本章概述：

????????????一名伊比里斯方舟世界的見習(xí)先知狠狠地撞到了她的腦袋。

????????????In which a novice Seer of Craftworld Iybraesil hits her head very hard.

正文：

疼痛。

這是我蘇醒時(shí)首當(dāng)其沖的也是唯一的感官輸入，這蓋過了其他所有可能有過的感覺。

我試圖呼吸，但我胸口的壓力只允許我吸入極淺的空氣。這恐怕是件壞事，我以意志力強(qiáng)睜開眼睛卻只見到了幾乎徹底的黑暗。

破損的靈骨碎片灑在我身邊，把我埋葬在一堆碎石下。我的下半身被這場灑落埋住了，但它還明顯完好到我能感受到那里的一切，這頗讓我不安，因?yàn)槲业碾p腿似乎仍試圖傳回的唯一信息就是疼痛。

“梅內(nèi)薩（Menesa）！”

隔著這層裹得嚴(yán)嚴(yán)實(shí)實(shí)，曾是伊比里斯的一座訓(xùn)練塔的靈骨的重量，我能聽到有人在遠(yuǎn)處叫我的名字。一座與至高天的流向?qū)R的調(diào)諧塔明顯在某一時(shí)刻砸到了我的身上……可是為什么？

我之前在做什么？為什么我……啊，對，是這樣，我記起來了。

我的符石爆炸了。

事實(shí)上，它們可能已經(jīng)炸了兩次，我不確定這在物理上是否能做到。我曾一直在看……在預(yù)知……可是我一直在看的是什么？回想起的爆炸前的那個(gè)時(shí)候，所有我能記起來的是一片寬闊的空白空間。

我原本在注視一個(gè)世界，我就知道這些。

一個(gè)被綠皮蹂躪的的Mon-Keigh帝國。這本看起來是個(gè)練習(xí)我的預(yù)知能力，來辨認(rèn)一些或小或大的戰(zhàn)爭結(jié)果的好地方，因?yàn)檫@場戰(zhàn)爭會(huì)在接下來幾十年的影響該扇區(qū)，可這都僅是……練習(xí)。

“梅內(nèi)薩？”

真好……母親在這兒。

母親從沒有原諒我走上更危險(xiǎn)的先知之道而非像她一樣的塑造之道。再至少我本能有幸像我姐姐一樣被召喚到狂嚎女妖的戰(zhàn)士神殿。

然而并沒有，叛逆的梅內(nèi)薩一定要走上巫師道途并在腦袋上砸下一座塔。我不會(huì)得知這一切的終局，除非——當(dāng)然了——我死在這一堆靈骨下，這聽起來開始像個(gè)好主意了。

可是……我忘記了某個(gè)事情。某個(gè)我必須告知的重要的事情，可我記不起來那是什么了。

某個(gè)我曾見過的事。

不……不是，是我曾經(jīng)預(yù)知過的事。

“呃……”我沙啞地說出這個(gè)詞來，不過這更像是一種噪音，我那遲鈍而傷痕累累的大腦突然鎖定了這段記憶。

黑暗。

虛無。

我完全忘記了自己看到了什么。

“這里！”我喘息道，疼痛擊穿了我的肋骨，我盡可能大聲地呼喊著?！拔以谶@里！”

沒有回應(yīng)。我喊得太晚了，他們已經(jīng)轉(zhuǎn)向另一堆符石了，我卻沒法讓自己的聲音高過竊竊私語。但我得讓他們聽到我……我得——

輕快而縈繞的歌聲響了起來，壓在身上的重量驟然減輕時(shí)我猛地倒吸一口氣。符石像熔巖一樣流淌起來，破碎的靈能物質(zhì)的堅(jiān)硬邊緣全部軟化直到從我身邊流走。

只剩下肋骨間的拳頭大的碎塊。

“梅內(nèi)薩！”

我的視野突然一片光明，很快便化成了我母親的臉。她臉頰上嚴(yán)厲的線條和總像是審視著我的不足的眼睛正因擔(dān)憂和恐慌而起皺。她的眼睛，我們共有的像古老的恒星一樣藍(lán)的眼睛，以及像她吟唱塑形的靈骨一樣的皮膚，和像銀河邊緣一樣烏黑的頭發(fā)。

“哦，梅內(nèi)薩……”她小心翼翼地環(huán)抱起我的頭，把我向她拉進(jìn)了些，隨著她用顫音唱出一陣柔和的調(diào)子，我胸口的靈骨顫抖，屈伸，直至敷在我的傷口上。“那里……應(yīng)該保持到我們能帶你去看治療師為止。”

“沒有……時(shí)間了，”我喘著粗氣道?！敖衼怼鲬?zhàn)（warhost）……”

“什么？”母親看上去倍受打擊，轉(zhuǎn)身從毀壞的塔邊叫來了一個(gè)治療師。“主戰(zhàn)？為什么？你看見了什么？”

“什么都沒有……”回憶令我瑟瑟發(fā)抖?！拔铱吹搅恕粋€(gè)Mon-Keigh世界的未來……然后什么都沒看到……一片空虛……命運(yùn)之線……上的黑洞?！?/p>

“不可能，”一個(gè)低沉，渾厚的的聲音從我母親的后方和上方響起，我疲憊地睜開眼睛。

一個(gè)死亡幽魂般的人立在我的頭頂。他盔甲的灰藍(lán)色被頭盔的鮮紅色映襯著，即便隔著他的面具褪色的鏡片，我也能感到他目光里的不贊成。

“歐瑞瓦，”我喃喃地念出我的主人，伊比里斯方舟世界極少的無上先知的名字，他一直以來訓(xùn)練著稀少的希望踏上巫師之道的靈族。

“這是……可能的……我看到了?！?/p>

“你誤解了，孩子，”歐瑞瓦跪下來伸出一只手，突然間我的呼吸順暢了?！澳氵^載了你的符文，而你能活下來是個(gè)奇跡?！?/p>

“不，”我喊到，“我看見它了！”

“你什么都沒看見，”歐瑞瓦重復(fù)我的話，“你錯(cuò)誤地引導(dǎo)了符文，僅此而已?！?/p>

“我進(jìn)行了正確的儀式，”我厲聲說道，隨即因嘴中滿是鮮血而陷入一陣咳嗽。我轉(zhuǎn)過頭吐了一口，又轉(zhuǎn)向歐瑞瓦?！拔铱吹搅艘粋€(gè)圖案，一個(gè)開端，我是遵照著你教給我的方法的！”

歐瑞瓦嘆了一口氣，在縱容一個(gè)特別有問題的學(xué)生（通常是我）時(shí)總是發(fā)出這個(gè)忍耐已久聲音，他最后說道：“很好，你看的是哪？”

“一個(gè)被獸人包圍的Mon-Keigh世界，”歐瑞瓦的手在離我傷口一指遠(yuǎn)的位置掠過時(shí)我顫抖著，血肉開始自行愈合?！耙粋€(gè)名字進(jìn)入了我的腦?！杖鹑R克斯……安菲特里亞……然后世界開始扭曲，然后……”

“聽起來你像是失焦了，”歐瑞瓦責(zé)備我說，我又一次吐了血，伸手去抓他披甲的手腕。

“我保持了專注，主人，”我盡全力壓住脾氣，就像他總是告訴我的那樣，強(qiáng)迫我冷靜下來。“我看到這圖像變化了，不是褪色或變得模糊……我看到它變化了?！?/p>

他肩上的某種冷峻逐漸褪去了，過了許久，他伸手抓住了頭盔，伴著柔和的嘶聲開啟了密封，將之摘下來，漏出了一張柔和的，畫滿方舟符文的臉，一條黑發(fā)編成的長辮，以及深邃而銳利的灰色眼睛。

“變化？”他輕聲重復(fù)。“如何變化？”

“像石塊自高處落入止水，”我迷迷糊糊地嘟噥著試圖回想起那個(gè)畫面?！盎蚴潜╋L(fēng)雨中交錯(cuò)的閃電……就像暴洪刻下新的峽谷……就像——”

“就像是巧合，”歐瑞瓦低聲說道，我怒目而視。

“沒有這回事，”我的母親終于打破了沉默，幾乎是反射般的吐出這個(gè)詞，她怒視著歐瑞瓦。“沒有巧合，只有尚未被探明的變量，任何走在先知之道上的人都知道這一點(diǎn)?！?/p>

“并非如此，阿麗絲蒂拉（Aristyra），”歐瑞瓦轉(zhuǎn)向我的母親，陰森森地說?！扒珊显谧詈币姷那闆r下，在極不可能的事發(fā)生乃至產(chǎn)生了幾乎同樣不可能的其他事時(shí)，是可能的，”他站起身來，抬頭望向星空，像是要找尋我說的那個(gè)世界似的?！耙淮吻珊希犉饋砗芪⑿?，可它或許能比銀河中任何運(yùn)作都要強(qiáng)大?！?/p>

“我不明白，”我的母親從憤怒變成了真切的擔(dān)憂?！澳堑降资鞘裁匆馑?？”

“那是個(gè)無法解答的問題，”歐瑞瓦緩緩地?fù)u頭，“無論如何，這不是我們必須自行求解的問題?！?/p>

“那是什么巧合？”我問道，歐瑞瓦對我譏諷地笑了笑，點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。

“它什么都可能是，”他沒好氣地回答道，“它可能是一顆行星，或一座樓房……它可能是彗星或恒星……可能是獸人或人類……除非我們親自去到那個(gè)世界，否則就無法確定。“

“我看到了什么，主人？”我輕聲詢問道，終于還是問出了最令我恐懼的問題，我的意識(shí)似乎前所未有地旋轉(zhuǎn)著?！笆裁础疑砩习l(fā)生了什么？”

他嘆了口氣，再次跪下來把手放到我的頭上。

“你在一瞬間窺見了無窮盡，”歐瑞瓦冷冷地回答道。“巧合是脫鉤的因果，這意味著，我們所有方舟世界的無上先知，同理也有詭道之主，設(shè)法避開了什么以此在命運(yùn)中制造了一個(gè)盲點(diǎn)?！彼殚_手，盯著我的眼睛，隨后皺著眉頭縮了回去?！爸劣诎l(fā)生在你身上的，它可能什么也不是，它可能逐漸褪色，但你瞥見了不受因果束縛的無限種可能，而這……可能使你迷失在先知之道上?！?/p>

我感到呼吸凝滯在喉嚨里，而母親的臉色比以往更加慘白。

迷失。

我太年輕了，還不能迷失。我只走過一小部分道途，工匠之道，夢境之道……迷失，在余生中被困在一條道途里實(shí)在是……

“你何以斷言？”母親以我從未聽過的克制的語調(diào)問道。

“迷失于先知之道，就是執(zhí)迷于未來，看到并尋求萬物的規(guī)律，”歐瑞瓦嚴(yán)肅地解釋道?！拔覀儠?huì)看著你有多清楚，年輕的梅內(nèi)薩，我會(huì)請求葉蓮娜（Yelena）司戰(zhàn)去處理這個(gè)世界和這個(gè)巧合……以此，我們會(huì)知道你是否真的是我們最新的，也是最年輕的無上先知?！?/p>

當(dāng)母親把我拉近時(shí)，我感覺自己的靈魂漸漸消失在身體的深處，我依偎在她身上，自從我還是個(gè)小孩起就沒再這么做過了。她反過來摟著我，嘴唇貼著我的頭冠，以她自那時(shí)起就再?zèng)]有做過的方式喃喃地念著鎮(zhèn)靜的話語。

唔……母親是對的，我本該去當(dāng)個(gè)吟骨者的。

?

原文：

Pain.

It was my first and only sensory input at the moment I woke, and it eclipsed all else that may have been present.

I tried to breathe, but the pressure on my chest kept me from taking anything but the shallowest gulps of air. That was probably a bad thing and, with an effort of will, I forced my eyes open only to be met with near-total blackness.

Broken shards of Wraithbone lay all around me, entombing me in a pile of rubble. My lower half was caught in the downfall, but was apparently still intact enough that I could feel everything down there, much to my dismay since the only thing my legs seemed intent on reporting was?more pain.

“Menesa!”

I could hear my name being called distantly through the muffling weight of the Wraithbone that had once been one of the training towers of Iybraesil. A tuning tower, aligned with the flows of the Empyrean, had apparently fallen on top of me at some point… but why?

My mind was muddled, and there was something coppery in my mouth.

What was I doing? Why had I… oh, yes, that’s right, I remember now.

My runestones exploded.

Actually, they may have exploded twice, which I’m not sure is physically possible. I had been looking… Seeing… but what had I been looking at? All I can recall when I think back to the moments before the explosion was a wide, empty blank space.

I had originally been looking at a world, I know that much.

A world of the bloated?Mon-Keigh?Imperium that was in the middle of being overrun by Orks. It had seemed like a fine enough place to practice my Seeing, identifying a few of the small and large outcomes of the war as it would affect the sector in the next few decades, but that’s all it had been… practice.

“Menesa?!”

Oh good…?mother was here.

Mother never did forgive me for walking the more dangerous Path of Seeing rather than of Shaping like her. At the very least I could have had the good grace to be called to the Aspect Shrine of the Howling Banshees like my sister.?

But no, rebellious Menesa had to walk the Witch Path and get a tower dropped on her head. I would never hear the end of this unless, of course, I expired underneath all this Wraithbone which was starting to sound like a good idea.

Except… there was something I was forgetting. Something important that I needed to tell them, but I couldn’t recall what it was.

Something I had seen.

No… no, it was something I had?Seen.

“Oh…” I croaked the word out, though it was more of a noise, as my sluggish and bruised mind suddenly latched onto the memory.

Blankness.

Nothingness.

I hadn’t forgotten what I’d seen at all.

“Here!” I gasped, pain shooting through my ribs as I spoke as loudly as I could. “I’m here!”

There was no response. I’d called out too late, they’d already moved on to another pile of rubble, and I couldn’t get my voice to raise above a bleating whisper. I needed them to hear me though… I needed-

A song filled the air, lilting and haunting, and I gasped as the weight pressing down on my body suddenly lessened massively. The Wraithbone flowed like molten stone, all the hard edges of the cracked psychoactive material softening until they bled away from me.?

All but the fist-sized fragment currently lodged in between my ribs.

“Menesa!”

Suddenly my vision was filled with light that quickly resolved into my mother’s face. The harsh lines of her cheeks and eyes that always seemed to be judging me for falling short were now creased with worry and panic. Her eyes, blue like an elder star, eyes we shared, with skin like the Wraithbone she sang shapes out of, and hair as black as the galaxy’s edge.

“Oh, Menesa…” she cradled my head carefully and drew me close to her, and as she did she trilled out a soft tune, making the Wraithbone in my chest shiver and flex until it was plastered over the wound. “There… that should hold til we can see you to a healer.”

“No… time,” I gasped, breathing raggedly. “Call the… warhosts…”

“What?” My mother looked stricken as she turned and called for one fo the healers from around the ruined tower. “Warhosts? Why? What did you see?”

“Nothing…” I shivered at the memory. “I looked… at the future of a?Mon-Keigh?world… and saw nothing… an emptiness… a black hole in… the skein of fate.”

“Impossible,” a deep, sonorous voice sounded from above and behind my mother, and I turned my eyes wearily up.

A figure stood over me like a specter of death. The leaden blue of his armor was offset by the arterial red of his helm, and even through the faded lenses of his masque, I could feel the disapproval in his gaze.

“Oreval,” I muttered the name of my master, one of the very few Farseers of Craftworld Iybraesil, and one who had taken to training the rare Eldar who wished the walk the Witch Path. “It is… possible… I saw it.”

“You were mistaken, child,” Oreval knelt and extended a hand, and suddenly my breath began to ease. “You overburnt your runes, and that you survived is miraculous.”

“No,” I snarled, “I saw it!”

“You saw nothing,” Oreval repeated my words to me, “you channeled the Rune improperly, that was all.”

“I engaged the correct ritual,” I snapped, then fell into a fit of coughing as my mouth filled with blood. I turned my head, spat, and turned back to Oreval. “I saw a pattern, a beginning, and I followed it as you taught me!”

Oreval sighed, a long-suffering sound he always made when he was indulging a particularly problematic student, which was usually me, and finally said, “very well, where did you look?”

“A world of the?Mon-Keigh?under siege by Orks,” I shivered as Oreval’s hand passed a fingers-width from my wound, and the flesh began to knit on its own. “A name came to my mind… Praelex… Amphitria… and then the words began to distort and…”

“It sounds as though you lost focus,” Oreval chided me, and I spat blood again and reached out to grip his armoured wrist.

“I kept my focus, Master,” I did my best to reign in my temper, as he always told me to, and forced myself to calm down. “I saw the pattern?changing, not fading, or becoming indistinct… I saw it?changing.”

Something of the sternness faded from the set of his shoulders and, after a long moment, he reached up and took a grip on his helm, released the seals with a soft hiss, and removed it, revealing a smooth, pale face marked with runic symbols of his craft, a long, braided tail of black hair, and dark, piercing eyes of storm-grey.

“Changing?” He echoed quietly. “Changing how?”

“Like a stone falling into a still pond from high above,” I muttered dazedly as I tried to recall the image in my mind. “Or crossing arcs of lightning in a storm… like a flash flood carving a new valley… like-”

“Like a coincidence,” Oreval breathed, and I scowled.

“There’s no such thing,” My mother spat the word almost reflexively, finally breaking her silence as she glared at Oreval. “There are no coincidences, only variables that have not been accounted for, any who tread the Path of the Seer knows this.”

“That is not quite right, Aristyra,” Oreval spoke in a haunted tone as he turned to my mother. “A coincidence is possible in the rarest of circumstances when something so unlikely occurs that it produces something else of equal impossibility.” He stood and tipped his head up to star into the sky as if trying to find the world I spoke of. “A coincidence, it sounds so small, but it has the potential to be more powerful than any working in the galaxy.”

“I don’t understand,” my mother went from indignant to truly worried. “What does that even mean?”

“That is a question that cannot be answered,” Oreval shook his head slowly, “and it is not the question we must ask ourselves, at any rate.”

“What is the coincidence?” I asked, and Oreval gave me a wry smile and a nod.

“It could be anything,” He replied sourly, “it could be a planet, or a building… it could be a comet or a star… it could be an Ork or a Human… there’s no way to know for certain unless we go to that world.”

“What did I see, Master?” I asked quietly, finally voicing the question that frightened me the most, my mind was spinning and reeling like it never had before. “What’s… what is happening to me?”

He sighed softly and knelt again to press his palm to my head.

“You saw infinity for a moment,” Oreval answered coldly. “A coincidence is a missing link of causality and it means that we, the Farseers collectively across every Craftworld and the Changer of Ways alike, managed to?miss something?and that in turn created a blind spot in Fate.” He pulled his hand away and peered into my eyes for a moment before grimacing and drawing back. “As for what is happening to you, it may be nothing, and it may fade, but you glimpsed infinite potential unfettered by causality and that… that may have Lost you to the Path of the Seer.”

I felt my breath catch in my throat, and my mother blanched even paler than usual.

Lost.

I was too young to be Lost. I had only walked a small handful of paths, the Artisan, the Dreamer… to be Lost, to be sealed to one Path for the rest of my life was…

“How will you know?” My mother asked in a much more subdued voice than I’d ever heard from her.

“To be Lost to the Path of the Seer is to obsess over the future, to see and seek patterns in all things,” Oreval explained grimly. “We will see how you fair, young Menesa, I will petition Auturch Yelena to attend to this world and this coincidence… and in turn, we will know if you are truly to be our newest and youngest Farseer.”

I felt my soul recede into the depths of my body as my mother pulled me close, and I nestled against her in a way that I hadn’t done since I was a little girl. She, in turn, wrapped her arms around me, pressing her lips to my crown and muttering calming words in a way she hadn’t in the same span of time.

Eugh… Mother was right, I should have been a Bonesinger.