Main Story｜E-2

E-2 " A Perfect Wish "

It wasn't long ago... 不久以前…… Somewhere dark and cold... 有个黑暗且寒冷的地方…… A barren, empty land rested in silence; newly cold, and newly empty, under a sky leaden with dense clouds.  贫瘠空虚的土地上一片寂静；在乌云密布的天空之下，是全新的冰冷以及虚无。 The green leaves and red flowers had turned gray, and only the footsteps of the living remained to tell that they all had once been there.  红花绿叶皆蒙上灰色，而只剩生者的足迹，持续述说着他们曾经来过。 White now fell from the heavens and covered up their steps.  白色此刻从天而降，掩盖了他们的足迹。 No snow fell; only ash. 落下的不是雪花，只有灰烬。 All had frozen, and winter had yet to come. 冬日尚未来临，然一切皆已冰封。 On the ash and ice-covered earth, on her knees, was a girl with her neck craned up to face what light now bled through the gray.  在满是灰烬和冰霜的大地上，有一位跪着的少女，她抬起脖子，看着这片灰色中渗出的光芒。 Her eyes were wide and staring.  她睁大双眼注视着。 Before that light was an angel or, maybe, a god. 那光芒前的是一位天使，又或许是一位神。 There was no home to turn to. Her mother and father were dead. Her guardians were dead. Her fellow fledgling Shapers were dead. Her people, who had always scorned her, were all dead.  她无家可归。双亲皆已过世，监护人也已过世，她同期的新任塑形者全都过世，还有她那些总是看不起她的人民也已全部过世。 All that remained of what she knew was a shard of glass in her hand—a fragment from her window.  她知道所剩下的一切只有手中的玻璃碎片，这是她窗户的碎片。 But still, perhaps, there was a chance— 但仍或许还有机会—— She was chosen, and special. 她是特别的天选之人。 She was young, but learned. 虽然年轻但知识渊博。 She only had to try. 她必须一试。 If she tried, very hard, there was perhaps the smallest chance... to reverse time's flow. To strike back. 如果她努力尝试，或许还有极小的机会……能够让时间回流，发动回击。 To even, maybe, turn into a sort of "god" herself. 或者甚至让她自身成为某种"神"。 Thinking she could stop all of this. 思考着她可以阻止这一切。 Thinking she could bring everyone back. 思考着她可以将每个人带回来。 The girl looked at the shard of glass in her hand, and wished to save the world. 这名少女看着手中的玻璃碎片，希望能拯救这个世界。 —However... ——但是…… ...she could not. ……她做不到。 Will alone cannot create strength from nothing.  只靠她的意志并不能从虚无中制造力量。 She had all the will that one could imagine, and her will was worthless. 人可以想像得到的任何意志力她都具备，但这没有任何意义。 Knowing that, she began to cry. 她明白这个真相后，开始哭泣。 The will of the god above was worth more.  神的意志更有意义。 Its wish had been for her and her kind to vanish, fall, and fade into dust, and that wish would be granted, in moments, by its hand. 神的愿望是她和她的同类消失、坠落、化为尘土，而这个愿望很快就会被神亲手实现。 The girl saw her eyes in her own reflection, and watched as the image became distorted with her tears.  少女从她的倒影中看见自己的双眼，而那倒影因自己的泪水而变得扭曲。 She could see her grief through her shaking jaw, and her impotent, overwhelming pain. 从那颤抖的下颚中，她看见自己的悲痛，以及无力与痛苦。 Nothing mattered at all.  一切都不重要。 Nothing she had ever done, and nothing now. 她一事无成，不论是现在还是过去。 The black-haired girl kept her head bowed as the angel descended.  当天使降临时，这名黑发少女始终低着头。 When it reached her, it raised its hand. 天使靠近她时，祂举起了祂的手。 And shortly, she was gone. 没多久，她就被带走了。 That child's name is forgotten. 这个孩子的名字已被忘却。 The reasons for her death... were beyond her. 而她死亡的原因……远远超出她的理解。 Her life would not be remembered by anyone. 没有人会记得她的存在。 But when she died, another wish took her away. 但当她死亡时，另一个愿望带她离去。

— —— It wasn't much longer ago than that... 这件事的不久以前…… Somewhere warm, though still dark... 有个黑暗但却温暖的地方…… She had made it dark.  黑暗是她造成的。 Another girl in another time and another place, with all names forgotten.  那是在不同时光不同地点，另一位名字都被遗忘的少女。 She had drawn her curtains.  她拉起帘幕。 She had locked her door.  她锁上房门。 A chair was beneath the knob.  把手下有一张椅子。 She sat on her bed, and kept her eyes wide and staring. 她坐在床上，睁大双眼注视着。 She hugged her knees. 她抱着膝盖。 Staring. 只是注视着。 She stared into nothingness. 注视着虚空。 She was overwhelmed by "herself". 她被"自己"弄得不知所措。 A memory played endlessly in her head. She could see the view from atop the stairs, and vividly hear her parents' words, whispered from beyond her sight. 脑中无穷无尽地拨放着一段回忆。她能从楼梯上看见景色，并且清楚听到她父母从远处传来的低语。 They weren't saying anything against her, but they were still discussing her. 他们不是在说她的坏话，但仍是在讨论她的事。 It wasn't that they didn't love her. 她的父母并非不爱她。 She could not love herself, and she felt that inside of her, something was missing that would allow her to love them. 她无法爱自己，同时她感到自己内心缺少了一样让她能够爱她父母的东西。 She very well could still see the view from atop the stairs. She had felt everything tugging at her to let go of the banister then, and fly to the marble foyer below. 她仍可以从楼梯上方看见景色。但她感到一切都在拉住她，要她松开栏杆，并且飞奔至下方的大理石门厅。 But what if it didn't work? 但如果这样没用怎么办？ The girl had managed to return to her room after that and quietly lock herself away. 在那之后，这名少女回到了自己的房间，并且安静地将自己锁起来。 Why couldn't she disappear?  为什么她不能消失？ Why couldn't she walk off into nowhere?  为什么她不能走向虚无？ Why were her thoughts like this?  为什么她会拥有这些想法？ Why was her mind like this?  为什么她的脑海会浮现这个？ Why couldn't she disappear...? 为什么她不能消失……？ Her nails dug into her calves. 她将指甲刺入她的小腿。 Her stare widened. Her breathing quickened. 她张大双眼凝视，呼吸急促。 And she wished that she could run away. 她希望可以逃离这一切。 The girl with white hair was troubled.  白发少女是一个神。 The girl with white hair was a god. 白发少女有麻烦了。 She was not troubled because she was a god—her godhood was a fact she never knew. 但这麻烦并非因为她是神，事实上她从来不知道自己的神性。 In her heart, she made a sullen wish for refuge, and that wish was granted: 在她的内心，她许下一个阴郁的愿望，想受庇护，而愿望成真了： "Somewhere else, where I can be happy." "我要某个能够让我快乐的地方。"

— —— The girl with black hair died, and a wish called her soul away. 黑发少女死去了，而一个愿望要她的灵魂离开。 In a distant world, in another reality, a girl more powerful than her had made that wish. 在遥远的世界，在另一个现实，有一名更强大的少女许下了这个愿望。 The white-haired girl was so powerful that her wish had created a world. 白发少女的力量非常强大，强大到她的愿望能打造一个世界。 A world with a meaningless name: "Arcaea". 这个世界拥有一个没有意义的名字："Arcaea"。 Arcaea was a sanctuary meant to save the dead. Arcaea是为了拯救亡者的庇护所。 Though she'd been alive when she'd made her wish, she still keenly felt that sense of "death". 虽然她许下愿望时还活着，但她仍然强烈感到"死亡"的感觉。 She'd given it no consideration, none at all—in fact, she couldn't have thought straight if she'd tried.  对此她完全没有想法；事实上，如果她试过，她就不会如此搞不清楚状况。 She only wanted something there for herself. It's possible, really, that if she knew the fate of those caught in Arcaea's web, she would see herself as having done a very good thing. 她只想从那里为自己得到一些东西。这是有可能的，真的，如果她知道那些被Arcaea之网抓住的命运，她就会发现自己做了一件很棒的事。 The world reached out to countless other places across time, across separate realities. 这个世界跨越时间和不同的现实，延伸至其他无数地方。 It was alive, and though it had no thought it nonetheless "wished" to share life with those dead. 它是活的，虽然它没有想法，但这世界仍"许愿"与这些亡者分享生命。 Unguided, it caught any it could that spoke to its "heart". 在没有任何指示的情况下，这世界尽可能抓住任何与其"内心"对话的东西。 In a space crafted between the seams of the real, in darkness spotted with soft and distant purple starlight... 在介于真实的接缝中被打造出来的空间里，在点缀着柔软且遥远的紫色星光的黑暗中…… ...so many souls were wrapped into the weave, and brought to a new and shining border beyond the black. ……许多灵魂被包覆其中，并被带往一个跨越黑暗，全新且闪耀的边界。 The world of white... 白色的世界…… From there, the world made a perfect imprint of each, and also released each.  从这里开始，这个世界给了每个灵魂一个无暇的复制体，并且释放他们。 It gave each imprint a warm place, gave them a new shape... 它给了各个复制体一个温暖的归属，给了它们一个新的形体…… It gave them infinity, to view and relive endless life in safety. 这个世界给了它们永恒，让它们能安全地观察并重温无穷无尽的生命。 But it could not truly save its maker... 但它无法真正拯救它的创造者…… It was able to take true souls, double them, and bring the doubles into new bodies, releasing those first souls to whatever else awaited them...  它能够带来真实的灵魂，复制它们，并将这些灵魂带入新的身体中，然后释放，不管前方等着它们的是什么…… However, the soul of the one who would be known as "Hikari" was fixed back in its first world.  不过，"光"的灵魂，被固定回其第一个世界之中。 She was still alive. 她仍然活着。 ...Arcaea, always unthinking, instead forced a copy of that soul as best as it could. ……不会思考的Arcaea只会尽其所能强行复制那个灵魂。 And much later, it found a soul more tragic than any other it had yet to find, similar to its mother's... 很久以后，Arcaea 发现了一个灵魂，它从未见过如此悲惨的灵魂，可以与它母亲的灵魂相似…… Strangely, that soul could not be properly kept either.  奇怪的是，该灵魂也无法被妥善的保管。 When released, it could not leave the false world's border like the rest...  释放时，这个灵魂不会像其他灵魂一样离开这个虚假世界的边界…… and so began to watch its star-crossed copy on the new, white earth instead. 因此它也开始目睹着自己的复制品不幸于这个全新白色大地上诞生。 Tairitsu... woke in a ruined tower. 对立……在一座毁灭的塔中苏醒。

— —— And time passed... 随着时光流逝…… Unthinkably, one of the saved had threatened everything... 难以想像，被救回的其中一人曾震慑着一切…… But mercifully, the one who had made this all returned, and soon the world was safe again... 但幸运的是，造成这一切的人回来了，很快这个世界也再次变得安全…… Arcaea was only crafted to exist. It had called out to its maker, and that maker had heeded that call.  Arcaea只是为了存在而生。Arcaea 呼唤了它的创造者，而这名创造者注意到了这个呼唤。 Like Arcaea had made a monitor for the shards... like it bid that monitor to swallow up any anomalies that fractured its fragile existence... 就像Arcaea创造了碎片的监视者，并请求监视者吞噬一切会瓦解其脆弱存在的异常…… So now, it exists, and has existed. 因此现在，Arcaea依然存在着。 It has existed, ever since, for over one thousand years. 它已经存在了超过一千年了。 The red blood that stained the earth was erased, leaving behind pure, white land.  沾染大地的红色鲜血被抹去了，留下纯洁、白色的大地。 Tairitsu's body was burned away... 对立的身体被烧掉了…… Warmth filled everything. The sky grew bright. 温暖占据着一切。天空变得明亮。 The pearl and nearly endless landscape came together again. 珍珠般近乎无尽的景色再次聚集。 And now, it is a truly beautiful world... 现在，这是一个毋庸置疑的美丽世界…… Dotted in figures: of girls who chose to rest in a land of endless travel. They chose to be frozen, and to stare eternally into this world of the lost.  散布各地的少女们选择在这个无尽旅程大地中停歇。她们选择被冰封，永远凝视着这迷失的世界。 And if they are thinking at all... it is of a very distant past. 如果她们还在思考……她们思考的会是非常遥远的过去。 And that was surely the better choice... 而那肯定是更好的选择…… That was surely better than walking and watching other places forever... 那肯定比较好，相比无尽地行走并观察其他地方…… They must be happy. They need to be. 她们一定很开心。她们需要变得开心。 Arcaea had nothing else to give them but that choice. The world was still buried "inbetween", and escape was— Arcaea除了那个选择没什么能够给她们。这个世界仍然埋藏在"缝隙之间"，而解脱方法也是—— —and... any realms outside of it... were outside, and away, and could never be seen again. ——而且……这世界以外的任何领域……是在外部的另一个地方，且无法再次看见。 So, the twins, the girl with a blade, the traveler, the noble, the girl with a song... 因此，双胞胎少女、带着利剑的少女、旅行者、贵族、歌之少女…… They and others are angelic figures. 她们和其他人善良到如同天使一般。 And the glass shards of Arcaea often come to rest now, too. They gather along walls and pillars, compacting in great and plentiful formations. Like crystals. 而Arcaea的玻璃碎片现在也经常休止。它们沿着墙壁和柱子集结，压实成又大又多的样子，就像结晶一样。 Like corrosion. 就像生锈了一样。 —This beautiful world is overseen by a god.  ——这个美丽的世界是由神所看护的。 Above it all, Hikari watches passively... 光在这一切之上，毫不关心地看照着…… ...and remembers... ……并且记得…… She remembers everything old worlds have forgotten.  她记得所有旧世界已经遗忘的事。 She sees them, with marginal warmth or interest.  她有点热情，或着是有点兴趣的看着它们。 An indulgence, of sorts, for the mind of a faded and listless god. 这可称得上是那位衰弱且无精打采的神所拥有的一种放纵。 Maybe... she has transformed.  或许……她已经不一样了。 Who she was and who she is... She must be "higher" now. 她过去是怎样的人，现在的她又是怎样……她现在层次一定"更高"了。 She cherishes a truth she can only pray that others would understand—though if they will not...  她珍惜着一个真相，对此她只能祈祷其他人能理解——虽然即使他们不能…… She has only chosen to watch the world. 她也只不过选择了去看着这世界。 Yet... though she watches it passively, she knows she has given them "everything". 但……即便她毫不关心地看着这世界，她也知道自己给了它们"一切"。 ... …… ...Outside her purview, a philosopher and satellite wander. ……在她的范围之外，一名哲学家和卫星在游荡。 Beneath it, a horned woman tends to precious memories. 在此之下，一个长角的女人正照料着珍贵的回忆。 A woman with a flower in her eye... trudges through silent lands. 眼中有花朵的女人……在寂静的大地上跋涉。 It is vain. It is vanity. 这是空虚的，是没有意义的。 Arcaea now—is vanity. Arcaea现在成为了虚无。 And that... is better than the alternative. 而那样……比另外一种型态还好。 Better than the world which spits at you. Better than yourself, who loathes your very way of being. 好过一个藐视你的世界。好过那个瞧不起你生存方式的自己。 Living to love being alive, and succumbing to vanity... 为爱上活着而活，并臣服在虚无之下…… ...Reality, in all of its facets, is an empty, worthless, and inconsequential thing.  ……现实在其所有的面向中，是个空虚、一文不值且微不足道的事情。 The only thing one could ever want would be to take what one can out of it. 一个人想要的唯一一件事情，就是夺走现实中可以拿走的任何东西。 Take pleasure. Take love. Take hope. Take power. 夺走快乐。夺走爱。夺走希望。夺走力量。 And with it... 而夺走之后…… ... …… Hikari believes this: one has no need to do anything. 光相信，什么都不需要做。 Take. Live. And, sincerely, love being alive. 夺走。活着。然后真正地爱着活着本身。 Love that... 爱着它…… Though not even for a thousand years, nor even a thousand more... will life ever mean a thing. 虽然在千年之间，甚至千年之后……生命都不会有所意义。 After all, reality marches on with no discernable "end" in store.  毕竟，现实前进时，没人知道等待着的"结束"是什么样子。 And Arcaea, specifically, was never anything more than a vessel for memories. 而Arcaea，具体来说，从来就只是记忆的载体。 Incorporeal, contained, silent memories—while the outside remains unseen, unnoticed, and uncared for. 无形、限制、沉默的记忆——然而外面看不见，注意不到，也不会在乎。 And those memories will exist forever here in that silence, together with those lost lives Hikari has saved,  而这些记忆，与光所拯救的那些生命，将沉静地永存在此， and with her turning no eye to those lives, as always. 而至于那些生命，她也如往常一样不会看过去一眼。 Because here there is no memory unseen—no emotion not felt.  因为在这里，没有看不到的记忆，没有感觉不到的情感。 This is "all", which Light shines down upon, and which Light grants. 这就是光芒照耀，且授予的"一切"。 It is for happiness. It is for eternal peace; unlike in any life you might have left behind.  为了永远的快乐，为了永远的平安。与你可能已经抛弃的任何生命不同， This: she loves.  这，就是她所爱。 This: Arcaea— 这，就是Arcaea—— —Given to lost lives with neither favor nor condemnation. ——迷失的生命不会受到偏袒，也不会受到责备。 And so, like this, the wheels of fate here continue to turn... 因此，就像这样，命运的齿轮在这里继续运转…… ...while no destiny waits beyond. ……而远方不会再有等候着的命运。