Chapter 47: The Ascent into the Clouds （攀入云端）

　　The air grew thin and sharp as a knife's edge as they climbed. The ancient pines gave way to stunted, wind-twisted shrubs, and then to vast, exposed slopes of scree and bare rock. The sky was a deep, cloudless blue that seemed to stretch into infinity. Below them, the world they had known—the forests, the valleys, the lake—lay spread out like a faded tapestry, shrouded in a distant haze. They were above the world now, in a realm of stone and sky.

　　随着攀登，空气变得稀薄而锋利如刀刃。古老的松树被低矮、被风扭曲的灌木取代，然后是广阔、裸露的碎石坡和光秃秃的岩石。天空是深邃无云的蓝色，仿佛延伸至无限。在他们下方，他们熟知的世界——森林、山谷、湖泊——像一幅褪色的挂毯般铺展开来，笼罩在遥远的雾霭中。他们现在处于世界之上，一个石头与天空的领域。

　　Iris moved with an instinctive surefootedness, her elven heritage allowing her to read the subtle contours of the land. Leon followed, his human frame less graceful but driven by a stubborn determination. He used the skills he had learned in his weeks of survival, testing each handhold, placing his feet with care. The warm stone in his pocket seemed to hum in sympathy with his efforts, a tiny beacon of comfort against the immense, indifferent landscape.

　　艾莉丝以本能的稳健移动着，她的精灵血统让她能读懂土地的微妙轮廓。里昂跟着她，他人类的身体不那么优雅，但被一股固执的决心驱动着。他运用着几周生存中学到的技能，测试每一个手抓点，小心地落脚。口袋里的温热石头似乎与他的努力共鸣，在这片广阔而冷漠的土地上，是一个微小的慰藉信标。

　　They followed no clear path, only the general northward bearing and the faint, lingering sense of Ahanu's passage that Iris claimed to feel—a subtle disturbance in the natural order, like a stone's ripple in a pond. The going was slow and arduous. The sun was fierce at this altitude, reflecting off the pale rock with a blinding intensity. There was no shelter from the wind, which whipped at their clothes and stole the warmth from their bodies.

　　他们没有沿着清晰的小径，只有大致向北的方向和艾莉丝声称能感觉到的阿哈努经过的微弱痕迹——自然秩序中的微妙扰动，如同池塘中石子的涟漪。行进缓慢而艰难。在这个高度，阳光猛烈，从苍白的岩石上反射出刺眼的光。没有地方可以躲避风，风抽打着他们的衣服，带走了他们身体的温暖。

　　On the third day of the ascent, they found a sign that was more tangible. Nestled in a crevice, protected from the wind, was a small, carefully arranged pile of stones—a cairn, similar to the one Iris had built, but this one was topped with a single, weathered feather from a large bird of prey. A marker left by Ahanu. It pointed towards a narrow, shadowy pass between two towering peaks.

　　攀登的第三天，他们发现了一个更实在的迹象。在一个避风的石缝里，有一个精心堆砌的小石堆——一个石冢，类似艾莉丝堆的那个，但这个顶上放着一根来自大型猛禽的、被风化的羽毛。是阿哈努留下的标记。它指向两座高耸山峰之间一个狭窄、阴暗的隘口。

　　"He is guiding us," Iris said, her voice filled with a mixture of relief and apprehension. "He knows we are following."

　　The pass was a grim, forbidding place. The walls were sheer and dark, and the floor was littered with the bones of animals that had ventured in and never found their way out. The air was still and cold, and the only sound was the mournful sigh of the wind through the rocks. It felt like a gateway to another world, a world of shadows and forgotten things.

　　“他在指引我们，”艾莉丝说，声音充满宽慰和忧虑。“他知道我们在跟着。”

　　隘口是一个阴森、令人生畏的地方。岩壁陡峭黑暗，地面上散落着冒险进入却未能找到出路的动物骸骨。空气凝滞冰冷，唯一的声音是风穿过岩石的哀鸣。感觉像是通往另一个世界的大门，一个充满阴影和被遗忘之物的世界。

　　As they moved deeper into the pass, the sense of wrongness that Leon had felt in the satyr canyon returned, stronger than ever. The rock here was not just dark; it was stained with the same blackish, pulsing veins of corruption. The air carried a faint, sweetish odor of decay that made his stomach turn. The warmth of the stone in his pocket seemed to flicker, as if warning him.

　　当他们深入隘口，里昂在萨特峡谷感受到的那种异常感又回来了，且更强烈。这里的岩石不仅是黑暗；还染着同样的黑色、搏动的腐化脉络。空气中带着一丝淡淡的、甜腻的腐朽气味，让他反胃。口袋里的温热石头似乎闪烁起来，像是在警告他。

　　Iris stopped, her hand raised. "Do you hear that?" she whispered.

　　Leon strained his ears. At first, there was nothing. Then, he caught it—a low, rhythmic thrumming, like a giant heartbeat coming from deep within the mountain. It was a sound of immense power, and it felt deeply, fundamentally wrong. It was the sound of the corruption Ahanu had spoken of, the sound of the waking evil.

　　艾莉丝停下来，举起手。“你听到了吗？”她低语道。

　　里昂竖起耳朵。起初什么也没有。然后，他捕捉到了——一种低沉、有节奏的嗡鸣，像来自山体深处的巨大心跳声。这是一种蕴含巨大力量的声音，感觉非常、非常不对劲。这就是阿哈努所说的腐化的声音，是苏醒的邪恶的声音。

　　A sudden, sharp tremor ran through the ground beneath their feet. Small rocks clattered down from the walls of the pass. The thrumming intensified for a moment, then faded back to its steady, ominous rhythm.

　　突然，一阵剧烈的震动穿过他们脚下的地面。小石头从隘口壁上哗啦啦滚落。嗡鸣声瞬间加剧，然后消退回它稳定、不祥的节奏。

　　"We are close," Iris said, her face pale. "The source of the blight is near."

　　They emerged from the far end of the pass into a sight that stole the breath from their lungs. Before them lay a vast, high-altitude valley, but it was unlike any valley they had ever seen. The ground was not covered in grass or scree. It was a sickly, grayish-brown plain, cracked and barren, devoid of all life. In the center of the valley rose a monstrous structure—a pulsating, organic-looking mound of twisted rock and oozing, dark energy. Tendrils of corruption snaked out from it, creeping across the dead earth. The thrumming was loudest here, a physical vibration in the air that made their teeth ache.

　　“我们接近了，”艾莉丝说，脸色苍白。“瘟疫的源头就在附近。”

　　他们从隘口的另一端出来，眼前的景象让他们屏住了呼吸。面前是一个广阔的高山谷地，但它不同于他们见过的任何山谷。地面没有覆盖草或碎石。这是一片病态的灰褐色平原，龟裂、贫瘠，毫无生机。山谷中央耸立着一个巨大的结构——一个搏动的、看起来有生命般的扭曲岩石和渗出黑暗能量的土丘。腐化的触须从中蜿蜒而出，爬过死寂的土地。这里的嗡鸣声最大，空气中的物理振动让他们的牙齿发酸。

　　This was no orc outpost, no satyr ambush. This was something far older, far more malevolent. It was a wound in the world itself.

　　And there, standing on a ridge overlooking the blighted valley, was the massive form of Ahanu in his bear aspect. He was not alone. With him were two other figures—a night elf male with the antlers of a stag and the bearing of a ancient guardian, and a dwarf whose beard was braided with runes and whose hands crackled with elemental fire. A druid, a keeper of the grove, and a shaman. The guardians of Azeroth had gathered.

　　这不是兽人的前哨站，不是萨特的伏击。这是更古老、更恶毒的东西。这是世界本身的伤口。

　　而在那里，站在俯瞰被瘟疫污染的山谷的山脊上，是阿哈努的巨熊形态。他不是一个人。他身边还有两个身影——一个长着雄鹿角、带着古老守护者气质的暗夜精灵男性，和一个胡子编着符文、双手闪烁着元素火焰的矮人。一个德鲁伊，一个丛林守护者，一个萨满。艾泽拉斯的守护者们聚集了。

　　They had arrived at the heart of the storm. The real journey was about to begin.

　　他们抵达了风暴之眼。真正的旅程即将开始。