Way of the Departed 亡者之道 第九章
乐高幻影忍者官方小说
作者: Tommy Andreasen
原文与图片来自ninjago wiki
译者：醉酒异客
若有翻译不准处请在评论区纠正
正在暗中监视着寇的骷髅好不容易才压制住向他发起攻击的欲望，它清楚地记着他们过去交手的经历，那副空躯干中的灵魂几近干涸，却仍然保留着对忍者们的仇怨。但主人下过明确的指令，它只负责监视，不能轻易妄动……它的空头颅中依然回响着主人的承诺。那些在它还拥有生命时的依稀往事，那些作为一个懦夫的永恒耻辱，不久都将会被新的主人一笔勾销。“我向你们保证，你们会得到解脱的。”苦日子很快就要结束了，它只需要耐心等待…… 我感到好像被监视了一样，这八成又是我的幻觉。在去见塞莉尔和她父亲之前，我得先清理一下这些杂念。我决定去弄点茶喝来提神。 我来到了昏暗的茶室。为我倒茶的年轻姑娘一直好奇地望着我的伤疤，但她什么也没说。喝茶的时候，我又一次想到了吴大师和他的教诲，这让我在重新充满勇气的同时，也感受到了深深的忧伤。他教导了我们很多，但在同时，也总有很多事情他避而不提，比如一些我们不应过早知道的真相。我记得，在我三岁的时候，妈妈告诉我月亮是一块绿色的奶酪。我一直很喜欢也很相信这个解释，直到六岁的时候我的历史老师告诉我，月亮是由风暴之神沃杰拉创造出来的。她先造出了一团闪电，又将它举过了忍者国的上空来点亮黑夜。我当时呆住了，不理解妈妈为什么要骗我。后来我才明白了她的良苦用心，当时，她只是给出了一个最容易让我接受的解释－－引入神灵的概念只会让我更加困惑。可是再后来，又有一个老师告诉我，月亮其实是一块巨大而冰冷的岩石，悬浮在几千里之外黑色的空虚中。他们难道都在骗我吗，还是说本来就没有什么所谓的真相？滚热的茶水刺痛了我的喉咙，使我意识到我又在胡思乱想了，我将思绪再次拉回到即将到来的会面上。 我尝试从吴大师教过我的道理中获得指点和帮助。如果我问他月亮是怎么产生的，他会怎么说呢？也许是他父亲创造出来的吧，也许他自己也不知道。还有哪些事物的真相是他未曾告诉过我们的？ 这真是太尴尬了－－在你的说教进行到一半的时候，你嗓子突然就破音了。这周已经发生了好几次了，每一次我都尴尬得无地自容，真不敢相信其他人竟然完全没有察觉到有什么异常。变声期这种事真的很让我头疼，我已经是团队里面年纪最小的了，如果我的嗓子总是在破音的话，我还怎么维持我作为领导者的尊严和自信啊！妈妈倒是注意到我声音的变化了，她每次都说她认为我做得很出色，可她这么说只是因为她是我母亲，母亲只会告诉孩子他们需要听的话－－我也确实很需要听这些话。这几个月，我们忍者的首要任务变成了寻找而非战斗，这给我们的生活带来了很大的变化。我们在旋转术方面的造诣加深了很多，相比于那些在我们掌控之外的事，我们将注意力更多地转向了手头的任务；我的力量变得越来越强，但我召唤神龙的能力却变得越来越弱了；不光是我的声音发生了变化，我的眼睛也变绿了；我感觉我越来越坚强，但同时好像也越来越脆弱。这些难道也是因为青春期吗？我望向了窗外，寺庙的外部现在很整洁了，这多亏了克莱尔。不过，相比起在寺庙里干活，她好像对这座神秘的寺庙本身更感兴趣。一开始雇佣她的主意就是我提的，当然了，现在我对她也没什么意见，我只是觉得以后应该对她多留点心。在吴大师消失不久后，我在房间里找到了他留下的旋转术之书。这本书藏得很明显，所以他应该是有意想让我发现它的。我初次翻开它时，书里有好多空白页，但随即它就与我的力量联接了起来，空白页上开始出现文字。从内容上看，这些文字应该出于吴大师之手，虽然那颤颤巍巍的笔迹与他平时精巧的字体完全不同。
我感觉我越来越虚弱了，亲爱的侄子，狂克斯的时空之拳正在让我加速衰老。这世上没有不朽的战士，我人生中剩下的时间也不多了。
在我走之后，你将成为忍者们的下一位幻影旋转术大师，这个职责必须要由你来承担。愿你的力量能指引你找到那些你需要知道的真相。
再往后翻，就能看见更多的文字，甚至还有图画。这本书我已经从头到尾读过好几遍了，但每一次读完，我都感觉好像遗漏了点什么，而且每一次它的内容都会有变化－－它似乎只会向我展示我需要知道的东西。不知道今天它会给我呈现些什么呢？
自古以来，守护忍者国便是元素大师们代代相传的责任。这项神圣使命的开始可以追溯到千年之前，我父亲决定将元素力量赐予一批人类的时候。这是他告诉我的吗，还是我自己幻想出来的？我也不太清楚了。四十年前，你父亲和我亲自领导元素大师联盟对抗蛇怪，在那场战役中，陈利用各种狡猾的诡计、巫术和蛇怪的催眠术，把我们耍得团团转，甚至还让我们反目成仇。所幸的是，我们赢得了那场战役，并彻底解决了陈大师与克劳斯的问题－－至少当时我们以为是如此。可没过多久，新的敌人又出现了：时空双子－－酷克斯和狂克斯，又是我们的战友。我在床上休养的绝大部分时间都在想他们俩的事，直到最近我才想明白了一切。这场叛变背后的始作俑者依然是陈大师，在他发现自己大势已去之后，他让克劳斯用巫术在他们的思想中植入了一个致命的看法：他们的能力是至高无上且无人能敌的，他们可以赢得那场陈输掉的战役。我曾带他们见过大吞噬魔的巢穴和里面的蛇蛋；而如今，他们也让这些蛇蛋派上了邪恶的用场：红蛇武士。为了这个计划，他们精心准备了四十年；接下来发生的事情，你也都看见了。
我需要知道的真相……这几个词在我的脑海里盘旋着。寇在纸条里也写了同样的话，他到底干什么去了？
另附原文：
The Skullkin watching Cole fights the urge to attack. It recognizes him from previous encounters, and what little remains of his soul holds a grudge. But it has specific orders from the King to only observe and report. The promise to soon become something more echoes in its mostly empty skull. The faint memory, regret and embarrassment of his cowardice from back when he was still a human is ever present. The King has promised to take that away. For all of them. "Soon this torment that you have lasted for so long will go away." The new King has promised. I have told them to be patient. I feel like I am being watched, but I brush it off. I need to clear my head before the face Seliel and her father. Some tea will help. The young girl who pours my tea in the darkened tea room studies my scar curiously but asks no questions. I dig deep for some guidance. As I run through Master Wu's lessons, I feel equal measures of gratitude, sorrow and encouragement. We learned so much from him, but there was always more than he told us. Like some truth we were not ready for. When I was three years old, my mother told me that the moon was made of green cheese. That seemed like a pretty good explanation at the time, and I trusted her completely. When I was six a history teacher in school told me that the storm god Wohira created the moon. She crystallized a bolt of lightning and raised it far above Ninjago to light our way in the dark. I was dumbstruck. Why had mother lied to me? It took me a few minutes before I realized that she had not. She had just given me the truth that would make most sense for me at the time. The idea of a god like being would have felt my childlike mind in a spiraling loop of confusion. A few days later another teacher told me that the moon was a giant cold rock, thousands of miles away, suspended in an infinite void of airless darkness. Did they lie to me intentionally or were they just offering options to make up my own mind about something which no-one has a definite answer to? The tea warms me realize that my mind has wandered off topic. I am supposed to figure out what to tell the greatest later today. I dig for a lesson from Master Wu again. I wonder what he thinks of the moon. Did his father, the First Spinjitzu Master create it? Does he know for sure? What other truths have you been keeping from us? It's embarrassing. It's happened several times now. I am surprised none of the others have noticed it yet. It's not easy to maintain your dignity, giving out instructions when your voice suddenly betrays you. The whole situation is weird to me. Here I am, youngest of the ninja, fighting to keep my confidence and show leadership. And then my voice starts to break. I know my mother has noticed. She keeps reassuring me that I am doing a great job as Sensei, but I guess that's just what moms do, Tell you what you need to hear at the time. I guess something is working though. The others have definitely developed their Spinjitzu skills over the fast few months. Searching for Master Wu rather than fighting an enemy has presented us with some new opportunities and given us a different routine. We are less distracted by events beyond our control, and more focused at the task at hand. Even though I am really connecting with my powers, my ability to summon my elemental dragon is fading. My eyes are changing and now my voice is changing too. I am getting stronger and weaker. Puberty or something greater? I check to see if the coast is clear. It's great to have Claire around, but it's also clear to me that she is more eager to explore the temple than she is to clean it. Hiring her was my idea and I do not regret that, I just need to be more careful now. I found the Book of Spinjitzu in my room shortly after Master Wu got lost in time. I was only very lightly concealed, so it is clear that I have been intended to find it. When I first opened it, there were several blank pages, but as I entered the book my power connected with it, and texts appeared. Text written by Master Wu, but not with his normal delicate penmanship. This was written by a trembling hand. I am in a weakened state as I write you this nephew. Having been struck by Acronix's time punch, I am rapidly aging I will fall in time as any warrior will and I feel my remaining time in Ninjago is short. You will be the one to carry on the lessons of Spinjitzu. These words are meant for your eyes only. May your power guide to the greater truth. As leafed through the pages more texts and even drawings appeared. I have read the whole book from cover to cover as dozen times over now. Each time there seems to be something new, or something I somehow missed. It's like the book will only reveal certain passages when you need it I wonder what new knowledge it holds for me today. The Elemental Masters have long been the guardians of Ninjago. Millennia ago, my father kissed his ancestors with the power of all of the elements. Is this something he told me, or something I dreamed up myself? It's blurry sometimes. Many times and for many generations have they joined together in the defense of Ninjago. 40 years ago, your father and myself led the alliance of the Elemental Masters. It was Ninjago's last stand against Master Chen, his dark sorcerer Clouse and the Serpentine. Chen fooled us all into playing his game of war. He cleverly used manipulation, deception, dark magic and the hypnotic powers of the snakes to turn Elemental Masters against each others. But we won! Or so we thought Shortly after our victory we faced a new enemy . . . two of our own: Krux and Acronix, The Hands of Time. It is just now, aging in bed, that have put the full puzzle together. Master Chen, when he realized his defeat was imminent, had Clouse use dark magic to motivate an idea in Krux and Acronix; That their elemental powers were superior, and that they could win the fight Chen had just lost. I have let them know of a secret nest of eggs from the Great Devourer. After 40 years of preparation they put the eggs to evil use: The Vermillion. You know the rest. The greater truth. Those words stick in my mind. Cole used the same words in the letter he left behind. What is he up to?
