暗裔 Dark Kin

作者：Graham McNeill

韦鲁斯沿着一条沙漠中的河流前行。河水砂砾悬浊，但是可以饮用。虽然他为自己的长弓所织就的躯体健壮俊美、矫捷迅猛，但也伴随着肉身的弱点——它会饥饿，也会干渴。

Varus followed a river running through the desert. Its water was gritty, but drinkable. The new body he had wrought to bear his bow was beautiful, fast and strong, but it came with the weaknesses of flesh. It hungered. It thirsted.

几天前，一个单臂枯萎、近似鸟类的驼背生物告诉他这里就是恕瑞玛。但他觉得难以置信。在韦鲁斯的记忆中，恕瑞玛应该是一片荒芜的废土。

Days earlier, a crook-backed creature with a withered arm and birdlike features had told him this was Shurima, but that couldn’t be true. The Shurima Varus remembered had been a desolate wasteland.

“我已经被囚禁了这么久吗？”他自言自语道。

“Was I imprisoned for so long?” he wondered.

这副新生的唇舌发出的人类噪音令他鄙夷。这声音听起来低级又原始，但至少他能够再次开口说话了。至于他究竟被囚禁了多久……这很难说。他对于凡人计量时间的方式毫无概念，而那个鸟形生物也没认出来他究竟是什么。她根本不知道暗裔战争距今已有多少年岁。

He despised the human noises his new mouth made. It sounded bestial and primitive, but at least he could speak aloud once more. As to how long he had been imprisoned... it was hard to say. He retained no concept of how mortals measured time, and the bird creature hadn’t recognized what he was. She had no idea how far back the Darkin War had been fought.

“我的族裔曾经彻底毁灭过这个世界，”他说。“现如今，我们已经被遗忘了吗？怎么可能？”

“My kind all but destroyed this world,” he said. “And now we have been forgotten? How is that even possible?”

时间久了，即使是最沉重的恐怖也会渐渐褪去。

With enough time, even the greatest horrors can fade.

这个声音在他的脑壳里回荡，让他无法忽视。这是哪个人的声音？凯伊还是瓦尔茂？

The voice echoed in his skull, impossible to ignore. Which one was it? Kai or Valmar? He suspected Val, but mortal minds were so simple and muddy that it was hard to tell one from another.

“任何种族，若是忘记了凝视深渊，并时刻提防灭绝的危险，那它就不配久长。”韦鲁斯说。

“Any race that can forget staring into the abyss of its own extinction does not deserve to live,” said Varus.

我们从不忘记。这个声音是瓦尔茂，韦鲁斯认为。曾经的恐怖变成了神话，这样我们才能接受它们、理解它们而不会失去理智。

We don’t forget. This was Valmar, decided Varus. Horrors become myths so we can bear to hear them, so we can learn from them and not go mad.

这种想法完全是无稽之谈，韦鲁斯绝不会允许世人遗忘自己同胞的灭亡。他刚要说出决心，却听到了前方河流转弯处传来的噪音；人类的喊声、动物的叫声还有工具与岩石的碰撞。他向前飞奔，闪进一座废弃石碑的阴影之中，警惕地扫视着。

Such a notion was ridiculous, and Varus knew he would never allow the doom of his kind to fade from memory. He was about to say so, when he heard noises from around a bend in the river ahead; shouting voices, braying animals, and the sound of tools on stone. He darted forward, into the shadow of a toppled obelisk, and scanned ahead.

这条新形成的河流冲出了一座沉在沙土下的废墟，这是一片古老的建筑结构，散落着石柱和最古老的飞升者神像。是的，这就是他感知到的魔法的来源。古老的魔法。这正是那位火焰头发的女王用来奴役他们族裔的魔法。

The new river had exposed the sunken ruins of an ancient structure comprised of pillars and statues of the oldest Ascended. Yes, this was the source of the magic he had sensed. Old magic. The kind the flame-haired queen used to enslave his kind.

也正是把他囚禁在艾欧尼亚山石之下的魔法。

The kind used to imprison him beneath the rock of Ionia.

一群皮肤黝黑、瘦如饿狼的人正在废墟上忙碌。他们在挖掘隐藏的遗迹密室。四肢厚实的载重畜兽络绎不绝地拖走废墟深处掘出的岩石。一群武士穿着熟皮胸甲，握着钩镰枪，守在废墟外围。韦鲁斯咧嘴一笑，翻身跃上石碑，站稳脚跟的同时弯弓拉弦。弓身大力弯曲，紫红色的幽光蠢蠢欲动，一根紫电霹雳般的箭矢凭空出现。

Tanned, wolf-lean men worked the ruins, digging out hidden reliquary chambers as thick-limbed beasts of burden dragged excavated rocks from deeper inside the structure. Warriors wearing boiled leather breastplates and carrying hook-bladed spears guarded the perimeter. Varus grinned and vaulted onto the obelisk, drawing back on his bow as he landed. Violet light built in the living weapon as it flexed, and a coruscating arrow of lightning formed in the air.

你为什么一定要杀他们？这是凯伊。他痛恨不必要的杀戮。

Why must you kill them? This was Kai. He hated unnecessary killing.

韦鲁斯觉得自己的双手在颤抖——凯伊在竭力让他放下手中的弓。

Varus felt his hands tremble as Kai fought to make him lower the bow.

“你们毁灭了我的同胞，”韦鲁斯一边说，一边逼使自己的意志力稳住瞄准的手。“这一条就够了。”

“Your people destroyed my kin,” said Varus, exerting his will to steady his aim. “That’s the only reason I need.”

他顺着那根魔力迸发的箭矢看到了一名壮实的战士。他下巴的胡须编成几股辫子，头顶剃得溜光。他也看到了韦鲁斯，大喊出一声警告。

He sighted along the crackling arrow as a burly warrior with a forked beard and shaven scalp saw him, and yelled a warning.

所以你看到的人都得死？

So everyone you see must die?

韦鲁斯呼出一口气，再次吸气之前射出了箭矢。利箭一闪破空，射穿了那名战士的心口，在他的身体中间烧出了一个圆整的孔洞。他跪倒在地，大张着嘴，惊愕得不知所措。其他战士们开始投掷长枪，但韦鲁斯已经动了。他从石碑上跃起，同时射出炽烈血红的箭矢。他脚一落地，便顺势开始奔跑。

Varus exhaled, and in the space between breaths loosed the shot. It flashed through the air to pierce the bearded warrior’s heart, burning a hole clean through him. He dropped to his knees, his mouth wide with shock. Others hurled spears, but Varus was already moving. He sprang from the obelisk, sending a hail of blood-red bolts toward them, and hit the ground running.

一把钩镰枪朝韦鲁斯扫来。他向侧面飞扑，站起来并射出一双猩红的箭，穿过了对手的胸膛。韦鲁斯在废墟中奔跑、飞跃、冲刺。炽烈的光箭以绝对的精准烧穿目标的躯干。

A hook-spear swung at him. He dove to the side, rising to his feet and sending a pair of crimson shots through his attacker’s chest. Varus sprinted, leapt, and dashed through the ruins, blazing shafts of light striking his targets with absolute precision.

不过几秒钟。地上留下了十六具尸体，而他甚至还没流汗。瓦尔茂与凯伊的灵魂在他身体里悲痛难当，而他咧嘴大笑。每次杀戮都在撕咬他们、削弱他们，让他们的抵抗越来越无力。

In seconds it was over. Sixteen dead, and he hadn’t even broken a sweat. He felt the anguish of Valmar and Kai within him, and grinned. Every death gnawed at them, weakened them, and made them less able to fight him.

那些正在挖掘这座废墟城市的人们落荒而逃，丢掉了工具，跑向河边。韦鲁斯放过了他们。他们不足为虑，而且杀掉手无寸铁的凡人总是会激起体内那两个灵魂的逆反。

The men excavating the ruined city fled, throwing down their tools and running for the river. Varus let them go. They were an irrelevance, and the killing of mortals without weapons always provoked the two souls within him to greater rebellion.

韦鲁斯走进废墟，目光掠过一对猛犬和鳄鱼模样的雕像。废墟阴凉的内墙上绘满了生动的浮雕，许多巨大的圆盘发出金色的光芒，照耀着一片富饶的土地。石制地面上铭刻着一段魔法字符，看起来已经存在了许久，甚至早在艾卡西亚的反叛之前。

Varus entered the ruined structure, briefly glancing at a pair of canine and crocodilian statues as he passed. Inside, it was cool and dark, the walls covered in vivid bas-reliefs depicting wide discs spreading golden rays over a bountiful land. The stone floor was inscribed with a magical script that had been old even before Icathia’s rebellion.

“守护的法印。曾经强横，但已褪去。”韦鲁斯一边说，一边走过刻着法印的石板。他来到一个地方，这里曾经矗立过一座巨大的蛇首天神战士像。某次大灾让这座雕像坍倒在地。残垣断壁后是一间幽暗的石室。

“Warding sigils. Potent once, but faded,” said Varus, crossing the inscribed flagstones to where a towering statue of a great, serpent-headed god-warrior had once stood sentinel. Some past catastrophe had toppled it, and beyond its sandstone remains lay a lightless chamber.

韦鲁斯走了进去。石室中间微弱闷燃的火光映出的只有空空如也的石板，被远古的火焰熏得漆黑光滑。

He entered, the glow from the smoldering light at his heart revealing nothing but bare stone, burned black and glossy by ancient fire.

韦鲁斯叹了口气。“你在哪儿，姐妹…？”

Varus sighed. “Where are you, sister...?”