另一种饥饿 A Different Hunger

作者： Ian St Martin

我与妻子吻别，将长枪靠在肩上，加入了其他人的行列，离开了村庄。晨曦初照，斜穿过茂密的土库古尔森林，我们一行六人沿着一条破旧的土路走向哨站。我们轻装简行，因为我们这班哨岗只站到下个月，然后就会有另一队长枪兵接替我们。土库古尔与诺克萨斯接壤，而他们最近愈发强烈的好战性已经让领主大人们紧张起来，要求手下的所有长矛都尖锐锋利。

With a kiss to my wife and resting my spear against my shoulder, I joined my fellows as we left the village. The morning was new, dawn stretching through the thick forests of Tokogol as the six of us made our way to the watch point by a worn dirt path. We were travelling light, as our vigil would only last until the next moon before another band of spearmen took our place. Tokogol shared borders with Noxus, and its increasing belligerence of late had stirred the house lords to ensure that all of their spears were honed.

我们的旅途短暂而又平淡，这是士兵的梦想。半日路程的后段，我们看到了哨站升起的烟火信号，一柱淡淡的烽火白烟欢迎着我们的到来。同伴们的心情很轻松，闲聊着自己好兄弟和邻居的事。虽然我们的职责是在边疆寻找战争的迹象，但战争对于土库古尔来说还是个很陌生的概念。

Our journey was short and uneventful, a soldier’s dream. The better part of a half day’s march brought us within sight of the outpost, and we pointed as the signal fire was lit, welcoming us with a column of thin, white smoke. The mood among my comrades was light, the easy talk of bonded brothers and neighbors. Though our duty was to watch the frontier in search of any sign of it, war in Tokogol was a distant thought.

到达以后，我们发现营寨围栏的大门敞开，也没有安放任何阻隔，但却没有暴力破坏的痕迹。一种奇怪的感觉油然而生，一股寒意在我们所有人的后脊梁上跳动着。我能在其他人身上看得到的寒意，与我自己感受到的一样真实。

When we arrived, we found the gates to the stockade open and unbarred, yet not broken or forced. An odd feeling crept over us, like a chill dancing up our spines. I could see it in the others, just as surely as I felt it in myself.

我们组成了小盾墙阵，三人一排，前后两排推进营寨，我们以为会看到一片狼藉——破败与毁灭，诺克萨斯的迹象。

We formed a tiny shield wall, two ranks of three men, and entered the stockade expecting to find slaughter—ruin and destruction, with signs of Noxus for all to see.

但什么迹象都没有。

But we found none of this.

我们眼前的景象和任何哨站都没什么两样。薪柴燃尽只剩下余烬，柴堆上的炊具里盛满了食物。挂起来的衣服还没晾干，昨夜的灯笼还留在柱子上。我们警觉地交换眼神，面面相觑。似乎我们的同袍是直接消失了的。

What we discovered was the picture of an outpost no different than any other. The fires had crackled down to embers beneath cooking pots that were still full. Clothes hung drying, and the lanterns were still on their poles from the night before. We looked at each other in alarm, in confusion. It was as if our comrades had simply disappeared.

“这里怎么能变成这样的？”贝尔小声说道。我们的盾墙拉成一条直线，然后四散开来在哨站里搜索生命的迹象。

“What could have happened here?” whispered Bel. Our wall straightened and broke as we searched the outpost for any sign of life.

“他们是不是被俘虏了？”奥赖克问道。

“Could they have been captured?” asked Ulryk.

我靠近营寨的内壁。一条木料被烧灼得比沥青还黑。我伸出手，指尖刚刚碰到焦木，就碎裂成了粉末，露出一环平滑的木坑。其他人也在营寨各处发现了类似的痕迹，但没人能猜得透这些痕迹是如何留下的。

I approached a wall of the stockade. A stripe of the timber was burnt blacker than pitch. I reached toward it, and the barest touch of my fingertips sent it crumbling, revealing a crater of smooth wood underneath. The others found similar marks across the camp, though none of us could fathom how they had been made.

一声吼叫让我们立刻摆好战斗的蹲姿。“快来！”

A cry sent us all back into a warrior’s crouch. “Come quick!”

是亚弗恩的声音。我们立刻跑向他的位置，他正站在一具尸体旁边。

It was Afron. We ran to him, finding him standing over a body.

“是豪赖恩”他看着我们说。“皮匠家的孩子。”

“It’s Halryn,” he said, looking to us. “The tanner’s boy.”

地上的年轻人肤色惨白，像婴儿一样蜷缩在那里。我们没有在他身上看到任何战斗的痕迹，没有血，也没有伤口。

The young man was pale, lying fetal on the ground. We saw no sign of battle on him, no blood or wounds.

我抽出小刀。蹲了下来，将刀身放在豪赖恩的鼻子下。天很冷，浅薄的呼吸在钢刃上留下的霜气映出了缓慢、僵硬的节奏。

I drew my knife. Sinking to my haunches, I brought the blade beneath Halryn’s nose. The day was cold, and shallow puffs of breath clouded the steel in a slow, stilted rhythm.

“他还活着，”我一边说，一边伸手扶起他的肩膀。我刚把他扶到仰卧位，我们所有人立刻都跳开了。

“He yet lives,” I said, reaching for his shoulder. We leapt away as soon as I’d rolled him onto his back.

豪赖恩睁开了双眼，但眼中空无一物。在我们看来，他还存在意识，但他的右眼死死盯着天空，黯淡无光。

Halryn’s eyes were open, yet there was nothing there. From what we could tell, he was conscious, but his right eye simply stared up at the sky, empty of light.

这不是我们跳开的原因。

That was not what we had recoiled from.

“天神在上，”奥莱克惊呼道。亚弗恩吐了一滩口水辟邪，我们也都效仿他。

“By the gods,” Ulryk breathed. Afron spat to avert evil, and we joined him.

豪赖恩原本左眼的地方只剩下了一个黑洞洞的坑。我这辈子见过许多次战斗，也知道刀枪剑戟留下的痕迹，但据我所知没什么武器能留下这样的伤口。这个洞太圆、太光滑，绝不符合战斗的狂乱。年轻人的脸上也没有因伤而来的痛苦表情。

Where Halryn’s left eye had been, only a dark pit remained. I had seen enough battle in my time to know the telltales of a spear or blade, but no weapon I knew could have made such a wound. It was too clean, too precise for battle’s disordered frenzy. No pain marked the boy’s face from the horrific injury.

“什么东西能把他弄成这样？”贝尔不解地问道。“野兽？还是瘟疫？”

“What could have done this to him?” Bel demanded. “Some beast? A plague?”

想到这里我们不禁又后退了一步。“不，”开尔皱起眉头，一只手下意识地摸了摸挂在腰间装着药草和药膏的袋子。“没有化脓的迹象。这不是疾病。”

We shrank back from the body at the thought. “No,” Caer frowned, his hand straying to the satchel of herbs and poultices at his waist. “No sign of festering. This wasn’t disease.”

“找到其他人，”贝尔命令道。“抓紧。”

“Find the others,” ordered Bel. “Now.”

我们一个接一个找到了他们。这些都是我们认识的人，来自我们的村庄，有渔夫也有铁匠。所有人左眼都带着同样的伤，全都溃散成同样的精神状态。他们看上去十分安详，而也正因如此显得愈发恐怖。

One by one, we found them. These were men we knew, men of our village who sold fish and hammered steel. All bore the same wound to their left eye, all reduced to the same catatonic state. They appeared almost serene, and all the more horrifying for it.

亚弗恩看了看贝尔。“我们怎么办？”

Afron looked to Bel. “What do we do?”

“我们必须发出警告，”奥莱克说。

“We must give warning,” said Ulryk.

“警告人们什么？”开尔问。“我们都不知道这里发生了什么。”

“Of what?” asked Caer. “We have no idea what is happening here.”

他们争吵起来。他们的声音碰撞重叠。但在所有声音之上，我注意到空气中出现一股烟的味道。

They argued. Voices clashed and overlapped. Above it all, I noted the smell of smoke in the air.

“等等。”

“Wait.”

其他人停了下来，回头看向我。我咽了一下口水。

The others stopped, looking back at me. I swallowed.

“如果他们都已经这样了，”我指了指身后的烟火信号，“那是谁点燃的烽——”

“If they are all in this state,” I pointed back to the signal fire behind us, “then who lit the beac—”

我们谁也没反应过来发生了什么，只见奥莱克飞到了半空中。一道耀眼的闪光让我什么都看不见，但我瞥到闪光中映出一个巨大的黑影。空气中充斥着战友们吐出的誓言、祈祷和咒骂。但随着一记如同长鞭抽打的爆裂声响，他们的声音全都静止了，接踵而至的是一声令人胆战心惊的尖叫。

Ulryk was in the air before we knew what was happening. A blinding flash stole my sight, but I glimpsed a huge, darkened shape against it. Oaths, prayers and curses filled the air from my comrades’ lips. They were silenced by a crack like a bullwhip, followed by an overwhelming, fizzing shriek.

当我再次能看得见的时候，我发现自己在地上。

When I could see clearly again, I was on the ground.

我低下头看到自己双腿摊开，已经残破。其他的战士们，我的兄弟和朋友们，都在盯着头上的天空。

I looked down to see my legs splayed, broken. Other warriors, my brothers and friends, lay staring up at the sky above.

我只能听到一个人的声音，于是转过头去。我眼睁睁地看着刚满十六岁的亚弗恩在那怪物下面挣扎。他沐浴在惨烈的紫光之下，它的一条肢体埋入他的眼睛，深入他的头颅。他的尖叫停止了，成为和其他人一样的驱壳。

I heard only one other voice, and turned. I could only watch as Afron, a youth of barely sixteen, struggled beneath the monster. Bathed in harsh violet light, he writhed as one of its appendages sank into his skull through his eye. His screams stopped as he became a mere husk, like all the others.

然后那个怪物将恶毒的凝视投向我的方向。

Then the monster turned its baleful gaze in my direction.

一瞬间，它已笼罩在我上方。我抬头看到了那只膨隆的独眼，感受到一股超越想象的饥饿。这种饥饿并非渴求血肉，而是某种更深层的东西。我的灵魂在这样一个深远的边缘摇摇欲坠，而它无情的饥饿正在拖拽着我。

In an instant, it was looming over me. I looked up into that single, swollen eye, and sensed a hunger beyond imagining. A hunger not of flesh, but something far deeper. My soul teetered on the edge of this abyss, its merciless hunger pulling…

不。

No.

我是汉尼斯·凯达恩，我是一名战士，是土库古尔的长枪。我拒绝让它如愿以偿地得到我的惨叫，即便它的触手已经刺入我的眼睛。我没有感到疼痛——

I am Hennis Kydarn, a warrior and a spear of Tokogol. I refused to give it the satisfaction of my cries, even as its tentacle knifed down through my eye. There was no pain—

——因为这是我的工作。分析的过程也是可以造成肉体上的痛苦的，只要我愿意，但此处并非关键。我已经学会了许多疼痛，以及疼痛的用法。

—as I work. The analysis can inflict physical pain, should I desire it, but that is not critical here. I have learned much of pain, and its uses.

该对象的信息很珍贵，正如所有知识都同样珍贵。一处定居点，相互关联，城堡。一个特别的雌性个体，以及后代……该对象拒绝我对该部分内容的分析，但这个问题很容易克服。This one’s information is precious, as all knowledge is. A settlement, interactions, castes. A particular female of the species, and offspring… This one resists my analysis of those, but it is a simple thing to overcome.没有其他可以食用的了，我来到了这里，来散播我所收集到的。With nothing more to consume, I travel here, to disseminate what I have collected.我下面的深谷是一根导管，用于将信息传送给真实领域。这个世界里栖息的生物将我们的领域命名为虚空。这些实体所编制的诗意是如此奇妙——这奇妙的诗意也恰恰说明了我的任务距离完成还有多远。The rift beneath me is a conduit for information to be passed into the true realm. The creatures that inhabit this world have designated our domain as the Void. Such curious poetry these entities weave—a curiosity that illustrates how far my task is from completion.我周围的宇宙充满了知识、力量和遥远的土地，我要把它们全部收集。现在，我献出这些信息，未来，我将献出剩下的全部。A universe of knowledge surrounds me, of great power and distant lands, and I shall collect it all. I offer this information, now, and all of the rest to come.接收。Accept.吞噬。Consume.学习。

Learn.