There was a time I saw the Atlas as a miracle — a gateway to infinite potential. How naïve I was.
It is no promised land. It is none of the things I, or my father, once hoped it might be.
The Atlas has become a lure for the ambitious. A tool for those who would shape reality to their will – and a trap for those who cannot see the cost. By the time they understand what it truly is, if they ever do, it's already begun to take hold.
It does not consume you all at once. It wears you down. Thought by thought. Layer by layer. Until you are something else entirely.
I wish I could say that I knew how to stop it. But I will find a way. I have to.
— 旅程 |
Sirus and I enjoyed a simple collegial relationship, at first... it was hard not to be impressed by him. He was the finest of the Elderslayers – the brightest mind I had ever encountered.
Together, we wholly dedicated ourselves to combating the growing threat within the Atlas.
But as with all singular pursuits, we grew blind to the dangers around us. Too possessed by purpose to consider the cost – to ourselves, and to one another.
Over time, the Atlas took hold of Sirus. His transformation was not merely of flesh, but of purpose. Twisted into something... unrecognisable. Whatever existed between us, died alongside who he once was.
Perhaps it was my fault. I should have seen the signs, should have prepared him for what awaited us. I should have seen many things... now, I choose not to see. I choose not to see the decay, the distortion... the misery.
What happened to Sirus must never happen again. No more will be lost. No more pain. It is why my work with the Atlas remains not only vital, but necessary.
— 寂灭之焰 |
The odds against success were... beyond measure. And yet, somehow, it worked.
I set the threads in motion across time and space, and intervened before the timeline that would have consumed him began to take shape.
What he remembers - what he {believes}... is enough. He lives, untethered to the Atlas, unburdened by what came before – or after.
It was the only way to save him. And perhaps, the only way to save us all.
— 成功 |
Few can claim to have as much blood on their hands as the Templars. In their thirst for power, they cared not who they trampled – whose lives were ruined, whose families were torn apart at the seams.
A handful of men, and yet they commanded thousands. Thousands willing to commit horrors in the name of 'virtue'.
My own memories of the Templars are nothing short of brutal. What they did to my family... what they did to so many...
And always, behind it all, the Atlas – the great unspoken prize. They saw it not as a danger, but as a weapon. A path to dominion.
When power is given form, it invites those willing to twist it. The Templars did just that – and the scars remain, burned into the world... and into those of us who survived.
— 圣堂的狂怒 |
I believed I had set enough safeguards in place to prevent him from following in my footsteps. More fool I, to underestimate one such as him.
That he came this far – that he reached so deep into the Atlas – perhaps it was inevitable.
A part of me cannot help but feel... proud. He overcame every obstacle I placed before him.
But there remains one barrier he must never breach.
Some truths unravel more than they reveal. Each thread he plucks in search of answers draws us nearer to disaster.
— 后果 |
Belief can elevate. It can also erase. I've seen it in men... and in those who rose to godhood.
There is no greater irony in all of Wraeclast than the name Innocence – a symbol of supposed purity, used to justify untold atrocities. From the time I was a child, I saw what belief in his name could do. What it {did}. Such memories do not fade.
Faith, when unchallenged, becomes a force no less dangerous than any god. And the Atlas... is no different. It does not ask for worship. But it rewards devotion, in a twisted sense of the word. It remakes those who follow it – not into saints, but into zealots.
I need look no further than Sirus... or my father...
— 神的领域 |
Little moments... few and far between... mountains, canyons apart... twisting and shaping us, without warning, without us even being aware.
For better or worse, father meant well. He meant well for all of us. He meant well for me. And I shall always admire him for it.
Even now as the Atlas tries to betray our hearts, I love him. He is still my father. He is still... our Valdo.
— 点滴时刻 |
今天来了个男人。父亲叫他艾米尔叔叔，但我知道母亲没有兄弟。
我想父亲只是想让我好受些，让我觉得不只有我们俩。但现实就是如此，现在只剩我们了。
我不会难过，因为我知道父亲已经很难过了。等以后不再只有我们的时候再难过吧，这样父亲也许就不会那么孤独了。
— 叔叔 |
我的旅程并非完美。现在我看清了自己的错误。无论我变成了什么……都已经暴露无遗。虽然我现在看到了自己的过错，但她对我视而不见。
— 盲者 |
Our very existence seems bound to draw out the folly of men. Dominus, Venarius... even me. I know I've grown less kind, less attentive to Zana, because of my grief.
I even became irate with her once. I fear the darkness in each of us inevitably grows and coils through our minds, as the world batters at our frail walls of ignorance and pride.
This place, these Dreamlands... if the real world is flawed, perhaps I could build a better one...
— 梦境 |
The High Templar grows increasingly cruel with me. Venarius suspects my involvement with the secret heretics, but he misunderstands. I have never known such a bitter fury.
The 'truth' about Innocence means nothing to me, and the Templars can tear each other apart for all I care. That was my wife's cause, not mine, and she paid for her courage with her life. For that, I will never forgive them.
— 夜幕余晖 |
