LORD OF ILLUSION

CHAPTER 21

INT. HARRY'S CAR - NIGHT

Indecision is written all over Swann's face: to help or not

to help?

HARRY (V.O.)

Swann!

He decides. Gets out.

EXT. NIX'S GRAVE - MIGHT

Swann goes to the graveside, terrified.

HARRY

Give me a hand. I got Valentin.

Together, Harry and Swann lift Valentin out of the grave and

lay him in the blaze of the headlamps.

VALENTIM

He's got Dorothea.

SWANN

And Nix?

VALENTIN

Him too.

HARRY

We've got to get you to a hospital.

VALENTIN

Don't bother.

HARRY

Shut up. We've lost enough lives

already.

VALENTIN

I'm sorry, D'Amour...

HARRY

What about?

VALENTIN

... Looks like you're going...

to lose... one more.

Valentin dies.

HARRY

(despairing)

... no...

SWANN

He's better off this way.

HARRY

(furious)

Nobody's better off this wav!

SWANN

You don't get it, do you? We're

shit. D'Amour.

He puts his foot beneath Valentin's body. It rolls back into

Nix's grave.

SWANN

That's where we're all going.

HARRY

In my time, and nobody else's.

ON THE EMPTY GRAVE, as we HEAR the SOUND of Harry and Swann

getting into the car. The doors SLAM. The CAR LIGHTS

retreat. The grave is left to DARKNESS.

EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - NIGHT

The house is silent now.

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAYS - NIGHT

We TRACK through the house. The CULTISTS, all Seventeen of

them, stand in the passageways, looking toward Nix's sanctum.

ON THE SANCTUM DOOR. Butterfield emerges. He is wearing

WHITE now.

BUTTERFIELD

Do you wish him to be amongst us?

CULTISTS

Yes...

BUTTERFIELD

Will you come to him on your

knees?

CULTISTS

Yes...

BUTTERFIELD

Be ready.

Now we see that the Cultists have BOTTLES in their hands.

With looks of ecstatic fervour on their faces, they SMASH the

bottles to the ground at their bare feet. Then they pick up

MORE BOTTLES, and SMASH them, littering the ground with razor

sharp pieces of GLASS.

ON Butterfield, smiling. He steps back into the Sanctum.

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT

HIGH, WIDE SHOT of the room, as Butterfield approaches the

BODY of Nix. It lies on a table, surrounded by bowls of OIL.

Bandages, soaked in oil, are laid over its limbs. Beside its

head, Butterfield's INSTRUMENTS are laid out.

ON Dorothea, crouched in the corner of the room, terrified as

she watches Butterfield remove the multi- part MASK screwed

into Nix's face. He works with surgical precision.

DOROTHEA

Listen. You've got everything you

want. You don't need me. ..

A piece of the mask comes away from the cheek. A subtle

POWER plucks at dust around the room, disturbing it minutely.

We CUT CLOSE to Dorothea's face throughout this sequence (on

occasion her eyeball fills the screen) as she sees these

signs of disturbance in the ether, growing in magnitude.

BUTTERFIELD

No, but he will. After what you

did to him.

He pulls a piece of the mask from Nix's mouth.

BUTTERFIELD

He'll want vengeance. Simple PS

that.

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAYS - NIGHT

The bottle-breaking has ceased. The Cultists stand,

breathless with anticipation.

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT

On Nix's emaciated mouth. The lips TWITCH.

On Dorothea. The DUST moves around her.

And Nix DRAWS BREATH.

On Butterfield, TEARS in his eyes.

BUTTERFIELD

Oh my Lord. He's coming home...

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT

The whisper runs through the congregation:

CULTISTS

He's coming home... he/s coming

home...

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT

ON Dorothea, eyes wide.

DOROTHEA

Christ in Heaven.

ON Nix, as his body starts to thirstily soak up the oils.

His withered flesh starts to REHYDRATE; his veins start to

THROB.

Butterfield is watching the process in amazement. Nix's HANDS

move up to his face, where the last portion of the mask is

still screwed over his eyes.

BUTTERFIELD

He's with us...

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT

CULTISTS

He's with us... He's with us...

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - SANCTUM - NIGHT

Unnoticed by Butterfield, who has his eyes on Nix, Dorothea

gets to her feet and creeps away to the door. Very quiet

TRACK.

Suddenly, the snake-handling Cultist steps into view, snakes

coiled around his face and fingers!

DOROTHEA

Oh God!

Butterfield looks up.

BUTTERFIELD

Hold her!

On Nix, as he starts to pull at the mask on his face. It

comes away with a moist, WRENCHING SOUND. At last, we see

his eyes.

NIX'S P.O.V.

The candle-lights blaze, BLINDING his sensitive eyes.

NIX

(fury to agony)

Aaarrrgh!

He gets up and flings himself around the room, knocking over

all the lights but two. Then he strikes Butterfield to the

ground, and slams his foot on Butterfield's neck, knocking

him unconscious. It's a terrifying, almost demoniacal

display of instant physical superiority. Throughout, he

literally ROARS in range.