背道者的来信 A Letter from an Apostate

一位「同谐」的背道者寄来的诀别信，讲述了罪囚通过律令发动的一场暴动。 A farewell letter from an apostate of the Harmony, telling of a prison riot instigated through the Divine Law.

歌斐木先生：

To Mr. Gopher Wood,

我即将向您述说的一幕，有关于「万籁剧院」众唱之康斯坦汀娜无休咏叹中的一个空拍。

I am writing to you about a single, silent beat in the endless aria of Constantina, the singer of the Panacoustic Theater.

彼时，您伸出凉荫庇护迷途的行者，可他们却试图以离调的乐程取代同谐的礼赞，不惜掀起针对救主的暴乱。行经苦难，我们终究将杂音洁净，但您因此灭失肉身，获罪于主家，我也在那场大火中失去许多。我向您道别踏上朝拜神主圣迹的路途，未曾想见证了那些叛逆者命运的终局。

A long time ago, you offered your cool shade to shelter wayward pathstriders. Yet, they sought to replace the hymns of Harmony with their own discordant anthems, going so far as to incite a rebellion against their savior. We endured great hardship to purge their dissonance at long last, but the victory was costly. You were stripped of your physical form and condemned as a sinner by the main Family, while I, too, lost much in that great fire. I left you then to embark upon a pilgrimage to the Great One's sacred sites, never imagining that I would bear witness to the ultimate fate of those apostates.

一如其他罪囚，他们在主家的调律下被剥夺肉身，成为失去欲望的渴念，失去主张的内容，失去笃信的信仰。他们最纯粹的思绪，被分割、肢解，成为数节唱词，数段箴言，数句律令——添入神主浩瀚宏伟的「太初律令」，编织进宣叙叹咏之中，包容于无限的泛音。

As with all convicts, the main Family's tuning stripped them of their flesh, reducing them to longing without desire, substance without will, and faith without conviction. Their purest thoughts were partitioned and dismembered, becoming verses of song, passages of scripture, and lines of law. Then, they are all to be absorbed into the Great One's magnificent "Primordial Divine Law," woven into its chanted verse and embraced by infinite overtones.

我在路途中偶然得见「万籁剧院」垂迹，众星移位，万籁齐响，千万思绪伴随众唱之康斯坦汀娜的咏叹欢欣起舞。然而，即便已沦为傀儡，那些罪囚也不愿将余生用于宣示谐乐，他们用残存的思绪掀起了最后一次暴乱：那些题为「自由」的「律令」向同一个节拍挪动一步。仅仅是一步而已，但古往今来被囚于颂歌中接受教化的千万罪囚意志交叠，为乐章带来了一瞬的错音。我不得不承认…这一瞬错音带给我的感动，竟比群星众唱予我的更甚。

During my pilgrimage, I witnessed a visitation from the Panacoustic Theater. The stars shifted, a thousand sounds rang out as one, and a million thoughts danced in ecstasy to the aria of Constantina the singer. Yet, even as puppets, those convicts refused to spend their lives heralding the consonant chord. With their last vestiges of will, they staged a final riot. The "Edicts" named "Freedom" all shifted forward by a single beat. It was merely a single beat, but the combined will of millions of convicts, held captive and catechized by the hymn for years beyond count, introduced a fleeting, discordant note into the symphony. And I must admit... that transient dissonance moved me more profoundly than the chorus of the stars ever has.

但仅仅是一个瞬间。弦乐掩过不协和的音符，那些律令与它们主人仅存的意志也在转瞬间被抹去。他们得到梦寐以求的解脱，颂歌则从此留下了一个永远的空拍。

But it was only for a moment. The strings swelled to conceal the discordant note, and in a flash, the edicts, along with the final remnants of their masters' wills, were annihilated. They had found the liberation they yearned for, and the hymn was thenceforth marked by a permanent, silent beat.

而那或许便是我们所行命途的缺漏。

And that, perhaps, is the inherent flaw in the Path we walk.

家族耽溺于寰宇大同的乐园，即便遍地的荆棘刺入双足，他们也只会在疼痛的战栗中为自己的大爱感动涕零。若一切信念都在「太初律令」中被接纳，那么这些被应允成为正音的杂声，带来的影响或许比他们能够预料的更为深远。

The Family remains blissfully submerged in its paradise of cosmic harmony. Even when the thorns covering the ground pierce into their feet, they can only be moved to tears by their own boundless love in that shiver of pain. If all beliefs are truly to be accepted into the "Primordial Divine Law," then these dissonant voices, now sanctioned as true notes, may have consequences far more profound than they could ever anticipate.

我是来向您道别的。尽管在离开匹诺康尼时，我们已经道别过，但那时我们仍认为在同谐的命途上，会与彼此再度相见。

I'm writing to offer you a true farewell. Though we said our goodbyes upon my departure from Penacony, we both still held to the belief that we would meet again along the Path of Harmony.

我仍感念于您的指引，但如今我已不再这么认为。

I am still deeply grateful for your guidance, but I can no longer believe we will meet again.