牢笼 The Cage

作者： Odin Austin Shafer

黑暗。

Darkness.

我竭力呼吸，却痛苦万分。

The breath I cannot take plagues me.

肺叶和喉咙里感觉很空，像是吸气到一半时就掐住气息，让肺脏辛苦地等待着。我大张着嘴，喉管全开，但抽不进气。胸腔里面被紧紧地扯着。

It is an emptiness in my lungs and throat. As if I had stopped mid-breath, and then held my lungs cruelly waiting. My mouth open, throat hollow, unable to pull in air. My chest, the horrible tension on my thorax.

我的四肢和肌肉全都不听使唤。我不能呼吸。快憋死了。血压渐增。胸口和四肢渐渐麻痹。我想大叫，想撕开自己的脸，嚎啕大哭——可我被困住了。我不能动。我动不了。

My limbs and muscles refuse to move. I cannot breathe. I am choking. The pressure builds. The stillness spreads to my chest and limbs. I want to scream, to tear at my face, to wail—but I am trapped. I cannot move. I cannot move.

黑暗。

Darkness.

我一定要想起来。我一定要——

I must remember. I must remem—

那场战斗。我失控了。很蠢。凡人组成军团与我对抗。我撞进人群。痛饮鲜血。那诱惑太大了。收割的同时，我将他们的血肉融成一体，造出更接近我真身的形象。我歇斯底里地吞下更多更多的血肉，只希望能挽回曾经的自我残存着的，哪怕最细微的回声。可是，如同一团烈火般，我烧得太快，将宿主的身躯也消融了。

The battle. I lost control. It was foolish. The mortals formed in ranks against me. I crashed into them. Drank from them. The temptation was too great. As I reaped, I reforged their flesh into a better approximation of my true shape. Desperately, I consumed more and more, hoping for the briefest echo of what I once was. Instead, like a fire, I burned too quickly, destroying even my host’s form.

黑暗。

Darkness.

我们是在雨天里战斗的。是泥泞和污血将我掩埋了？还是我自己藏了起来，藏了上千年？被困在这监狱里——这个可怕的念头让我更加恐慌起来。战斗要结束了。我能感觉得到。我必须挺身站起。我必须……我必须……

It was raining when we fought. What if the mud and filth cover me? What if I’m hidden for thousands of years? Trapped in this prison. The horror of that idea feeds my panic. The battle is ending. I can feel it. I must will my form upright. I must… I must...

我没了胳膊，也没了腿。黑暗缠住我，仿佛一颗蚕茧。

I have no arms or legs. The darkness binds me, like a cocoon.

不行。我挺身直立。可我不知道有没有成功。我什么也感觉不到，除了黑暗。

No. I will myself upright. But I can’t know if it is working. I cannot know anything but the darkness.

请让凡人找到我吧。求求你。我一刻不停地对着黑暗乞求，但我耻辱的恳求换回的只有寂静。

Please. Let some mortal find me. Please. I beg the darkness endlessly, but the humiliation of my plea is answered only with silence.

但是那时......

But then…

我感觉到附近出现了凡人。我没有眼睛，没有耳朵，但我感觉到他在靠近。有人在追他。他一定想要反击。他一定会抓起我的。

I feel a mortal nearby. I have no eyes, no ears, but I can feel his approach. He is fleeing from adversaries. He must try to defend himself. He must grasp me.

他看到我了吗？要是他就这么跑过去，我就被扔下了。

Can he see me? He could run past me. I would be left here.

我感到他的手握住了……他的意识便向我敞开了！

I feel his hand grip this form and… and his consciousness opens to me!

我掘进他的身体，将他拖向深处。我就像是一个遭遇了海难的水手，被抛进了海水中，借着他人的身体不停地向海面挣扎着游去。

I burrow into him, pulling him down. I am like a drowning man thrown into the sea by a shipwreck, dragging myself to the surface by clawing past my fellows.

“怎么回事？！”凡人尖叫起来。但他却被黑暗吞没了声音——正是我刚刚逃离的无边黑暗。

“What’s happening?!” the mortal screams. But he is silenced by the darkness—the endless darkness I have just escaped.

我就有了眼睛。

And I have eyes.

我看见大雨落下。遍地污泥。屠场中的斑斑血迹。两名骑士举着长枪站在我面前。我将二人切开，吞噬了他们的躯体，重塑成我要的形态。

I can see the falling rain. The muck. The blood of this slaughtering field. In front of me stand two weary knights with spears. I cut them apart, and drink in their forms, recrafting this body to my needs.

他们太弱了。我必须抓紧时间。我要找到更强大的身躯，更好的宿主。我周围只有已死和将死的人。我能听到他们的灵魂正从世上告退。

They are weak. I must move quickly. I must find a better wielder. A better host. Around me are only the dead and dying. I hear their souls retreating from this world.

战斗还未结束。战场转移到了城墙内。我强逼着自己的新身体，朝着喊杀声踉踉跄跄手脚并用地爬去。找一个更好的宿主。

The fighting has not ended. It’s moved inside the city walls. I force my new shape—limping, crawling—toward the sounds of battle. Toward a better host.

我低吼着。但毫无胜利的气势。从来都没有过胜利的气势。

I roar. But not in triumph. Never in triumph.

我将在那座城中痛饮，但最终的收获只是对过往荣光的畸形模仿。我由星光和星灵的纯美塑造。我曾是具象的光明与理性。在最雄伟的战争中守护过这个世界。现在，这副偷来的身躯正不断腐败，淌下脓血和败液。肌肉与骨头互相撞动、撕扯，抗议着我这副怪胎似的模样。

I will drink from that city, but I will achieve only a grotesque mockery of my former glory. I was shaped by the stars, and the purity of my aspect. I was light and reason given shape. I defended this world in the greatest battles ever known. Now, blood and ichor drips from this stolen flesh as it decays. The muscles and bones struggle, tear, and protest the abomination I have become.

我深吸一口气。

I take a breath.

“不，亚托克斯。”我说。我的声音潮湿喑哑，在身边的死者之间回荡。

“No, Aatrox,” I say, my voice wet and echoing off the dead that surround me. “We will go onward... and onward… and onward…”

“我们会一直前进……前进……前进……。”

Until the final oblivion comes.

直到最后的湮灭降临。