掘墳怪 The unburied

   Something is dreadfully wrong. Fear is in the air; I can feel it. I was but days out of Tristram when I saw a screaming ball of flame rip across the sky. Surely enough, soon after witnessing this harbinger of doom, I stumbled upon a badly mangled traveler. He was barely able to spit out the tale of the cursed monstrosity responsible for his broken body as his life drifted away. He called his killer "the unburied".

       世上有種可怕的存在。我能感覺得到恐懼瀰漫在空氣中。直到有一天，我看到一團呼嘯的火球，劃破崔斯特瑞姆的天空。在見證這次厄運的預兆之後，我遇到了一個身受重傷的旅行者。他不太能描述那受詛咒的怪物，那怪物使他的軀體殘破，使他的生命走入歧途。他稱那殺手為"掘墳怪"。

      Months ago, when I wrote of the undead blight upon our land, I thought them the gravest of threats. But they are nothing compared to the new undead creature described to me by this poor fellow.

　　幾個月前，當我描繪骷髏摧殘我們大地的情景時，我覺得他們是最可怕的威脅。但是，如果真如這可憐的旅行者所敘述，骷髏簡直無法與這種新出現的不死生物相比。

      He was a law officer of sorts, a local guard out looking into the depraved handiwork of a crazed individual, the sort we seem to be seeing more and more of in these dark days. When the guard happened upon a mass grave dug by this sick fool, a massive, horned, disgusting behemoth was digging itself out. The dying traveler described this loathsome beast – or, as he termed it, the unburied – as being comprised of bloated parts from many fetid, rotting corpses, with a multitude of disfigured heads and slobbering fanged mouths. He was fortunate that day, but when he returned with several men to help him deal with the creature, they found to their horror that the undead spawn was too much for even their combined efforts. They fought valiantly to the last man, sacrificing themselves to keep the beast from rampaging across the countryside and taking who knows how many innocent lives. He was the last survivor, and before he passed on, he proudly told me that they were successful in eradicating the foul unburied creature.

　　這位旅行者曾經是審理各種案件的法官，就好像是監視地方上的暴徒防止他們做出犯罪行為的當地守衛。但隨之而來的卻是越來越多黑暗的日子。當這個守衛在一個大型墳墓上挖掘的時候，一個巨大、長滿觸角且令人作嘔的怪物從裡面鑽了出來。垂死的旅行者描述這個噁心的怪物-或者，被他叫做掘墳怪的生物-它那腫脹的身體是由很多惡臭腐朽的屍體所組成。它的身上長了許多醜陋的頭，嘴裡長滿尖牙，還流著口水。那天那位旅行者很幸運，但是當一群人趕來幫助他對抗那個生物的時候，他們驚愕地發現這怪物的勢力已經蔓延太大，以至於他們眾人合力也無法擊潰。他們英勇的與怪物戰鬥到只剩最後一人。最後終於阻止怪物繼續衝進村莊殘害無辜。那位旅行者是最後一個倖存者。他驕傲地告訴我，他們成功地消滅了那個噁心的掘墳怪。說完他就死了。

      Being born out of pits of human misery, these beings feed on human suffering. Wherever bodies are dumped together unceremoniously, the unburied may rise. I cannot help but wonder if this be some sort of cosmic justice for our inhumanity to our fellow man. But what is the catalyst? What animates these things? What makes them so horrendously different from the run-of-the-mill zombies or "normal" skeletal undead?

　　因人之痛楚而生，以人之怨念為食。凡有屍體隨意埋葬的地方，掘墳怪就會出現。我不得不懷疑，這是否是上天對我們的懲罰，是對我們同類相殘的一種審判。但是促成這些的原因是什麼？是什麼激化了這些事情？為什麼這種生物帶來的恐懼與一般的殭屍和骷髏完全不同？

      Some days I truly feel that the end of humanity must be at hand. Certainly our world is home to assorted disturbing and unsettling creatures, but every dawn seems to bring news of more wretchedness we must endure as a people. The darkness is coming, my friends: mark my words.

　　有些日子我真實地感覺到，人類的滅絕即將來臨。顯然我們的世界本來就充滿令人煩躁不安的生物，但是作為人類，我們必須忍受伴隨著每個黎明出現的更多悲慘的消息。記住我的話：朋友，黑暗即將降臨。

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abd al-Hazir is a renowned gentleman, historian, and scholar. He has recently taken up the unprecedented task of investigating, researching, and compiling information about the unique locales and denizens of our world.

作者簡介

阿卜杜勒‧阿哈茲(Abd al-Hazir)是一個著名的紳士、歷史學家和學者。他對我們世界所有相關的獨特語言環境和居民們採取了前所未有的調查、研究和編制工作。