山民龙骑世家 Mountain Dwellers: The Dromas Rider Family

万敌战友托勒密暮年所著，讲述千余年前吉奥刻勒斯组建大地兽龙骑军、煊赫翁法罗斯，最终又因背叛而溃亡的故事。 Written during Ptolemy's twilight years, who is a comrade of Mydei, this account details how Geocles created the Dromas Legion over a thousand year

……

...

卷四：伏龙荒笛

Volume 4: The Walking Dragon Terravox

……

...

光历3865年始，艾格勒晴雨失衡，翁法罗斯内陆旱涝交侵，往往田畴未获而禾稼尽皆枯槁，一时饿殍遍野。诸邦饥馑，遂觊觎大地造物，屠其族类以充庖厨。历史记载，彼时的惧生愚鸟、奥杜邦鸽等种群，本应蕃息盈野，短短五年内竟因捕猎而导致族灭。

In the year 3865 of the Light Calendar, Aquila experienced unstable weather, while inland Amphoreus was struck by alternating droughts and floods. Crops failed before harvest, and the land became littered with corpses of the starved. Faced with famine, the nations turned their eyes to Earth's creations, slaughtering their kind to fill their kitchens. According to historical records, species such as the Fearfool Birds and the Audubon Pigeons, which should have thrived in the wild, were hunted to extinction within just five years.

为保护同胞族类，吉奥刻勒斯屡次率领龙骑奔袭各地。征途愈频，「开山者」愈发洞见刻法勒后裔隐于文明面具下的残忍。他曾经听闻大地兽被拦腰斫断时濒死的长号，亦目睹奇美拉在沸鼎中挣扎，而罪魁祸首们却在一旁垂涎待餐。累睹惨绝，曾经行事磊落的英杰「开山者」，逐渐也变得冷漠暴戾、对异族睚眦必报。

To protect his kin, Geocles led the Dromas Legion on raids across the land again and again. With each campaign, the Mountainbreaker saw more clearly the cruelty hidden beneath the mask of civilization worn by Kephale's descendants. He once heard the dying wail of a dromas cut in half, and witnessed a chimera struggling in a boiling cauldron while the culprits stood by, mouths watering as they waited to eat. After witnessing such horrors time and again, the once-honorable hero known as the Mountainbreaker gradually became cold, violent, and vengeful toward all other races.

光历3868年长昼月，龙骑军远征希罗科萨斯半岛，将受困于黑潮的大地兽救下，随后引军横渡埃杜利亚海湾，绕过悬锋哨垒，越过树庭东麓的群峦，回到奥莱诺斯高原。途经多洛斯平原时，龙骑军于战场中目睹一匹巨型大地兽，背负众多奇美拉奇兽孑立于乱军之中，其形貌较寻常的大地兽更加苍浑雄峻。彼时邻近的城邦驱军环伺，箭雨纷乱。矢镞虽不能够伤及巨兽皮肉，但其背负的幼雏却纷坠如雨。一时间，巨兽遍体殷赤如同披挂血衣，悲啸动地。

In the Month of Everday in Light Calendar 3868, the Dromas Legion launched an expedition to the Silo Kossas Peninsula, rescuing dromases trapped by the black tide. They crossed Idilia Bay, avoided the Kremnos Fortress, passed the eastern ridges of the Grove, and returned to the Oleinus Plateau. While traversing the Dolos Plains, they encountered a battlefield scene: a colossal dromas stood alone amid the chaos, carrying a cluster of chimeras and beasts on its back. Its form was more gigantic and imposing than that of any ordinary dromas. Armies from nearby city-states encircled it, loosing volleys of arrows in disarray. Though the arrows could not pierce its hide, the young upon its back fell one by one. In that moment, its body was soaked in red as if draped in a robe of blood, and its anguished cry shook the land.

见此情形，吉奥刻勒斯当即喝令龙骑军冲锋。铁骑如洪流，乱军四散奔逃。「开山者」疾步上前，先检视巨兽伤势，又询问乱军的来历，巨兽沉默不语。吉奥刻勒斯遂亲率龙骑追缉穷寇，直抵城下。土石城墙在龙骑军的阵前只如纸糊，顷刻间半座城邦便遭踏平。

Geocles saw this and gave the order to charge. The Dromas Legion surged like a flood, scattering enemy troops in all directions. The Mountainbreaker rushed forward, examined the great beast's wounds, and questioned the origin of the attackers. The beast gave no reply. Geocles then led the Dromas Legion in pursuit, riding straight to the gates of the city. The walls of earth and stone collapsed under the weight of the Dromas Legion like they were made of paper. In moments, half the city-state lay flattened underfoot.

龙骑军正欲赶尽杀绝之时，巨兽赶来喝止，「山民世代不好兵戈…如此行事，你是何人？ 」吉奥刻勒斯只觉荒谬，「龙骑军解了你的围，你反来指摘我？」 二者遂在断壁残垣间角力相搏。这山民统帅素以神力自诩，平素与大地兽角力亦不落下风。可此番任他如何推搡，巨兽竟纹丝不动，反顶着吉奥刻勒斯步步进逼，最终轰然将其撞入城墙——砖石迸溅间，这位枭雄嵌在岩内，半晌才灰头土脸地钻出。

Just as the Dromas Legion prepared to wipe out the last of their enemies, the giant beast rushed forward and shouted a command to stop. "The Mountain Dwellers have never been fond of war. If this is your way, then who are you to speak for us?" Geocles found the words absurd. "The Dromas Legion saved you from the encirclement, and now you dare lecture me?" The two clashed amid the broken ruins. The chieftain of the Mountain Dwellers had always claimed divine strength and often wrestled with dromases without falling behind. But this time, no matter how he pushed, the beast refused to yield. Instead, it pressed forward, driving Geocles back step by step, and then slammed into him with full force, hurling him into the city wall. Brick and stone exploded outward. The warlord was left embedded in the rock, and it took him some time before he emerged, covered in dust and grime.

……

...

巨兽荒笛的加入，无疑为龙骑军的霸业补通了最后的关窍。昔时山民有吉奥刻勒斯统领全局，如今大地兽雄师亦能在大地兽之王的号令之下行军。彼时专克地兽的机关陷阱，皆成虚设——荒笛每战必会当锋而进，凭其开山裂石之力与金铁难伤的鳞甲，将万千险阻踏作坦途。

The arrival of mighty Terravox sealed the final gap in the Dromas Legion's rise to power. In the past, the Mountain Dwellers had Geocles to lead them. Now, the dromases moved under the command of the Dromas King. The traps once crafted to counter them had become meaningless. In every battle, Terravox charged ahead, turning his power to shatter mountains and his armor resistant to blade or metal into a force that crushed all obstacles beneath his feet.

荒笛最为至要之功，实乃涤荡军中戾气。彼时，吉奥刻勒斯作为山之民中首举反旗的领袖，率铁骑踏平数座城邦，虽行义举，却渐失仁心。

Terravox's most vital role was to cleanse the lingering violence within the army. At that time, Geocles, the first among the Mountain Dwellers to raise a banner in rebellion, led his iron cavalry across city-states. Though his cause was just, he gradually lost his mercy.

荒笛入营后，唤醒了山民血脉的宽厚本性。它以不可阻挡的伟力踏破敌阵，又以不容置喙的态度喝止暴行。最初，吉奥刻勒斯还会担忧仇寇贼心不死，可眼见荒笛率兵有方，连悬锋军都难撼龙骑军分毫，方才释怀相托，一时两位性格截然不同的英杰成为最为亲密的战友。

After entering the camp, Terravox rekindled the Mountain Dwellers' ancestral sense of kindness. With unmatched power, he shattered enemy lines. With unshakable authority, he put an end to needless slaughter. At first, Geocles remained wary that their enemies might seek revenge. But once he saw Terravox's disciplined command and how even the Kremnos Army could not shake the Dromas Legion, he laid down his doubts and placed his trust in him. In time, these two heroes, so different in nature, became the closest of companions.

荒笛以仁厚匡正「开山者」的戾气，而「开山者」的枭雄之道亦影响了荒笛。远隔人世五千余载的大地兽祖，初识何谓攻讦之辞、人心之恶，乃至...背叛之事。作为曾背弃祖训、叛逃家园的「开山者」，吉奥刻勒斯深谙其中哲思。面对始终忠于誓命的的古兽，将背叛与生存哲学言传身教，一人一兽的战友亲情早已难分彼此。

Terravox softened the Mountainbreaker's wrath with his own gentleness, while the Mountainbreaker's hardened path also left its imprint on Terravox. The ancient dromas, who had lived apart from humankind for over five millennia, first came to understand what it meant to be accused, to witness the cruelty of human hearts, and... to face betrayal. As the one who had once defied ancestral law and fled his homeland, Geocles understood these things well. Before the Leviathan who had never broken an oath, he passed on the philosophy of betrayal and survival not with speeches, but through his every action. By then, the bond between man and beast had already become inseparable.

五十余年后，吉奥里亚讨伐战中，「开山者」目睹最信任的战友倒戈、百战不殆的龙骑军如决堤洪流般溃败，「开山者」拒降、坠入岩渊。

Over fifty years later, during the assault on Georios, the Mountainbreaker witnessed his most trusted comrade turn traitor, and the once-invincible Dromas Legion collapse like a breached dam. He refused to surrender and fell into a rocky abyss.

「唯生存值得愚忠，余者万般，皆可僭叛。」

"Only survival is worth blind loyalty. All else may be betrayed."

……

...