light, air, noise, all were stripped from him like clothes.His thoughts stopped, something strange, incomprehensible, and strange came into his mind, and a square where time stopped was born in his mind, where there was earth, people, everything was clear and obvious.

He saw death, saw the days and nights approaching from all directions, and he wanted to do something, to fight, to pray, but all this made him feel an indescribable fear.

Then he saw the people coming and going around him again, laughing and eating.Theolos looked at these people like a monster: You are still laughing and eating!Don't you know that "he" is sitting next to you!

He heard a scream, anguish and despair, like the scream of thousands of abandoned, frozen puppies.It was his own voice, and it shuttled through his own mind, like an endless needle piercing into his bone marrow from one end, moving slowly and slowly.

Around Theolos, people were still laughing and eating.He couldn't bear it any longer.

He saw the sharp claws of animals under people's skins, and heard the clanging of shackles amidst people's chatter and laughter.How could he bear it!He stood up tremblingly, mocking and cursing those ghost-like people in his heart, and walked out of the hotel.

Theolos stood in the snowstorm, and the night rolled up countless dry and fierce snowdrops on him, but he preferred to stay outside.The majestic power of the night made him feel kind, and made him feel that there was a glimmer of hope for protection and blessing in the dark.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear something calling him. It rose from the desolate and mysterious canyon, turned into a gigantic thing, and stared at him from the sky.

He walked forward in a trance, feeling that his frozen toes seemed to be stepping on the grass, something soft and empty in the wilderness was rubbing against his face, there were warm whispers and gentle caresses coming from the valley, he even felt A gust of wind and drizzle fell on his body.

ah!ah!He choked up and cried out.Tears rolled down his gray cheeks.

He realized that he had been controlled by some powerful and mysterious will at this moment, and he didn't feel creepy, but he relaxed instead.He longed for the supreme majesty of the gods.

"Is that you? Is that you?" he called into the valley, a pathetic, savage cry coming from his breast.

At this moment, a mass of pure white light gathered in the air in front of him, getting bigger and brighter.Theolos looked at that thing, his eyes had been flooded by the spreading pupils, and no one could tell whether what he saw from the two black windows was a terrifying sea of ​​flames.

He stretched out his hands toward the light, and suddenly he became very calm.

Snowflakes fell gently on him across the universe.At this very moment, he could see everything, hear everything, understand everything, and at the same time, something in him was dying, silently and peacefully, without pain or pain. There was no twitch - he couldn't even feel it himself.

That's how it really died.

The banquet in the restaurant was coming to an end, and the waiters were moving the tables and chairs to make room for the next dance.

There are quite a few people in the town who like to dance, and this arrangement makes them very happy, and those who don't like to dance don't have to worry, hot tea and snacks have been placed in the small room next to the restaurant, where they can continue to chat .

Everyone praised the arrangement as perfect.When the dance hall was emptied, Herbert Wernstein, who presided over the banquet, invited the protagonists, Mrs. and Mrs. Bois, to the platform and called people around to announce that there would be an unexpected gift for the newlyweds.Then a waitress came up to the platform carrying a large tray covered with something in red velvet.

Everyone guessed what it was.

"You are the most eminent man in this town," said Herbert Wernstein to Monsieur Bouilly, and then to Anna, "and you are the most beautiful lady combined with this most eminent man. On behalf of the town, I offer a gift to the happy newlyweds, hope you live in harmony and happiness, and as always, make us proud of you."

After speaking, Vornstein lifted the red velvet cover to reveal the gift.

On the tray lay a statue, carved from precious ivory and gold.The statue is carved out of ivory with a standing mother holding a baby in her arms. At first glance, it looks like a statue of the Virgin, but the gold foil covering the ivory is not the familiar shape of a large robe, but looks more like a It is an ancient Egyptian-style thin skirt, and there is a lotus flower carved on the baby's forehead.

Everyone doesn't know what the allusion is, so Wernstein naturally wants to explain it. "I commissioned this from the town's artist, Lady Constance Marmey. It is the most beloved goddess of ancient Egypt, Isis, and the baby with the lotus on her forehead is her son, another great god Ho Ruth. Isis is the symbol of a loving wife. And we are hoping that Madame Boai is a goddess of warmth who will bring good luck to the Boai family."

M. Bouilly seemed satisfied with this explanation and smiled happily.On the other hand, Madame Bois, Anna is more reserved, her smile is very measured, more like a mask.

People thought that the meaning of this statue was very good, and there was a burst of exclamation and praise.

However, there was also a man in the crowd who never smiled, but whose expression became more and more gloomy, and that was Stephen Breumontrose.Stephen knew that Herbert Wernstein's interpretation of the statue was correct, but he missed one thing, which was that Horus was still a posthumous symbol, and that before he was born, his father was killed And the body was falling apart.

This is a very dire prophecy.Stephen felt that there must be a secret hidden in Wernstein's gift-giving behavior.

He tried to tell Julian about it, but he was nowhere to be found in the crowd.

Stephen asked the waiter who guarded the restaurant's door, only to learn that Julian and Irone had been away for a while, and he was going to find them and bring Julian back no matter what they were doing.

At this time, the band had already started playing music, and the dance was about to begin. At this time, a male waiter walked past Stephen. He was exhaling air-conditioning. He should have just come in from the outside. His face was pale and nervous, which caused Stephen's attention.The waiter walked up to Herbert Wernstein as unobtrusively as possible, and whispered something in his ear. Immediately, the smile on Wernstein's face disappeared, and he said something that made The waiter left, and then he came to the police chief Dushkevich, who was about to dance, and whispered a few words, and then they separately found the mayor and Mr. Bouy.

They were all obviously shocked by the news brought by the waiter, and everyone looked terrified. After making excuses, they hurriedly left the restaurant and walked outside the hotel.

Not many people noticed this sudden situation, because most people had already concentrated their energies on the ball.

Stephen watched them leave, then turned around and found that the statue of Goddess Isis was standing alone on the table in the corner unattended, taking this opportunity, he walked over quietly, picked up the statue and observed carefully, the result At the bottom of the statue he saw an engraved pattern—a human head, a lion's body, a snake's tail—that was the same sketch he had seen in the studio of the female painter Marmey.

Something must have happened, Stephen thought.He put down the statue, left the dining room and went outside.There were a bunch of messy footprints on the snow, Stephen followed, bypassed the main building of the hotel, and came to the junction of the garden and the woods near the top of the mountain.

There was a bright light and a group of dark shadows. It was obvious that someone had turned on a flashlight.He walked over, squeezed into the crowd, and saw a person sitting on the snow with his back turned towards them. already dead.He walked a few steps, came to the front of the man, and finally saw the face of the dead man that belonged to Theolos.

He looked at the large, snow-covered body with horror and wonder.What is this?Is it a man or a bear?Dead or alive?Look at it with human-like legs, its stupid body bent, its front paws curled up on its chest, and its eyes are still open!Ah, but it's personal.This thing is actually a person!

Stephen yelled in fear, his legs went limp, and he fell in front of Theoros' body.Police Chief Dushkevich reacted first, reached out and pulled Stephen up, supported his shaking body, and led him away from the corpse, "Stephen! Why are you here! Theoros is dead, you should Better keep quiet and go back to the ball, and leave this to us. Come on, Stephen."

He coaxed Stephen away with push and persuasion.

After leaving the group of black shadows for a certain distance, Stephen finally came to his senses.He must find Julian immediately.