3-0 "

Another awakening, and her first. 又一次的蘇醒，同時也是她的第一次。 Each one awakens in the world of memories with nothing in her head. She is no exception. 任何人于這回憶的世界中蘇醒后，腦中記憶都是一片空白。她也不例外。 However, as light filters through her cornea the sensations that grip her are unusual.? 不過，當(dāng)光線映入她的瞳孔時，她感受到了不同尋常的事物。 Her heart stirs first, passionate, and she almost snarls at the building frustration.? 她的心跳首當(dāng)其沖地加快；激情四射，漸漸涌出的失落感讓她近乎咆哮起來。 She grips the clothes over her stomach, and thinks her ears might be deafened.? 她的手緊抓著覆蓋腹部的衣服，心想自己的耳朵可能要被震聾。 Her eye squints involuntarily, and she realizes with that that she only has a single eye rather than two.? 她的雙眼不自覺地瞇起來，而她這才意識到自己僅擁有一只眼睛。 She feels around her face. 她的面龐感受到了這一切。 "Wha...?" "什……？" She coughs, and pushes herself up.? 她咳嗽幾聲，然后撐起身子。 What she felt through her glove was something almost soft, surrounding something very solid in the place of her right eye.? 隔著手套，她觸摸到一種可以稱得上軟綿綿的物質(zhì)，正牢牢固定于她右眼的所在處。 She realizes she’s wearing gloves.? 她才發(fā)現(xiàn)自己帶著手套。 Looking over her body, she wonders why she’s wearing these clothes.? 朝自己的身體看去后，她不禁疑惑起自己為何會穿著這些衣服。 She wonders next why she knows what clothes are at all.? 接著，她不禁疑惑起自己為何知道衣服是什么東西。 She had been sleeping against a wall, and upon an inspection of her surroundings sees that there are three others to make a four-cornered place around her, and every one of them is in extreme disrepair.? 她方才背靠著一面墻睡覺。經(jīng)過觀察，她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的四周是另外三堵墻，殘破得不堪入目。它們將她圍在這沒有出路的空間中。 Looking up she sees that there's no roof, and questions why it is she'd expected to find one in the first place.? 抬起頭后，少女見這里并沒有屋頂，卻緊接著對自己為什么會覺得上頭理應(yīng)有個屋頂一事而感到納悶。 In fact, she recognizes where she is... vaguely.? 事實(shí)上，她察覺到自己身在何處……隱約地。 She trudges along the wall she'd slept against until she finds one she can step over.? 她沿著自己曾靠在上頭睡覺的墻走著，直到發(fā)現(xiàn)一處她能夠翻越過去的地方。 As she clears the bricks, she notices that they are entirely white.? 在清理那些磚塊時，她發(fā)現(xiàn)它們潔白無瑕。 Looking up, she sees that it isn't only this wall, but the entire world that's white.? 此時，她抬頭仰望，發(fā)現(xiàn)不僅這面墻是白色的——整個世界都是一片純白。 It is an infinite landscape of an old, defeated, human society, or rather a pastiche of several societies. 那是片一望無際的古老，潰敗的人類社會遺址，也可說成是多個文明的仿制品。 It's bizarre... Moreover: it is bizarre she finds it bizarre.? 這太詭異了……更詭異的是：她竟然會覺得這一切很詭異。 Why? 這又是為什么？ Before she even stumbles upon any reflective glass, she has already bet on tens of theories behind what she's seeing, and who she is.? 在她機(jī)緣巧合地發(fā)現(xiàn)那些反光的玻璃之前，她竟早已為自己目前所見的事物，以及她的身份，給予了數(shù)十種推測。 Even that she is alone, and that she doesn't know her name, tells her much about the potential truth. 即使是她如今孤身一人——而且連自己的名字都不知道——的事實(shí)，也為她闡述了可能性極高的推斷。 And, over time, she finds more reason for one theory in particular. 并且，隨著時間流逝，她發(fā)現(xiàn)的許多線索都指向她腦海中某一項(xiàng)特定的推測。 She was born with conviction and curiosity.? 她天生具有強(qiáng)烈的自信心與好奇心。 The world of white presents questions but no answers.? 這純白的世界只有著無盡的問題，卻從未出現(xiàn)過答案。 Days pass, and there are no answers within the ruins.? 幾天過去了，那些廢墟中沒有答案顯現(xiàn)。 Weeks pass, and there are no answers within the glass.? 幾周過去了，這些玻璃內(nèi)也沒有答案顯現(xiàn)。 Indeed, the world is full of glass, taunting always with views of other, more vivid and varied places.? 可以肯定的是，這世界充斥著玻璃、它們不斷地投射著其它形形色色的，更具生機(jī)的場所，仿佛在借此奚落著她。 Echoes, imprints of something real, exactly the world itself, so full of what must be copies of human invention.? 源于某種真實(shí)事物的回聲與痕跡，或者說是這世界本身，遍布著人類發(fā)明的仿制品。 After two months, though it could be more, she feels she has seen enough to believe something, and with confidence.? 在這兩個月里（雖然真正的時間可能更長），她覺得自己已經(jīng)看了足夠多的畫面以堅(jiān)信某個想法。 While atop a broken stairway someplace far away now from where she'd awakened some time ago,? 這一座破舊的階梯離她蘇醒的地點(diǎn)已有一段距離。 she gazes at an undulating and segmented portion of the sky:? 佇立于階梯頂端的少女，望向了天空中那起伏不平的截斷部分： a seemingly broken window to nothing, crafted from over a hundred shards of Arcaea.? 由數(shù)以百計(jì)的Arcaea所組建而成，那是一扇不通向任何地方的殘破窗戶。 She becomes sure of herself in this moment. She can bet her judgment is the truth. 這一刻，少女開始對自己的猜測深信不疑。她打賭自己的推理便是真相。 But it’s not enough, and never enough. It can’t be settled with speculation.? 但光憑這點(diǎn)還不夠——根本不可能足夠。這可不是光靠猜測就能確定下來的事情。 So she vows: this realm is a mystery, telling nothing and offering little, so she will solve it and find its reason.? 所以她在心中鄭重誓言道：這整片領(lǐng)域就是一個謎團(tuán)，不會講述任何事情，只會給出零星線索——所以她將解決這謎題，找出對應(yīng)的理由來。 As the only being of this realm, it seems, this will be her first duty. 作為這領(lǐng)域中唯一的活物，這仿佛成為了她第一個職責(zé)。 And as she fully accepts the Arcaea... 而就在她完全接納Arcaea的時候…… So too do the Arcaea fully accept her... Arcaea也完全接納了她…… ...as a vast and seemingly endless archive, not only to be read, but to be lived through. ……作為一間寬廣且看似無邊無際的檔案室——不僅等待著被閱讀，更等待著某個人來親身經(jīng)歷它們。

3-1 "

It’s early evening.? 夜色將至。 Outside, the twilight amber flowing out from the sun tries to slip by without pause, but the devices within the surrounding meadows catch and spool it, changing it to rays more similar to what might be cast from the moon. 屋外，太陽所溢出的琥珀色暮光馬不停蹄地想要從天際溜走，奈何被草坪中的那幾臺裝置捕捉并卷入，轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榻圃鹿獾娜岷蜕渚€。 The party has a certain atmosphere. Though there are no eyes without the manor, the fact is that maintaining an image is paramount to those of upper echelons.? 這場宴會帶有種獨(dú)特的氣氛。雖然莊園外一個人都沒有，但是對上流人士來說，保持形象似乎比任何事都來得重要。 She knows this, all of this, innately.? 她了解這一切——從一開始便是。 Sitting in a darker place, with sunlight captured and held at ceilings and staircases presently beyond her reach,? 她坐在較暗一點(diǎn)的地方，而被捕捉的陽光則重現(xiàn)于她如今無法觸及的天花板與階梯。 she considers the implications of this knowledge in calm and in silence.? 少女靜靜地思考著潛藏于那些淵博知識之中的涵義。 "Lavinia." "拉薇妮雅。" She looks up from her glass. The fiancé (dressed very well, almost stuffily, but in casual posture) is standing before her.? 她的視線從玻璃杯上移走。而她的未婚夫（穿著整齊，甚至能用古板來形容，但是姿態(tài)相當(dāng)輕松自如）正站在她的面前。 "What have you decided to drink tonight?" "想好今晚喝什么了？" She looks at it through her one proper eye. She answers: "Plum juice… Donovan." 她用那只正常的眼睛注視著杯子，答道："嗯，多納文……我點(diǎn)了李子汁。" "Keen," he says with a smile, looking out toward the rest of the room.? "不錯。"他笑著回應(yīng)，一邊環(huán)顧房間的四周。 She looks at his expression blankly. He smirks.? 少女茫然地瞧著他的表情，而他假笑著。 "Mum and the rest prefer cranberry—for health, they say—but..." he says, glancing at her again. "It's a bitter taste, isn't it? You don't like it either, do you?" "媽媽和大家都說蔓越莓汁更健康呢，不過……"他說道，并再次朝她瞥去，"喝起來也更苦，不是嗎？你也不喜歡吧？" She thinks, wincing. "I don’t." 她想了想，畏縮道："我不喜歡。" "And that is to the good." He chuckles, then turns away. "I'll go speak with Morgan. Join us whenever you like." "那就好。"他輕笑一聲，轉(zhuǎn)過身去，"我接下來要去跟摩根聊聊，不過隨時歡迎你加入我們。" She nods, and Donovan moves to their mutual childhood friend near the fireplace.? 少女點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭，多納文就走去壁爐旁的那群老朋友們身邊。 As always, images need to be maintained.? 一如往常，形象的維護(hù)是必不可少的。 The fire throws its light only a few feet out from the pit before the threads of it are wound away, stored into lanterns on the floor. The rest of the room is dark, but comforting. It's a setting to relax within. 在引線被卷起存入地上的燈籠前，那凹槽中的火焰只把自身的光輝投出幾英寸遠(yuǎn)。房間的其余場所一片黑暗，卻使人感到安心。 A few lanterns above give just enough illumination for reading, seeing each other's faces, and the spread of carefully selected portions of food along with bottles of drink.? 掛在上方的幾個燈籠剛好提供了足夠讓人們進(jìn)行閱讀、辨識各自面孔，以及分配經(jīng)過了精挑細(xì)選的食物和一瓶瓶飲料所需要的光線。 Just outside the room, through half-glass walls, an almost untame scene of wildflowers, stones, and streams is dimly visible: wrapped in a midnight blue, almost like satin.? 在那半面為玻璃的墻壁外部，如今室外景色模糊不清，隱約能夠辨識出野花、石頭與溪流：籠罩于深藍(lán)夜幕之下，仿佛一條綢緞。 There are twenty guests at the party, half in this room, the rest in the halls or somewhere in other studies—perhaps the library.? 宴會上有二十位來賓，一半在這個房間里，其他人可能在大廳或是某處的書房——或許是圖書館也說不定。 This is as much as she knows. 她所知道的只有這么多。 She drinks her juice, tastes it. She notes the sweetness, not having had much experience with plum juice herself.? 她細(xì)細(xì)品嘗了她的果汁。她從中感受到了一絲甜味，但這李子汁依然不能讓她產(chǎn)生多大的印象。 She recalls something about a better taste and sensation, but in the moment now she is compelled to focus on how the liquid feels along her tongue.? 少女顯然能回憶起某種更好的滋味和感覺，但現(xiàn)在她還是試圖讓思緒集中在舌尖上的味蕾。 However, she can make no true determination of it. It is remarkably unremarkable. 可惜，這依然不足以打動她，這味道實(shí)在是平凡得出奇。 She puts the glass down on the fanciful doily of the short table beside her.? 她將玻璃杯擱在一旁那張矮桌的奇異桌布上。 She sits, listens, and watches, touching the flower petals blooming from her other eye rather absently.? 她坐了下來，凝聽、觀察著四周，幾分心不在焉地?fù)崦谒牧硪恢谎壑芯`放的花瓣。 She hears Donovan say, "But to think they've done so much already. When I first heard of the idea, I was sure it wasn't possible." 她聽見多納文說，"但仔細(xì)想想，他們現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)做了那么多了。我第一次聽到這主意的時候，我甚至覺得這完全行不通。" "Well, Charles is quite sure it is," says another of the guests—not Morgan, but Nathalia.? "嗯，查爾斯對這一點(diǎn)十分確信。"另一位來賓說道——不是摩根，而是娜塔莉亞。 "Astounding," Donovan grants, running his fingers through the top of his hair.? "真讓人意外，"多納文認(rèn)同道，手指游離于發(fā)梢。 "A whole entire world, made by human hands," he says. "Mankind is quite something." "一個完整的世界，全部由人類的雙手打造……"他說，"我們?nèi)祟惪烧媪瞬黄稹?

3-2 "

Her eye had wandered to the flickering of a lantern, and now it seeks the expectant husband.? 片刻前，她的目光飄忽于燈籠搖曳的光線，現(xiàn)在她則找尋起自己的未婚夫來。 She reaches for her glass and takes a sip; it's enough to make her remember why she had put it down in the first place. 她再度伸手拿起玻璃杯，啜了一小口；這樣足夠讓她想起為什么當(dāng)初要把它擱在一旁了。 The matter of a created world is only really a fickle fancy of theirs. They do not discuss it much. They do not much understand it.? 創(chuàng)造世界的事情，根本只是他們腦中不可靠的幻想而已。他們沒有更深入地討論。他們其實(shí)并不了解它。 What little they might have to say of true interest, she can't, in fact, properly remember. Irritating.? 那群人究竟說過哪些他們真正感興趣的話題——說實(shí)話，她沒法準(zhǔn)確地回想起來。真讓人心煩意亂。 At times, it even feels to her like they aren't speaking at all. 有時候，她甚至覺得他們根本就沒在說話。 The girl grows impatient. She stands and passes out of the sitting room into more lavish, more evening- themed halls, passing rooms with which she's familiar, but only vaguely.? 少女開始感到厭煩。她起身離開客廳，走去那些更豪華，更有夜晚魅力的大廳；穿過幾間雖有親切感，但對她而言依然陌生的房間。 She explores, finding stretches of unlit, pitch-black paths, and doors that seem to be locked though their knobs bear no holes for unlocking.? 她將這兒探索了一遍，發(fā)現(xiàn)了一條未點(diǎn)燈的漆黑路徑，以及幾扇把手似乎上了鎖，卻看不見鎖孔的門。 What doors are open show rooms of a few men and women each, chatting too quietly to discern.? 能夠打開的那些門后方，是幾位男女在房里，聊天的聲音小到聽不清楚。 If they ever notice her presence, they only look her way a moment before returning to conversation or rest.? 他們雖然注意到她的存在，但只是瞥了一眼，就回到方才談話或休息的狀態(tài)。 She wants to go outside. 她想去外邊走走。 The manor has some technological sophistication to it, but is married to its ideals of old "class".? 先進(jìn)的科技遍布于這座莊園，但莊園整體卻與古老的"階級制度"理念相融。 Yes, the dimming canisters are curious, and the manufactured wilds are peculiar,? 沒錯，那些調(diào)光器十分奇特，而這整片人造的荒野也極為古怪。 but what interests her the most are the light-transforming machines in the gardens.? 不過這其中讓她最感興趣的科技，是安置在花園中的那些光能轉(zhuǎn)換裝置。 She knows of them, but has yet to see them firsthand.? 她雖然知曉它們，卻是初次親眼所見。 In a word, she is "curious". 用單個詞語來形容：她很"好奇"。 The humdrum of a social gathering so often repeated that this day feels like a thousand identical others is not something she wishes to dabble in long.? 人們總重復(fù)著單調(diào)乏味的社交活動，使今日與過去的千百天幾乎毫無差別，而她對涉獵此類日子毫無興趣。 Lives and creations are too fascinating to ever take either for granted.? 生命與創(chuàng)造皆無比迷人，從中選出一者難如登天。 But as she approaches the doors to the front driveway... 但就在她緩緩靠近通往前車道的大門時…… As her fingers slip upon the wood of the grand handles before her...? 就在她的手指觸摸到眼前那巨大的木把手時…… She knows, innately, that there is nothing past there, nothing for her.? 她明白過來，外頭沒有任何事物——至少對她而言，從一開始便是如此。 In the entire world, there is nowhere else she could be.? 這整個世界上，沒有任何其他能讓她容身的地方。 Her place is not in the meadows admiring mechanisms, it is in the sitting room with the husband-to-be.? 她的歸屬并不是于草坪中贊賞那堆機(jī)械科技，而是那間狹窄的準(zhǔn)夫妻起居室。 "Outside" is only an idea.? "外部"僅僅是個想法。 A fruitless, ephemeral concept. 一個毫無營養(yǎng)，轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝的概念。 That is not a favorable realization.? 這可不是個會讓她感到開心的領(lǐng)會。 Dropping her hand she turns and stands below the chandelier,? 她的手從門把手上滑落。隨即她轉(zhuǎn)過身，站在一盞吊燈底下。 each of its shards showing an image of somewhere else in the world, at this moment. Shifting, always, and speaking of places she cannot go.? 那吊燈上面裝飾的每一片鏡片都映照著這一刻的世界別處的景象——總是不斷地轉(zhuǎn)換，展現(xiàn)著那些她無法前去的場所。 Fading, almost celestial illumination hangs around the fixture, giving this place and that object a too-unreal quality.? 柔和的，宛如星空般的彩燈環(huán)繞在固定裝置的周圍，讓那物體與這整片場地都顯得過于虛幻。 Her eye, her lips, say nothing.? 她的眼神、她的嘴唇，未闡述任何思緒。 She trudges back into the mansion, with a small fire of discontent born within her.? 步伐聲中燃起些許不滿，她步履艱難地回到了宅邸之中。

3-3 "

A windstorm scatters petals around terrain behind the walls.? 一陣狂風(fēng)將墻后原野中的花瓣吹落一地。? Glints of white and sapphire catch the eye, and the youths of the party speak of the change favorably.? 純白與蔚藍(lán)的閃爍引起了人們的注意，宴會上的年輕人對這突然的變化紛紛表示稱贊。 Like magic. Wonderful. 就像魔法一樣。太美妙了。 She comes back into the lounge and witnesses the swirl of artificial nature, the splendor of a farce.? 她回到了休息室，也目睹了這場人造自然的旋風(fēng)，一場華麗的鬧劇。? She remembers the first time those flowers were scattered and thinks: she's rather had enough of "remembering".? 她尚且記得這些花朵初次被吹落的景象，想到：她已經(jīng)受夠"回憶"起那些事物了。? During the past several hours, she's tested the boundaries.? 在過去的許多個小時中，她對這兒的邊界進(jìn)行了一番研究。?

The windows were locked, the patio doors were barred, and the ventilation ducts were bolted.? 窗戶上了鎖，陽臺的落地窗門被封了起來，通風(fēng)口也被用螺絲固定著。 The question she had to all this was: "Are these shut because people shut them, or because I'm trapped in here?"? 她對現(xiàn)狀抱持的唯一疑惑是："這些去路被堵住——是因?yàn)槟侨喝硕伦×巳ヂ罚€是因?yàn)槲冶焕г谶@里了？" Metaphor and emotion often swayed the hearts of young girls, she found. It was difficult to determine the reality.? 她發(fā)現(xiàn)，暗喻與情感總會動搖少女們的心靈?，F(xiàn)實(shí)并不容易辨別清楚。? When she'd had enough of poking, prodding, turning things over, and wandering, she began to prattle on with other guests she knew to be acquaintances or friends.? 而當(dāng)她在摸遍、戳遍、翻遍、繞遍這地方后，她開始去找熟悉的來賓與朋友們一起閑話家常。? "The weather..." "最近的天氣……" "The King..."? "國王他……" "You know, the week before..."? "你知道嗎，上周……"? Tedious, and uninformative too.? 枯燥乏味，而且毫無營養(yǎng)。? Certain lines of questions were met with incredulity or with nothing at all, as if the questions hadn't been asked—as if she hadn't spoken.? 雖然有提問從她的嘴中蹦出來，卻只會被懷疑一番，甚至完全被他們忽視。就像那些疑問從未被問出口——好像她根本就沒有說過話一樣。? What she mainly wanted to know about—engineering, technology, progress—seemed to especially draw out nothing from the other guests.? 她最想知道的情報——機(jī)械工程、科技與發(fā)展——顯然在這些來賓身上是套不出來的。 With her frustration growing, she took to listening in instead, and eventually heard:? 就在她變得越來越沮喪的時候，她選擇在一旁聆聽對話，終于聽見：? "It's little more than a globe of dirt now. We'll terraform it soon, I'm told."? "它現(xiàn)在可不止是個泥球了。我聽說我們很快就能夠完成地球化呢。"?

And asking about that... led nowhere as well.? 她對那個話題發(fā)問……但仍舊沒有得到任何回應(yīng)。 That was quite enough to know, however, and so she entered the lounge again.? 不過有這條信息就差不多足夠了，所以她再次進(jìn)入走廊。? She stands in it now, watching the storm, and relating to it.? 如今她佇立在那里，靜靜地觀望著那場風(fēng)暴，將自己與其聯(lián)想。? The girl steps past the fiancé, who smiles at her presence.? 她輕步走過她的未婚夫身旁。他見到她，對她露出一絲微笑。 He greets her with, "Lavinia, you're back,"? 他打招呼道，"拉薇妮雅，你回來啦。" and she rests her gaze on his lapel.? 而她凝視著他的西裝衣領(lǐng)。 He takes no particular notice of this. 他對此未察覺分毫。? The players always seem to act in such a way. What stands out, what's unusual, is given no mind.? 演員們總是依照同一種方式演出。何事脫穎而出，何事不同尋?！紡奈幢蝗藗兯谝?。? Bolder and bolder she's gotten, but they remain always steadfast to their routines.? 她的行為越來越大膽，但他們依舊遵照自己的習(xí)慣行動。? To maintain the image, correct?? 因?yàn)榈帽３中蜗螅瑢Π桑? She decides to ask, outright, one question she burns to have answered. 她決定直截了當(dāng)?shù)貑柍瞿情L久以來壓迫在她心頭的問題。? "The man-made world... it isn’t made of glass?"? "人造的世界……它難道不是玻璃制造的嗎？"? "...Hm? What on...? Of course not, Lavinia. It’s not a bauble."? "……呃？你在說什……？當(dāng)然不是啊，拉薇妮雅。這可不是個玩笑。"? Her eye goes wide. Her pupil constricts.? 她睜大了眼睛，瞳孔收縮。? Of all the things, that had been it.? 在所有的疑問中，就只有這個得到了回應(yīng)。

Donovan looks over her shoulder and through the walls, saying,? 多納文的視線越過她的肩頭，仿佛望著墻后更遙遠(yuǎn)的地方。他說： "At any rate, isn't it lovely? Almost as lovely as you..." "不管怎樣，這不是很令人喜愛嗎？幾乎就像你一樣惹人憐愛……"? But she doesn't reply.? 但她沒有作出任何回應(yīng)。 Recognizing his answer as confirmation, she settles on a decision.? 他的回答間接印證了少女的假設(shè)，因此她下定了決心。? As the spiral of flowers beyond flow almost serenely through the air, she moves to the table of foodstuffs, and stops before the breads.? 就在空中以螺旋狀飛舞的花瓣要平靜下來的時候，她走向擺滿食物的長桌，駐足于面包。? Donovan continues.? 多納文滔滔不絕地說著。 "I'm told the world they've made will have shows like this across sprawling, endless valleys. Right now, it's only barren.? "我聽說，他們塑造的世界最終會像是錯綜蔓延的山谷，沒有盡頭。現(xiàn)在，它就只是一片荒地。 A concept, you know?" 這是個概念，你明白嗎？"? She stops her hand over a handle, listening.? 她靜靜聆聽，將手搭在一個握柄上。? "But it'll surely be a delight in time, for those who can afford a spot on it.? "但是對于那些擁有足夠能力包攬下來一塊地的人來說，這絕對是件十分開心的事。 And think of the potential, Lavinia."? 你想象一下那塊新土地的可能性，拉薇妮雅。"? She exhales.? 她嘆了一口氣。 It's been another fruitless trip.? 又是次不會有任何結(jié)果的嘗試。 Her hand closes on fine, smoothed wood. 少女的手握住那精巧而又光滑的木頭。? She turns swiftly and steps to the awaiting husband, swinging her hand out toward his neck.? 她靈巧地轉(zhuǎn)過身，朝正等待著她的未婚夫邁出步子，將自己的手甩向他的頭頸。? The bread knife's teeth stop in his skin.? 面包刀的鋸齒止于他的皮膚。? Without feeling—without even a spark of animosity—she wordlessly cuts across the boy's throat, and watches closely to see what comes out.? 不帶任何情感——甚至未含敵意的火花——她一言不發(fā)地刺穿了這男孩的喉嚨，貼近凝視著將要迸發(fā)而出的事物。

3-4 "

It isn't blood. 這東西不是血。 It isn't anything.? 這東西什么都不是。 The gentleman's throat is cut in what should be an awful way... but the memory lacks a concept of what "awful" would be.? 這位紳士的喉嚨以一種很糟糕的方式被割了開來……但是這段記憶之中缺少了"可怕"的概念。 Instead of a shredded, vicious image, his neck now looks akin to torn and crumpled paper.? 與其說這是一幕破碎，殘忍的畫面，他的脖子現(xiàn)在看來更像是布滿皺褶又遭撕裂的紙張。 Inside is not "shadow" but "negative space": a void inside his body.? 里頭充斥的不是"陰影"，是"負(fù)空間"：他的身體里存在著整一片虛空。 The edges of the wound flicker weakly with some white light, and off the blade of the knife she'd used to strike him, vibrant shards float aloft... simply hanging in the air.? 傷口的邊隙上閃爍著星星點(diǎn)點(diǎn)的微弱白光，亮晶晶的碎片沿著她用來刺穿他的刀刃滑落下來，浮于半空……單純地懸掛于空氣之中。 And Donovan can't comprehend it. Many of the patrons, too, are in awe and horror of her act.? 多納文無法理解這一刻發(fā)生的事。大多數(shù)的來賓也因她的舉動而感到畏懼萬分。 People fall, women faint, and Donovan reaches for his neck.? 人們倒在地上，幾位女士昏了過去，多納文則伸手去摸自己的脖子。? Some men leap for her, pull back her forearm and hold her at her neck.? 幾個男人撲向她，將她的前臂拉至后方，并用力勒住她的脖子。 She grips the knife tightly, and with a dull expression stares into the husband's bewildered eyes. 少女緊握著手中的面包刀，呆滯的表情映入丈夫迷茫的眼神。 While she hardly struggles with the guests apprehending her, she spots behind Donovan a girl in absolute hysterics on the floor.? 雖然她并未對賓客的壓制行動作出任何掙扎，但她注意到在多納文的身后，有名女孩陷入了歇斯底里的恐慌。? The sound of her voice becomes increasingly distorted, beginning to crackle and fluctuate in volume.? 她喉嚨深處爆發(fā)出的聲音愈加扭曲，響度如同波浪般起伏，于空氣中炸裂開來。? Already, then: the memory has broken. 此刻，這段回憶已然破碎。 This wasn't how it went. Even the most time-changed memories could not be altered so.? 事情原本不該這樣發(fā)展。就算再怎么經(jīng)歷時變，一段記憶也不該成為這種模樣。 For a wife to, unprompted, attack her husband this way during a moment of peace... 一名妻子，在如此安逸的時刻，無緣無故地突然出手傷害了自己的丈夫…… She'd hoped to provoke a reaction, and is thus satisfied by this result.? 她曾希望引起所有人的注意力。而現(xiàn)在看來，她的愿望已經(jīng)達(dá)成了。 Although a few of the other people in the room are unfazed by the commotion, and some even seem to have lost their faces entirely, alteration of a memory to this extent is a veritable first.? 雖然房間里有少數(shù)的人面對這股騷動仍心如止水——甚至有些人就像搞丟了人臉，沒法做出表情一樣——但是這段記憶的確是第一次經(jīng)歷了如此巨大的變化。 This, at least, has been a success. 至少在這一點(diǎn)上，她成功了。 The world begins to crack, fractures appearing wherever she can see.? 這片世界開始崩毀，裂痕顯現(xiàn)于她所能看見的任何一個角落。 Reality afterward looks almost wrinkled from it. 其后出現(xiàn)的現(xiàn)實(shí)事物，看上去像要因這段碎裂的記憶而出現(xiàn)褶皺一般。 She says to herself, "Making entire worlds for vacation... Surely there would be better uses for that." 她自言自語道："比起讓這整串世界成為度假勝地……這些事物肯定有更高的利用價值。" She lets go of the bread knife and sighs, seeing how it can't move from the space where she'd abandoned it.? 她放開了那把面包刀，見那東西就這樣禁止于原地?zé)o法移動，嘆了口氣。 "Not a peep about 'memory', 'echoes', 'reflections'—importantly, not 'glass'..." "這可不是在偷看'記憶'、'回聲'、'倒影'——值得一提，也絕對不是'玻璃'……" The room constricts.? 房間開始漸漸地收縮。 "This was another worthless dream." "又是場毫無價值的夢。" The planet divides.? 這顆星球隨之分裂了。 White blears and obscures, briefly flashing everywhere as the image is demolished.? 當(dāng)那片映像被摧毀后，四周飛速閃爍著白色的渾濁霧影。 In a rush of every remembered sound contained in that recollection, in that slip of glass,? 那片回憶——那片玻璃中蘊(yùn)含的所有聲響化作急流一涌而出。 she stands with her eye shut until luminescence and noise fade.? 她閉上雙眼，站在原地，耐心等待周圍混亂的光線與雜音消散。 She opens her eye to faintly glittering empty space,? 過后，她張開雙眼，映入眼簾的虛空中只剩下飄散的微弱熒光。 her mind twists,? 她的心情無比復(fù)雜。 and after another wave of effulgent pain she sees again the world with which she is both most familiar with, and most confounded by: 在又一陣絢麗的痛苦感消散后，她再次見到了她所最為熟悉，卻最無法摸透真相的世界： The world of white and ruins.? 純白與廢墟的世界。 The memory-shaped realm of Arcaea.? 由記憶所構(gòu)建而成——Arcaea的領(lǐng)域。 "I'd had a good feeling about this one," she mumbles, watching the rotation of a shard just above her palm.? "我其實(shí)挺喜歡這一片，"她喃喃自語道，注視著正于她手掌之上轉(zhuǎn)動的碎片， "But it wasn't responsible for this world's creation, and it was almost empty to boot.? "但它和這世界的誕生無關(guān)。況且它現(xiàn)在也只是個空殼了。 Hmph. If I can watch them, let me remove them too..." 唉……如果我可以觀看它們，也請使我能夠把它們趕出我的腦袋吧……" She dismisses the glass, not looking as it returns to the space where she'd found it: a glinting, sharpened river flowing above the ground.? 她放手那片玻璃，沒有再去看一眼。碎片回到了當(dāng)初她找尋到它的地方：從地面流過的一條銳利，閃爍的河流。 The girl named Saya stares off into the plain horizon, stepping forth while touching her lip absently, and reviewing the events of the recent memory, comparing them all to the wealth of a thousand others.? 這名為咲彌的少女將目光投送至遠(yuǎn)處狹長寬廣的地平線，一邊無意識地摸著嘴唇，向前邁著步子，一邊回想著方才記憶中的場景，將其蘊(yùn)藏的價值與數(shù)千個同類進(jìn)行著比較。

3-5 "

"In these other places, humans can act as gods." "在那些地方，人類可以成為上帝。" That is what she learned.? 這是她得出的結(jié)論。 The girl with a flower in her eye closes the book of that memory in her mind.? 眼中有花朵綻放的少女在腦中合上了記憶之書。 It hadn't been completely worthless, only mostly.? 這算不上完全毫無意義——頂多是一大半毫無意義罷了。 It had frustrated her at first: the world she had visited was one she had quickly deemed frivolous,? 她剛開始時曾感十分沮喪：她所造訪的那個世界幾乎是被她立即斷定為不具有任何價值， but the frivolity revealed something important to her about the potential of mankind.? 但那看似無意義之處卻向她展示出人類重要的潛力。 Still... for now... that wasn't very important. 不過……照目前來看……這還不是很重要。 More than theories on "how", theories of "why" compelled her onward.? 勝過關(guān)于"如何"的假設(shè)，有關(guān)"原因"的假設(shè)更加迫使她繼續(xù)前行。 This had been another of her journeys out through the ruins of the world in a scattershot hope of discovering that answer, or to even brush against it tangentially.? 這是她的又一場旅程，穿越這世界內(nèi)大量的廢墟，懷抱著沒有根據(jù)的希望，只為找尋答案，或者至少找到一條打了擦邊球的線索。 That was always her focal drive,? 這向來都是使她走下去的重要動力。? but a secondary one had been made manifest after she'd witnessed about two hundred of the memories.? 但如今，她的第二個目標(biāo)浮現(xiàn)了出來——大約在她目睹過兩百段回憶之后。 "It didn't have anything new for a potential reconstruction," she whispers, beckoning a shard from a nearby, sparse stream of glass,? "似乎是找不到任何可能用于重建的新東西了。"她低語道，從近處稀疏的玻璃溪流中召喚過來一片碎片， "but I suppose it's good that it had some sort of value." "但我倒認(rèn)為，哪怕它們有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)價值都是件好事。" She lets the gleam of the new piece catch her eye, and she scrutinizes the vision of the past it offers, muttering absently, "Almost home..." 這一片玻璃所散發(fā)的光芒吸引了她的目光，而少女也仔細(xì)地觀賞了它所帶來的過往景象，心不在焉地咕噥道，"就快要到家了……" She carries the fragment over her palm, crossing a bridge with which she's become very familiar.? 她將碎片留于掌心，穿過一座對她而言極為熟悉的橋梁。 On her left is a haphazard pile of what once might have been cities, on her right is a chaotic mass of glass and stone—recognizable as nothing.? 在她左手邊的是一片雜亂無章的廢墟，也許曾經(jīng)是座城市；她的右手邊則是混亂成堆的玻璃和石頭——相當(dāng)于什么都不存在。 She marches the long way back to the place where she was "born", uncaring of how many steps it takes. 她沿著這遙遠(yuǎn)的路途前進(jìn)，終于回到了她"出生"的場所，不去在意自己究竟走了多少步。 She takes however long she needs to reach and stop before a place of four fallen walls,? 她花了她所需要花費(fèi)的時間，抵達(dá)了有著四面坍塌墻壁的地方。 between them an immense sphere of shimmering crystal—an unfinished sphere broken apart, like a cracked shell.? 墻壁之中有著一顆閃閃發(fā)光的巨大水晶球——一個尚未完成的破碎球體，看著宛如碎裂的貝殼一般。 Smiles, tears, deaths, and celebrations flicker in and out its facets.? 笑容、淚水、死亡與歡慶在它的表面不斷閃爍。 Flowers, plains, deserts, oceans... Animals, people, technology...? 鮮花、曠野、沙漠、海洋……動物、人類、科技…… She doesn't know if she can recreate a world by piecing together memories.? 她并不知道自己是否能透過拼湊回憶來重建一個世界。 She doesn't even know if she can truly "connect" them at all by gathering them together like this...? 她甚至不清楚自己能不能就靠將它們以如此形式聚于一處，便讓它們"連結(jié)"在一起……? But she can try. 但她想要嘗試一下。 She squints lightly to the gleam of the new piece she's brought.? 少女手上的新碎片所散發(fā)出的光芒使她微微瞇起眼睛。 "Let's see how much you can show me," she says aloud.? "就讓我看看，你能展示給我多少事物吧。"她大聲說道。 So it opens, and the girl fades into a new time.? 它打開一個通道，而少女也緩緩融入了這一段新時間中。 In short order, she sees a world brimful with artificial glow, crowded by endless and nigh-infinite towers of man reaching through clouds of an evening sky, and dark vehicles roaring through the air.? 頃刻間，她看到了一個人造光芒充盈的世界，幾乎無窮無盡地遍布著沖破了夜空云層的人造摩天大樓。在大樓之間，暗色的車輛破空而過。 An unpleasant atmosphere flows into her lungs. Cacophony fills her ears.? 一股令人不快的氣體涌入了她的肺部。刺耳的噪音充斥了她的雙耳。 As she assumes an identity, assumes a new past, she looks on, unmoved.? 她擬造了一份人格，也擬造了一段過往——面對著這一切，她泰然自若。 A hundred questions rise in her mind... She will have them answered.? 數(shù)百個問題浮現(xiàn)于她的腦海，而她將會對其逐個進(jìn)行解答。 No matter what that takes, no matter what needs to be done. 無論將要付出何等的代價，也無論需要做什么事情。