崛起 Arisen

阿兹尔走在黄金铺成的皇帝大道上。恕瑞玛最早一批统治者——他的祖先——的巨型雕像注视着他的前进。

Azir walked the gold-paved Emperor’s Way. The immense statues of Shurima’s earliest rulers – his ancestors – watched his progress.

破晓前的柔光溢出地平线，最明亮的星星依然在头顶闪烁，不过它们很快就会被朝阳的光芒掩盖。星空与阿兹尔记忆中的不同了，星星的位置和星座的形状全都错位了。已经过去了数千年。

The soft, shadowy light of predawn seeped through his city. The brightest stars still shone overhead, though they would soon be snuffed out by the rising sun. The night sky was not as Azir remembered it; the stars and the constellations were misaligned. Millennia had passed.

每前进一步，阿兹尔的权杖都敲击出一声孤独的音调，在国都空旷的街道上回响。

With every step, Azir’s heavy staff of office struck a lonely note, echoing through the capital’s empty streets.

上一次走在这条大道上的时候，一万名精英士兵组成的仪仗队跟随在他身后，人群中传来的欢呼声响彻整个城市。那原本应该是他的荣光时刻——但却被偷走了。

When last he had walked this path, an honor guard of 10,000 elite warriors had marched in his wake, and the cheers of the crowd had shaken the city. It was to have been his moment of glory – yet it had been stolen from him.

现在，这里已经变成了一座鬼城。他的子民们都发生了什么？

Now, it was a city of ghosts. What had become of his people?

阿兹尔摆出了一个高傲的姿势，命令路边岩石下的沙尘随风而起，制造出活生生的人像。这些是过去的影像，是恕瑞玛实体形态的回响。

With an imperious gesture, Azir commanded the sands beside the roadway to rise, creating living statues. This was a vision of the past, the echoes of Shurima given form.

沙尘组成的人形向前方望去，无数人都朝向巨大太阳圆盘的方向张望，太阳圆盘依然在半英里外的地方高悬在空中，炫耀着阿兹尔帝国的荣耀和力量，不过已经没有剩下的人能看得到了。恕瑞玛的女儿刚刚唤醒了他，继承了他的血脉的那个姑娘已经离开了这里。他可以感觉到她在远处的沙漠中。血脉将他们绑定在一起。

The sand figures looked forward, heads tilted toward the immense Sun Disc hanging above the Dais of Ascension half a league ahead. It hung there still, declaring the glory and power of Azir’s empire, though no one remained to see it. The daughter of Shurima who awakened him, she who bore his lineage, was gone. He sensed her out in the desert. Blood bound them together.

阿兹尔继续走在皇帝大道上，沙尘形成的人影指着远处的太阳圆盘，脸上的喜悦逐渐化为恐惧。人们纷纷张开嘴发出无声的尖叫。他们转身逃跑，跌倒、爬行。阿兹尔在绝望的寂静中看着一切，看着他子民的临终一刻。

As Azir walked the Emperor’s Way, the sand-echoes of his people pointed up at the Sun Disc, their joyful expressions turning to horror. Mouths opened wide in silent screams. They turned to run, stumbling and falling. Azir watched this all in despairing silence, bearing witness to the last moments of his people.

他们被一股看不见的能量瞬间抹杀，化为灰尘随风而逝。他的飞升究竟出了什么差错才释放了如此惨痛的灾难？

They were obliterated by a wave of unseen energy, reduced to dust and cast to the winds. What had gone wrong with his Ascension to unleash this catastrophe?

阿兹尔的注意力集中起来，他的脚步变得更加坚毅。他到达了飞升阶梯的基座，准备好攀登，每一步都跨越五级台阶。

Azir's focus narrowed. His march became more resolute. He reached the base of the Stairs of Ascension and began to climb, taking them five at a time.

只有他最信赖的士兵，祭司团和皇族血脉允许登上这些台阶。这些至亲之人的沙尘影像沿着这条路向前排列，每一张脸都仰望天空、表情痛苦，无声地呻吟着，随后也同样被风吹散。

Only his most trusted soldiers, the priesthood, and those of the royal bloodline were allowed to step foot upon the Stairs. Sand versions of these most favored subjects lined his path, faces upturned, grimacing and wailing in silence before they too were swept away by the winds.

他开始跑起来，攀登台阶的速度比任何凡人都更迅捷，鹰爪嵌入石阶，每一部都留下爪印。沙尘组成人形，随后立刻被毁灭，在他前进道路的两侧周而复始。

He ran, taking the steps faster than any man could, talons digging into the stonework, carving furrows where they caught. Sand figures rose, and were then destroyed, to either side of him as he climbed.

他到达了顶端。在这里，他看到了最后一群围成环形的观众：他至亲的助手、他的顾问、神父主教，还有他的家人。

He reached the top. Here, he saw the final circle of onlookers: his closest aides, his advisers, the high priests. His family.

阿兹尔瘫软地跪了下来。他的家人出现在面前，以完美的景象呈现出来，真实的细节让人心碎。他怀有身孕的妻子。她害羞的女儿抓着他妻子的手。他的儿子昂首挺胸，几乎马上就要长大成人。

Azir dropped to his knees. His family was before him, rendered in perfect, heartbreaking detail. His wife, heavy with child. His shy daughter, clutching his wife's hand. His son, standing tall, on the brink of becoming a man.

阿兹尔惊恐地看着他们脸上的表情变化。虽然他知道接下来发生了什么，但他无法避开这景象。他的女儿将脸藏在他妻子的裙褶里；他的儿子伸手去够自己的佩剑，惊声大叫。他的妻子…她睁大眼睛，眼中满是悲伤和绝望。

In horror, Azir saw their expressions change. Though he knew what was to come, he could not look away. His daughter hid her face in the folds of his wife's dress; his son reached for his sword, shouting in defiance. His wife... her eyes widened, sorrow and despair writ within.

某种看不见的东西将他们摧毁，烟消云散。

The unseen event blasted them to nothingness.

这是难以承受之重，但阿兹尔的眼中没有眼泪。他飞升以后的形态已经不再具备这种简单的表达悲伤的功能。他心情沉重，艰难地站了起来。问题依然尚不明了，他的血脉究竟是如何幸存的，显然肯定是幸存下来的。

It was too much, but no tears welled in Azir’s eyes. His Ascended form rendered that simple act of grief forever lost to him. With a heavy heart, he pushed himself to his feet. The question remained as to how his bloodline survived, for it most assuredly had.

最终的回声在等待。

The final echo awaited.

他走向前，在神坛下一步之遥停了下来，看着眼前由黄沙重新演绎的一切。

He advanced, halting one step below the dais, and watched as it all played out before him, reenacted in the sand.

他看到自己的凡人躯体，升到半空中，接近太阳圆盘，双臂张开，向后弓背。他记得这个瞬间。太阳的力量贯穿了他，融合着他的存在，将神圣的力量注入他体内。

He saw himself, in his mortal form, rise up into the air beneath the Sun Disc, arms wide and back arched. He remembered this moment. The power coursed through him, infusing his being, filling him with its divine strength.

一个沙尘形成的人影出现了。这是他最信赖的仆人，他的巫师，泽拉斯。

A newcomer formed in the sand. His trusted bondsman, his magus, Xerath.

他的朋友念出了一个词。阿兹尔看到自己像玻璃一样被打碎，炸裂成细沙一般的尘埃。

His friend uttered a silent word. Azir watched himself shatter like glass, exploding into motes of sand.

“泽拉斯，”阿兹尔倒吸了一口气。

“Xerath,” breathed Azir.

这个叛徒的表情不得而知，但阿兹尔只看到了一张杀人凶手的脸。

The traitor’s expression was unknowable, but Azir could see nothing but the face of a murderer.

这种仇恨从何而来？阿兹尔从未觉察到。

Where did such hate come from? Azir had never been aware of it.

沙尘组成的泽拉斯的幻影越升越高，太阳圆盘的能量集中到了他身上。一群精英守卫向他冲了过来，但是他们已经太晚了。

The sand image of Xerath rose higher into the air as the Sun Disc's energies focused into his being. A cadre of elite guards rushed toward him, but they were all far too late.

残暴的沙尘冲击波迸发而出，瓦解了恕瑞玛的最终残影。阿兹尔孤独地站在过去的回声中，尘埃落定。

A brutal shockwave of sand flared out, disintegrating the final moment of Shurima. Azir stood alone among the dying echoes of his past.

这就是杀害他人民的经过。

This is what killed his people.

阿兹尔转过身，第一道曙光正好射在了他头顶的太阳圆盘上。他已经看够了。泽拉斯变换形体以后的沙尘幻影在他身后塌陷。

Azir turned away, just as the first rays of the new dawn struck the Sun Disc overhead. He'd seen enough. The sand image of the transformed Xerath collapsed behind him.

晨辉反射在阿兹尔无暇的黄金铠甲上。在这一刹那，他知道背叛自己的人还活着。他感觉到了巫灵的精魄，就在他呼吸的空气中。

The dawn sun reflected blindingly off Azir's flawless golden armor. In that instant, he knew that the traitor still lived. He sensed the magus’s essence in the air that he breathed.

阿兹尔抬起一只手，一支属于他的精英士兵大军从飞升阶梯的基座旁站了起来。

Azir lifted a hand, and an army of his elite warriors rose from the sands at the base of the Stairs of Ascension.

“泽拉斯，”他的声音因为愤怒而变得沙哑。“你的罪孽不可饶恕。”

“Xerath,” he said, his voice tinged with rage. “Your crimes will not go unpunished.”