影门 The Shadow Door

作者： Ian St Martin

“再讲一个故事吧。”

“Tell me another story.”

“不可以哦，阿贝尔，”赛尔温说，他把故事书放到桌子上，把被角掖过儿子的双肩。“已经讲过两个故事了。该睡觉了。”

“Now now, Abel,” Celwyn said, setting the storybook down on a table and drawing the blanket snug around his son’s shoulders. “That’s two stories already. Now it’s time for sleep.”

“可是，”小男孩小声地说着，用被子盖住脸，只露出一双眼睛，“如果怪物抓我怎么办？”

“But,” whispered the boy, pulling the covers up beneath his eyes, “what if the monsters get me?”

赛尔温露出微笑。他无奈地责问自己为什么要给儿子讲这些故事，这些古瓦洛兰传说充斥着勇敢的英雄战胜邪恶巫师和丑恶怪兽的故事。赛尔温小时候也有一本故事书，他的父亲也曾念给他听——只不过那时的他比阿贝尔年长一些。

Celwyn smiled. He half chided himself for telling his son the tales, a collection of old Valoran fables replete with courageous heroes triumphing over evil sorcerers and monstrous beasts. They were from a storybook Celwyn’s own father had read to him when he was young—though maybe not as young as Abel.

刚才读的故事，影门，是赛尔温小时候最喜欢的故事，讲的是一个年轻的骑士侍从对抗一位恶毒国王，阻止他将全世界笼罩在黑暗中，最后大团圆结局的故事。这个故事曾把他吓得呆若木鸡，这段回忆让赛尔温十分怀念。或许他应该再等儿子稍微长大一点再读给他的。

The last story he had read, The Shadow Door, had been Celwyn’s favorite as a child, where a young squire wins the day against a foul king seeking to cloak the whole world in shadow. It had scared him silly, Celwyn remembered fondly. Perhaps he should have waited a little longer before reading it to his own son.

“只是故事啦，”赛尔温轻轻坐在阿贝尔床边说。“即使你做了噩梦，那些故事里的怪兽也永远无法伤害你的，懂吗？全是假的。故事不是真事。”

“That was just a story,” said Celwyn, sitting down lightly at the edge of Abel’s bed. “Even if you have a bad dream, those monsters from the story can never hurt you, alright? It’s all make-believe. They aren’t real.”

他俯下身轻吻阿贝尔的额头，但小男孩向后退缩。

He leaned down to kiss Abel’s forehead, but the boy shrank back from him.

“怎么？”赛尔温哼笑道。“长大了，不要亲亲了？”

“What?” chuckled Celwyn. “Too old for a kiss?”

他顿时笑意全无，他看到阿贝尔继续向下陷入床中。

His chuckle died as Abel kept sinking into the bed.

一阵寒意顺着赛尔温的脊梁蹿上来，他的儿子越陷越深，就像是床垫下面张开了一个深坑。在阿贝尔的哭喊声中，床单紧紧地裹住他的身体，然后开始反出亮光，变得越来越柔软湿滑，最后变成了一条红通通、脏兮兮的舌头。

A chill ran up Celwyn’s spine as his son sank lower and lower, as though a pit had opened up beneath the mattress. Abel cried out as the blanket wound tight around his body. It began to glisten, becoming slick and wet as it morphed into a red, spotted tongue.

赛尔温从惊恐的呆滞中猛然回过神。他向儿子伸出手，挣扎着想要抓住阿贝尔并把他拉出来。

Celwyn snapped free from the shock that had rooted him in place. He reached out for his son, struggling to get hold of Abel and pull him out.

但是那条舌头越缠越紧，越吞越深。

But the tongue only wound tighter, sliding deeper down.

木制的床沿随着一声锐响崩裂。锯齿状的碎木顶了上来，逐渐变得尖锐、发黄，逐渐钙化变成了一排排长牙。整张床变成了一张血盆大口，眼看就要将赛尔温的儿子一口吞下。

The edges of the bed splintered with a sharp crack. Jagged spars of wood rose, turning sharp and yellow as they calcified into fangs. The entire frame was transforming into a gigantic, hideous maw, poised to devour Celwyn’s son whole.

“阿贝尔！”他哭喊着，一股恶心的感觉让他差点跌倒。一缕缕黑雾钻出阿贝尔的口鼻，像逐渐成型的风暴一样在变了形的床上方盘旋。

“Abel!” he cried, staggering as he began to retch. Coils of dark mist feathered from his nose and lips, rising to swirl above the changing bed like a gathering storm.

那张巨口用力张大，像打哈欠一样发出一声令人耳膜破裂、血液凝固的尖叫。这不是伟大掠食者的咆哮，也不是野兽召集同类的嚎叫。在赛尔温听来这更像是婴儿诞生的第一声啼哭……差点就让人觉得是出于剧痛的啼哭。

The maw flexed, yawning wide as it released a deafening, blood-curdling scream. It was neither the roar of a great predator nor the howl of a beast gathering its kin for the hunt. It sounded to Celwyn like a birthing cry… almost as if it were in agony.

“爸爸！”阿贝尔发出尖叫，然后消失不见。

“Papa!” Abel screamed, before he vanished from sight.

巨口狠狠咬合。

The jaws snapped shut.

赛尔温弹坐起来，大口呼吸，抽了满满一腔凉气，用手抹了一把挂满冷汗的脸。他的双眼快速四下打量，在这没有光照进来的房间里什么都没看到。这是皮尔特沃夫的午夜，楼下街灯的光只能透过窗帘勉强看到。

Celwyn bolted upright, gasping, drawing in great lungfuls of air as he ran his hand down a face sheened in cold sweat. His eyes flitted around, seeing nothing in his lightless room. It was the middle of the night in Piltover, and the lamps of the city streets below were barely visible through the curtains of his window.

过了一会，他猛烈的心跳平复下来，思绪也开始冷静。他已经不记得上一次做噩梦是什么时候，也不记得有哪次噩梦如这般真实。

After a few moments, his heart stopped pounding, and his thoughts began to calm. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a nightmare, nor could he recall one as vivid and real as this one had been.

他想起自己的儿子。他应该下床，只要片刻，悄悄地看一眼阿贝尔。看看他有没有——

His mind went to his son. He should get out of bed, just for a quiet moment, to check on Abel. To see if he was—

“爸爸？”

“Papa?”

赛尔温望向说话声的方向。他的双眼已经逐渐适应了黑暗，足以辨认出儿子的小小身形，他正站在自己床尾。

Celwyn started at the sound of the voice. His eyes had slowly adjusted to the dark, enough to only now see the small shape of his son, standing at the foot of the bed.

“阿贝尔？”赛尔温疑惑地眨眼。“阿贝尔，你在这——”

“Abel?” Celwyn blinked. “Abel, what are you—”

“为什么？”男孩问道。

“Why?” asked the boy.

赛尔温皱起眉头“你在这干什么？你没事吧？”

Celwyn frowned. “What are you doing up? Are you alright?”

“你为什么要做那个梦，爸爸？”

“Why did you have that dream, Papa?”

“什么？”赛尔温睡意全无。

“What?” Celwyn asked, any trace of sleep gone from his mind.

“你为什么要那么做？”阿贝尔又问了一次，他的声音接近乞求的语气。赛尔温只能看到儿子面庞的轮廓，因为窗帘被拉上了……但他不记得自己拉过窗帘。“你不知道这正是他的食粮吗？”

“Why would you do it?” Abel said again, his voice taking on a pleading edge. Celwyn could only see the silhouette of his son’s face with the curtains drawn… but he didn’t remember drawing them. “Don’t you know that’s what feeds him?”

赛尔温突然感到很冷。他看向阿贝尔的身后，他在墙上留下了一个高大的影子。

Celwyn suddenly felt very cold. He looked up over Abel’s head, seeing the tall shadow that he cast over the wall.

那个影子不是他儿子的。

A shadow that was not of his son.

阿贝尔颤抖了一下，然后他的轮廓融入了墙上的影子中。刹那间，小男孩不见了，在越来越大的黑暗中一下消失得无影无踪。赛尔温向他伸出手，只看见阿贝尔的双唇之间吐出一丝绵薄的黑雾，正如刚才的梦境。

Abel shivered, and his silhouette melded into the shadow on the wall. In a moment the image of the boy was gone, fading rapidly to nothing in the growing darkness. Celwyn reached out to him, and watched a thin tendril of dark mist sigh out through Abel’s lips, just as it had in his dream.

随着一阵湿漉漉的气流鸣音，那个影子开始从墙上剥落。纯粹的恐惧让赛尔温动弹不得，眼睁睁地看着一个生物出现。这是一团有生命的黑影，外形有点像人类，躯干下面的身体像刀锋的尖端一样渐渐变成一条线。怪物的身体在摇曳，就像是赛尔温隔着一层荡漾的黑水看过去，一双冷峻的眼睛迎着他的目光，穿透了他的灵魂。

With a wet, burbling hiss, the shadow began to tear itself loose from the wall. Sheer terror seized Celwyn as he watched a creature emerge. It was like a living shadow, roughly human in form, its body tapering down beneath the torso like the tip of a blade. The monster rippled and wavered, as though Celwyn were viewing it beneath dark waters, with a pair of cold, staring eyes boring back into him, through to his very soul.

肾上腺素冲刷着赛尔温全身上下，逃命的动物本能激荡着他身体中的每一丝存在。然而纵使他用尽全力，纵使他的身体发号施令，他的心智却背叛了他。他瘫在原地，能做的只有眼睁睁看着，一个他以为只存在于床边故事中的东西出现在他眼前。

Adrenaline flooded Celwyn, the animal response of flight surging through every fiber of his being. But try as he might, no matter how his body demanded it, his mind betrayed him. He was paralyzed, incapable of being anything more than a witness to something he had believed only existed in old fables read by fathers to their sons.

一个怪物。真的怪物。

A monster. One that was real.

这个怪物的上下颌裂开了一条缝，露出了扭曲的长牙。然后它对他说话了，不知它是如何做到的，但它却用赛尔温自己的声音说出了他自己慌乱的内心想法

The creature’s jaws parted a fraction, revealing long, crooked teeth. Then it spoke to him, somehow repeating Celwyn’s panicked thoughts back to him with his own voice.

“你是什么？”它的嗓音粗哑。“你从哪来？”

“What are you?” it rasped. “Where did you come from?”

它突然贴进，悬浮在他头顶。午夜的漆黑从它的形体中滴落下来，如黑血融入空气，又如墨汁消散于大海。怪物拉长了双臂，末端扭转变平，构成了一对宽厚的、恶毒的刀刃，沿着他的爪子向前弯曲。

It surged closer, hovering over him. Drops of midnight fell from its form, bleeding away to nothing like ink in the ocean. The monster’s arms elongated, their ends twisting and flattening into broad, wicked blades that hooked over its claws.

赛尔温面色惨白，他的目光无法躲开这噩梦般的怪物，而它则弯下身来，恐怖的容貌与他的脸齐平。

Celwyn blanched, unable to look away from the nightmare creature as it bent down, bringing its horrifying visage directly level with his.

它对赛尔温轻轻说了一个字，然后就将双刃深深埋入他的心脏。它回答了他的问题，轻柔的声音是溺亡的人沉入深渊时的遗言。

It whispered a single word to Celwyn, before it buried its blades in his heart. An answer to his questions, spoken softly with the voice of a drowning man sinking into the darkest depths.

“你。”

“You.”

黎明来临，这座繁荣的商业城市用忙碌与喧嚣迎来清晨。都市沐浴着阳光，每扇窗户都闪耀着光彩，包括赛尔温卧室的窗。

Dawn came, ushering in the bustle and noise of the thriving merchant city. Sunlight bathed the metropolis, shining from every window, including that of Celwyn’s bedroom.

门的另一侧传来一个声音，紧接着是孩童小手的轻柔敲门声。“爸爸？”门把手慢慢转开，阿贝尔把门推开一道窄缝。“早晨啦！”

A voice came from the other side of the door, accompanied by the soft knock of a child’s tiny hand. “Papa?” The knob turned slowly, Abel cracking the door just enough for a peek. “It’s morning!”

男孩进入了父亲的房间，黑影随着门的敞开而退缩。阴暗避开了晨光，但不知为何，似乎比平时更慢、更不情愿。

The boy entered his father’s room, and the shadows withdrew as he opened the door wider. They slid back from the morning light, but somehow slower, more reluctantly than usual.

“爸爸？你在哪？”阿贝尔大喊道，恐惧钻进了他的声音里，他环顾屋子四周。

“Papa? Where are you?” called Abel, fear creeping into his voice as he looked around the room.

昏暗之中看不到他父亲的踪影，也没有任何其他人的迹象。然而，男孩无法抛开一个念头，有什么东西，正蜷缩于最黑暗角落中，在看着他。

There was no sign of his father, or of anyone else in the gloom. And yet, the boy could not shake the idea that something, crowded into the darkest corner of the room, was watching him.

阿贝尔咳嗽了一声，他并没注意到喘息带出的隐约霜气，而是转身走向客厅，关上了身后的门。

Abel coughed, not noticing the tiny wisp of mist that followed, before turning back toward the hall and closing the door behind him.