時光靜止

Time Comes to a Standstill

這一切發生在大約一億年前的遙遠過去。沒有人知道確切的日期，但這並不重要。當涉及到發生在如此久遠的事件時，無法想像它們在時間上的遙遠，無論它們發生在遙遠的過去還是相對較近，都不再重要。

It all took place in the distant past roughly 100 million years ago. No-one knows the precise date but that does not matter. When it comes to events that happened so long ago that it is impossible to conceive of their remoteness in time, it ceases to be relevant whether they took place eons ago or relatively recently.

當我們仰望星空時，我們並不考慮它們的光需要數百萬年才能到達我們這裡。對我們而言，星星只是存在於此時此地。過去的事件也是如此，即使那些事件已經消失在千年的深淵中。在它們被回憶起的那一刻，無論是在記憶中還是故事中，就彷彿它們現在就在這裡。

When we look up at the stars, we don’t consider the fact that their light has taken millions of years to reach us. As far as we are concerned, the stars simply exist in the here and now. It is the same with events of the past, even those lost in the depths of millennia. In the moment that they are recalled, either in memory or in storytelling, it is as if they were here right now.

雖然，事實上，它們並不完全存在於此時此地。那麼千年的深淵到底有多深？大地和海洋向下延伸，天空向上延展，但時間朝哪個方向延伸？它又從何而來？

Although, in truth, they are not fully here right now. So how far do the depths of millennia stretch? The earth and the sea extend downwards, and the sky stretches upwards but in what direction does time go? And where does it come from?

空間相對簡單。它從前方接近，最後在我們身後結束。當談到時間時，事情同樣簡單，至少直到你開始真正思考它：已經發生的事情已經過去，而尚未發生的事情尚未到來。但昨天發生的事情去了哪裡，明天將發生的事情又從哪裡來？

Space is quite straightforward. It approaches from up ahead and ends up behind us. When it comes to time, things are just as straightforward, at least until you start to really think about it: what has already happened is gone and what is yet to happen is yet to arrive. But where did what happened yesterday go, and where does what will happen tomorrow come from?

一旦你開始試圖理解時間的本質，事情就變得更加複雜。當你停下來思考時，如果你無法說出昨天去了哪裡，明天將從哪裡來，你就必須得出結論：昨天和明天可能根本不存在，並考慮到只有今天——當下存在的可能性。

As soon as you start trying to understand the nature of time, things get much more complicated. When you stop to think about it, if you cannot say where yesterday went and where tomorrow will come from, you have to conclude that yesterday and tomorrow might not exist after all and contemplate the possibility that only today exists — the present.

因此，如果昨天不再存在，明天尚未成形，時間就不可能是任何東西，因為它既不去任何地方，也不來自任何地方。我們是否應該假設時間只是一個抽象的概念，或者它根本不是一種物理現象？

So, if yesterday no longer exists and tomorrow has not yet come into being, time cannot be anything at all as it doesn’t go anywhere and it doesn’t come from anywhere. Are we to assume then that time is simply an abstract notion or might not be a physical phenomenon after all?

未來的時間是一個短暫的概念。然而，過去必須是真實的，至少因為考古挖掘證明了它的存在。然而，陶器碎片和人類遺骸實際上只是另一種過時的當下。當我們談論過去時，我們通常指的是一系列事件，在這方面，問題是，這些事件現在在哪裡？它們儲存在何處？

Future time is an ephemeral concept. The past, however, must be real not least because archaeological excavations testify to its existence. Yet shards of pottery and human remains are really just another obsolete present. When we talk about the past, we are usually referring to a series of events and in this regard, the question is, where are those events now? Where are they stored?

儘管聽起來不太可能，你實際上可以看到過去。星空就是這一點的視覺證明。我們看到星星在當下閃耀、燃燒，無論這些事件發生在多久以前。當談到星星時，我們可以看到地球上數百萬年前發生的事情，那麼，我們是否應該假設過去保存在光線中，僅此而已？

However unlikely it sounds; you can actually see the past. The starry sky is visual proof of that. We see the stars light up, shine and burn out in the present moment, however long ago those events took place. When it comes to the stars, we can see what happened on Earth millions of years ago, so, should we assume that the past is preserved in rays of light and nothing more?

這樣的謎團最好留給哲學家。有些生活中的事情不應該被解釋。它們更適合在故事中講述……於是，有一次，某件神秘的事情發生了。時間凍結，世界靜止。

Mysteries such as these are best left to the philosophers. Some things in life are not meant to be explained. They are better recounted in stories… And so, once, something mysterious happened. Time froze and the world came to a standstill.

直到這個特定的時刻，一切都如常進行：一個王朝取代另一個，一個文明接續另一個，遺忘的神祇雕像布滿裂縫，被沙層覆蓋……事物來來去去，但從未靜止。

Until this particular moment, everything had carried on as normal: one royal dynasty replaced another, one civilization followed another and the statues of forgotten gods became riddled with cracks and veiled in layers of sand... Things came and went but nothing ever stood still.

雖然，誰知道呢？也許這不是時間第一次靜止，宇宙進入一種停滯狀態。畢竟，如果時間是因某種原因而啟動的，那麼也許它靜止也是有原因的。

Although, who knows? Maybe this was not the first occasion that time came to a standstill and the Universe assumed a state of limbo. After all, if time was set in motion for a reason, then maybe there is a reason for its coming to a standstill.

而這個停頓本身可能只持續了一瞬間，也可能持續了一個永恆，因為沒有運動，就沒有時間。

And the pause itself could have lasted for a single moment and it could just as easily have lasted for an eternity because without movement, there can be no time.

因此，在那無限的不存在的瞬間，當什麼都不應該發生時，奇怪的是，有一個地方發生了一些事情。

So, in that limitless moment of non-existence, when nothing was supposed to happen, strangely, there was one place where something did happen.

---

* * *

女祭司Itfut在無邊的藍色沙漠中自言自語。她是一個古怪的人物，無法分辨她屬於哪個國家或時代，甚至無法確定她的年齡。她可能二十歲，但也可能四十歲。她穿著一件及踝的深藍色黑色天鵝絨長裙，領口鑲有鑽石。她的左手戴著一枚鑲有同樣深藍色光澤水晶的戒指。她的臉上塗著猩紅色的儀式彩妝，顴骨上點綴著白色斑點。她有綠色的眼睛和剪成波波頭的黑色頭髮。對她還能說什麼呢？儘管她的外表嚴厲，她仍然很美麗。

Priestess Itfut was trailing the boundless blue desert talking to herself. An eccentric figure, it was impossible to tell which country or era she belonged to or even how old she was. She could have been twenty, but she could just as well have been forty. She was dressed in an ankle-length, dark-blue, black velvet dress with a neck collar studded in diamonds. On her left hand, she wore a ring inlaid with a crystal with the same dark-blue sheen. Her face was covered in scarlet ritual paint, her cheeks bones dotted with white spots. She had green eyes and black hair cut into a bob. What else could one say about her? For all the harshness of her appearance, she was beautiful.

她如何能在凍結的現實中移動是一個謎。事實上，對女祭司自己來說也是一個謎，因為她完全不知道自己身在何處，也不記得自己是如何到達那裡的。

How she was able to move through frozen reality was a mystery. Indeed, it was a mystery to the priestess herself, as she had not the faintest idea where she was, nor could she remember how she had ended up there.

「哦，眾神，世界的統治者！帶我回家！」Itfut的抗議更多的是表達任性的憤怒，而不是無助的哀號。「我的僕人，我的臣民在哪裡？如果你們現在不現身，我會下令將你們全部斬首！」

“Oh, Gods, rulers of the world! Take me home!” Itfut’s protest was expressed more in capricious indignation than a helpless wail. “Where are my servants, my subjects? If you don’t show yourselves right now, I’ll order you to have everyone beheaded!”

這些話可能只是為了效果而說的，因為女祭司並不以殘酷或嗜血的統治者著稱。

These words were probably spoken for effect as the priestess did not have the reputation of a cruel or bloodthirsty ruler.

「好吧，如果這是某種病態的玩笑，大家都會因此受苦！相信我，他們會受苦的！」Itfut已經筋疲力盡，但她仍然有精神在某些情況下表現得像個任性的公主！不得不承認，女祭司有一顆勇敢的心。換作其他人處在她的境地，早已歇斯底里或陷入恍惚，尤其是因為景色令人驚懼地超現實。到處都是一樣的單調藍色沙浪，延伸至地平線。空氣中沒有一絲微風。既不熱也不冷。沒有太陽的天空閃耀著黃色光芒，與之對比的是藍色的沙子。

“Right, if this is some sick joke everyone will suffer for it! And believe me, suffer they will!” Itfut was exhausted but she still had the spirit to behave like a capricious princess, at least in some circumstances! One had to admit, the priestess had a brave heart. Anyone else finding themselves in her shoes would already have become hysterical or fallen into trance, not least because the landscape was frighteningly surreal. Everywhere, the same, monotonous, blue waves of sand stretched as far as the horizon. There was not the slightest whiff of a breeze in the air. It was neither hot nor cold. The sky that held no sun glowed with a yellow shimmer and in contrast the sand was blue.

「好吧，好吧，想想看——這是個可怕的恐怖還是恐怖的噩夢？」Itfut有重複自己的習慣。

“Okay, okay, get with it, thinking — what is this, a nightmarish horror or a horrible nightmare?” Itfut had the habit of repeating herself.

「這種事情不應該發生在我身上。我是那個創造噩夢和恐怖讓其他人顫抖的人！這是你們最後的警告！如果我現在不被送回我的神廟，我會生氣的，你們知道那有多可怕！」Itfut絕望地跪下。「哦不，我想我快要哭了。」

“This kind of thing shouldn’t be happening to me. I’m the one who creates the nightmares and the horrors that make everyone else tremble! This is your last warning! If I’m not returned to my temple this instant, I’ll get angry, and you know how terrifying that can be!” Itfut fell to her knees in despair. “Oh no, I think I’m going to cry.”

然後女祭司突然意識到她幾乎記不起自己是誰或來自哪裡。模糊的記憶片段在她的腦海中糾纏。她記得自己是一位高級女祭司和統治者……她有一座神廟、大臣、一位老師，但她無法回憶起細節。她甚至不記得自己的名字。

Then it suddenly came to the priestess that she could barely remember who she was or where she was from. Vague fragments of memory were tangled in her mind. She recalled that she was a High Priestess and ruler... she had a temple, ministers, a Teacher but she could not recall the details. She could not even remember her name.

「哦！眾神，我是誰？」

“Oh! Gods, who am I?”

她剛說完，空無一物的空間中突然出現一陣低語，像不安的風一樣從一個方向飄到另一個方向：

No sooner had she spoken than a whisper appeared in the emptiness flicking from one direction to another like an unsettled wind:

「Itfut，Itfut！女祭司Itfut！女祭司，女祭司！」

“Itfut, Itfut! Priestess Itfut! Priestess, priestess!”

「奇怪，這有點像我的名字，但同時又不像……」女祭司喃喃自語，四處尋找聲音的來源。「誰在那裡？」

“Strange, that is kind of like my name, and at the same time, it isn’t...” the priestess muttered while looking around for the source of the voice. “Who’s there?”

「門檻，門檻！」低語回應。「什麼的門檻？」

“Threshold, Threshold!” the whisper responded. “Threshold of what?”

「時間，時間！」

“Time, time!”

「你在哪裡？現身吧！」

“Where are you? Show yourself!”

但低語聲突然消失，沒有再回應。

But the whisper faded just as suddenly as it had appeared and did not respond.

「好吧……」Itfut嘆了口氣，沒有等到回應。「這一定是一場噩夢。要麼我快醒了，要麼我快瘋了。無論如何，我再也受不了了。」

“Right...” sighed Itfut, not waiting for a reply. “This must be a bad dream. Either I’m about to wake up, or I’m going mad. Either way, I can’t take this anymore.”

然後，她突然想起她的老師教過她的一件事：要從夢中回到現實，你必須清楚地意識到你是誰，真正的你是誰。

Then, she suddenly remembered something her Teacher had taught her: to return to reality from a dream you have to be consciously aware of who you are, who you really are.

「那不是我。」女祭司宣稱。「這是我！」但女祭司的咒語沒有幫助。什麼也沒發生。「那麼，我是誰？如果我永遠無法完全記起自己會怎麼樣？」女祭司想著。「即使是低語中提到的名字也不太像她的真名。那又意味著什麼呢，為什麼感覺不太真實？」

“That’s not me,” the priestess declared. “This is me!” But the priestess’s incantation did not help. Nothing happened. ‘So, who am I? What will happen if I never remember myself fully?’ thought the priestess. ‘Even the name the whisper spoke somehow did not quite feel like it was her real name. And what did that mean, it did not quite feel real?’

「那麼，我們該怎麼辦，Itfut？」女祭司問自己。「好吧，我的名字是Itfut，我的名字是Itfut。接下來呢？再走下去也沒有意義。眼前只有沙子，除了沙子什麼也沒有。等一下。老師還說了什麼？」

“So, what are we going to do, Itfut?” the priestess asked herself. “Ok, my name is Itfut, my name is Itfut. What next? There is no point in walking any further. There’s just sand and nothing but sand as far as the eye can see. Hang on a minute. What else did the Teacher say?”

新的記憶給了女祭司一絲希望。「在夢中醒來，你就能掌控夢境。要做到這一點，你必須仔細觀察周圍的一切，然後問自己是否一切如常，或者是否有什麼不對，如果有，究竟是什麼。學會看見你的現實。」

The fresh memory gave the priestess a glimpse of hope. ‘Wake up in the dream and you can take control of the dream. To do this you have to look very carefully at all that surrounds you and then ask yourself whether everything is as it should be, or whether something is wrong, and if so, what exactly. Learn to see your reality.’

「不，我和我周圍的一切都不對勁。全都不對勁！這裡除了沙子還能看到什麼？還有，為什麼它是藍色的？」Itfut坐下來，開始把沙子從一隻手倒到另一隻手。

“No, everything is wrong with me and my surroundings. Everything is wrong! And what is there to see here except sand? And, by the way, why is it blue?” Itfut sat down and began pouring sand from one hand to the other.

「沙子，這不是沙子。沙子就是沙子！」她說，試圖像她的老師教她的那樣，在普通事物中看到不尋常的本質。「除了顏色之外，它有什麼不尋常的？它由顆粒組成，像沙子一樣傾瀉。」

“Sand, this is not sand. Sand is sand!” she said trying to see the unusual essence in ordinary things as her Teacher taught her to. “What is unusual about it aside from the color? It consists of grains and pours like sand.”

就在那一刻，女祭司面前的沙子開始像煙霧一樣升起，變成一個巨大的漩渦，衝向天空。女祭司被這可怕的景象嚇得尖叫，試圖逃跑，但徒勞無功。無論她跑到哪裡，沙漠旋渦都出現在她面前。Itfut穿的鞋子不適合奔跑，她絆倒了，摔倒在地。

In that moment, the sand in front of the priestess began to rise up like smoke turning into a huge vortex and charging up into the sky. The priestess screamed at the terrifying spectacle and tried to run away but it was futile. Wherever she ran, the sandy spiral appeared in front of her. The shoes Itfut was wearing were not meant for running in and she stumbled and fell.

女祭司幾乎陷入極度絕望，但她再次振作起來，勉強讓自己冷靜下來，告訴自己至少旋風沒有對她造成傷害。

The priestess was almost on the verge of great despair, but she pulled herself together again and managed to calm herself a little, telling herself that the whirlwind was not doing her any harm at least.

「好吧，好吧。我現在真的很害怕；我不可能再更害怕了。所以，如果事情不能更糟，那就好——它們即將好轉。但我真的受夠了這一切。我的恐懼現在與我分開，我也與它分開。我不想再和它在一起了。我走了，把我的恐懼留在我的鞋子裡。它們在這裡也沒用。走開，走開，離我遠點！」女祭司踢掉她的鞋子，把它們直接扔進旋風中。

“Okay, okay. I’m really scared now; I couldn’t be any more scared. So, if things can’t get any worse, then that’s good — they’re about to get better. But I’ve seriously had enough of all this. My fear is now separate from me, and I am separate from it. I don’t want to be with it anymore. I’m going and leaving my fear in my shoes. They’re no good here anyway. Away, away, get away from me!” The priestess kicked off her shoes and flung them straight into the whirlwind.

「就是這樣。我走了，把我的恐懼留在這裡！」

“That’s it. I’ve gone and I’ve left my fear here!”

鞋子消失在旋風中，旋風現在更加猛烈地旋轉，聲音越來越大。

The shoes disappeared into the whirlwind which twisted even more powerfully now with an increasing roar.

「這不好。」Itfut想。「我需要採取更有效的措施，否則這不會有好結果。」

’This is bad,’ thought Itfut. ‘I need to take more effective measures otherwise this is not going to end well.’

「好吧，Itfut，Itfut，女祭司，女祭司，你需要看清這該死的現實，弄清楚它是什麼，否則這就是結局。這不只是沙子，那也不只是普通的旋風。它是什麼？快想，快點，快點，快點！」

“Right, Itfut, Itfut, priestess, priestess, you need to see this damn reality, work out what it is, or this is the end. This isn’t just sand and that isn’t just any old whirlwind. What is it? Think, quickly, quickly now, hurry, hurry!”

然後她恍然大悟。

And then it dawned on her.

「這是個沙漏！」她驚呼。「這是個沙漏！我看見你了，詭異的現實！」

“It’s a sand-timer!” she exclaimed. “It’s a sand-timer! I see you, devilish reality!”

就在那一刻，旋風停止了旋轉，轟鳴聲被玻璃般的響聲取代，巨大的漏斗墜落到地面。沙子變成了自然的黃色，天空再次閃耀著藍色。天空中唯一缺少的仍然是太陽。

In that moment, the whirlwind stopped twisting, the roar was replaced with a glassy chime, and the gigantic funnel came crashing to the ground. The sand acquired a natural yellow color, and the sky shone blue again. The sun was the one thing still absent from the sky.

時光凝止

Time Comes to a Standstill

一切都發生在遙遠的過去，大約一億年前。沒有人知道精確的日期，但那已不重要。對於那些發生在如此久遠以至於難以想像的年代裡的事件來說，無論它們究竟是悠遠存在還是相對近期，時間的遠近便不再關鍵。

It all took place in the distant past roughly 100 million years ago. No-one knows the precise date but that does not matter. When it comes to events that happened so long ago that it is impossible to conceive of their remoteness in time, it ceases to be relevant whether they took place eons ago or relatively recently.

當我們仰望群星時，從不去考慮它們的光芒花了數百萬年才抵達；在我們眼中，星辰總是存在於此時此刻。對過去的事件亦然，即便那些被千年深淵掩埋的記憶，一旦透過回憶或述說被重新喚起，彷彿它們就在眼前一般。

When we look up at the stars, we don’t consider the fact that their light has taken millions of years to reach us. As far as we are concerned, the stars simply exist in the here and now. It is the same with events of the past, even those lost in the depths of millennia. In the moment that they are recalled, either in memory or in storytelling, it is as if they were here right now.

然而，實際上它們並未完全存在於當下。那麼，千年的深淵究竟可以延伸到何處？大地與海洋向下蔓延，天空向上延展，但時間究竟流向何處，又源自何方？

Although, in truth, they are not fully here right now. So how far do the depths of millennia stretch? The earth and the sea extend downwards, and the sky stretches upwards but in what direction does time go? And where does it come from?

空間相當直觀：它從前方逼近，最終落在我們背後。談到時間，也似乎同樣簡單——至少在你不開始深入思考之前：已發生的一切成為過去，未來的事依然在等待。然而，昨天發生的究竟消逝到哪裡，而明日將降臨的又來自何處？

Space is quite straightforward. It approaches from up ahead and ends up behind us. When it comes to time, things are just as straightforward, at least until you start to really think about it: what has already happened is gone and what is yet to happen is yet to arrive. But where did what happened yesterday go, and where does what will happen tomorrow come from?

一旦你試圖窺探時間的本質，情況就會變得複雜起來。若當你停下來細想，無法確定昨天去了哪裡、明天將從哪裡降臨時，就不得不考慮：也許昨天與明天根本不存在，而只有今天──這個當下──是真切存在的。

As soon as you start trying to understand the nature of time, things get much more complicated. When you stop to think about it, if you cannot say where yesterday went and where tomorrow will come from, you have to conclude that yesterday and tomorrow might not exist after all and contemplate the possibility that only today exists — the present.

因此，如果昨天已成過去、明天尚未誕生，那麼時間便毫無定義可言，因為它既不流向任何地方，也不源自任何處。那我們是否應該認為，時間僅僅只是一個抽象概念，或許根本就不是一種物理現象呢？

So, if yesterday no longer exists and tomorrow has not yet come into being, time cannot be anything at all as it doesn’t go anywhere and it doesn’t come from anywhere. Are we to assume then that time is simply an abstract notion or might not be a physical phenomenon after all?

未來的時間是一個短暫的概念；然而，過去必定是真實的，畢竟考古發掘已證明它的存在。不過，破碎的陶片和人類遺骸，其實也只不過是另一種過時的當下。（Note: 指我們用現在的眼光看待曾經的事物）

Future time is an ephemeral concept. The past, however, must be real not least because archaeological excavations testify to its existence. Yet shards of pottery and human remains are really just another obsolete present. When we talk about the past, we are usually referring to a series of events and in this regard, the question is, where are those events now? Where are they stored?

儘管聽起來難以置信，其實你可以親眼看見過去。滿天星斗便是最直觀的證明——我們目睹星辰在當下閃爍、燃燒與熄滅，無論那些事件究竟發生多久以前。既然透過星光，我們能窺見數百萬年前地球上的景象，那是否意味著過去僅僅保存在光芒中，而並無其他形式呢？

However unlikely it sounds; you can actually see the past. The starry sky is visual proof of that. We see the stars light up, shine and burn out in the present moment, however long ago those events took place. When it comes to the stars, we can see what happened on Earth millions of years ago, so, should we assume that the past is preserved in rays of light and nothing more?

這樣的謎題最好交給哲學家去探討。有些事物原本就無法得到解釋，倒不如讓它們在故事中娓娓道來……於是，某一天，神秘的事發生了：時間凝固，整個世界也隨之靜止。

Mysteries such as these are best left to the philosophers. Some things in life are not meant to be explained. They are better recounted in stories… And so, once, something mysterious happened. Time froze and the world came to a standstill.

直到那一刻；一切依然按部就班：一個皇朝取代了另一個，文明接續興衰，而被遺忘的神像也滿佈裂痕，被一層層沙塵覆蓋……萬物來來去去，卻沒有人能一成不變。

Until this particular moment, everything had carried on as normal: one royal dynasty replaced another, one civilization followed another and the statues of forgotten gods became riddled with cracks and veiled in layers of sand... Things came and went but nothing ever stood still.

雖然，誰又能說得清呢？也許這並非時間第一次陷入凝固，或許整個宇宙曾多次進入了類似的停滯狀態。畢竟，如果時間的運行是有其原因的，也許它在某個時刻停止，同樣是出於某種必然。

Although, who knows? Maybe this was not the first occasion that time came to a standstill and the Universe assumed a state of limbo. After all, if time was set in motion for a reason, then maybe there is a reason for its coming to a standstill.

這段停頓或許僅僅持續了一瞬，也可能延續了永恆，因為沒有運動便難以存在所謂的時間。

And the pause itself could have lasted for a single moment and it could just as easily have lasted for an eternity because without movement, there can be no time.

然而，就在這無限虛無的瞬間，當一切理應靜止無為時，卻驚人地在一處發生了某種變化。

So, in that limitless moment of non-existence, when nothing was supposed to happen, strangely, there was one place where something did happen.

---

* * *

祭司 Itfut 正獨自徘徊於無際的藍色沙漠中自言自語。這位怪異的女子，其來歷、所屬時代、甚至年齡都難以辨識；她或許只有二十歲，但也可能已經四十。她身穿一襲及踝的深藍黑色天鵝絨長裙，裙領鑲滿了鑽石；左手戴著一枚鑲嵌著同樣深藍光澤水晶的戒指。她的臉上塗著猩紅的儀式彩繪，雙頰點綴著若干白斑；綠色的眼眸和剪成波波頭的黑髮更令她別具風韻。儘管外貌帶著一絲嚴峻，她依然擁有令人驚艷的美麗。

Priestess Itfut was trailing the boundless blue desert talking to herself. An eccentric figure, it was impossible to tell which country or era she belonged to or even how old she was. She could have been twenty, but she could just as well have been forty. She was dressed in an ankle-length, dark-blue, black velvet dress with a neck collar studded in diamonds. On her left hand, she wore a ring inlaid with a crystal with the same dark-blue sheen. Her face was covered in scarlet ritual paint, her cheeks bones dotted with white spots. She had green eyes and black hair cut into a bob. What else could one say about her? For all the harshness of her appearance, she was beautiful.

她能夠穿梭於這凝固的現實之中，至今依然是一大謎團。實際上，她自己也完全不知所措，不僅不曉得目前身在何處，連自己又是如何落入此境的都無法回憶。

How she was able to move through frozen reality was a mystery. Indeed, it was a mystery to the priestess herself, as she had not the faintest idea where she was, nor could she remember how she had ended up there.

「哦，眾神啊，世界的統治者們！快帶我回家！」 Itfut 的呼喊充滿了任性與憤怒，遠非無助的哀嚎。「我的僕人和臣民們，你們究竟在哪裡？若你們再不現身，我便下令斬首所有人！」

“Oh, Gods, rulers of the world! Take me home!” Itfut’s protest was expressed more in capricious indignation than a helpless wail. “Where are my servants, my subjects? If you don’t show yourselves right now, I’ll order you to have everyone beheaded!”

這番話大概僅是為了嚇阻人心，畢竟這位祭司向來並無殘忍嗜血的惡名。

These words were probably spoken for effect as the priestess did not have the reputation of a cruel or bloodthirsty ruler.

「好吧，好吧，這若是個可怕的玩笑，大家就得受苦！相信我，他們必定會受苦！」 Itfut 雖顯疲憊，但仍不失那份任性的公主風範！不得不說，這位祭司擁有一顆勇敢的心。若換作他人，面臨如此詭譎的超現實景象，很可能早已歇斯底里或陷入恍惚。四處皆是一望無際、單調的藍色沙丘延展至天際，空氣中毫無一絲風動，既不炎熱也不冰冷。那無日光的天空散發著柔和的黃色光澤，而藍沙則成了最冷豔的對比。

“Right, if this is some sick joke everyone will suffer for it! And believe me, suffer they will!” Itfut was exhausted but she still had the spirit to behave like a capricious princess, at least in some circumstances! One had to admit, the priestess had a brave heart. Anyone else finding themselves in her shoes would already have become hysterical or fallen into trance, not least because the landscape was frighteningly surreal. Everywhere, the same, monotonous, blue waves of sand stretched as far as the horizon. There was not the slightest whiff of a breeze in the air. It was neither hot nor cold. The sky that held no sun glowed with a yellow shimmer and in contrast the sand was blue.

「好啦，好啦，冷靜點——這到底是在上演噩夢般的恐怖，還是一場讓人驚懼的惡夢？」 Itfut 一邊自語，一邊不斷重複這句話。

“Okay, okay, get with it, thinking — what is this, a nightmarish horror or a horrible nightmare?” Itfut had the habit of repeating herself.

「這種情況本不該發生在我身上——我才是那個創造噩夢與恐怖，使得所有人膽戰心驚的人！這是你們最後的警告！若我此刻還不被送回我的神殿，我定會發怒，你們知道那怒氣是多麼可怕！」 Itfut 絕望地跪倒在地，低語道：「哦不，我看我快要哭出來了。」

“This kind of thing shouldn’t be happening to me. I’m the one who creates the nightmares and the horrors that make everyone else tremble! This is your last warning! If I’m not returned to my temple this instant, I’ll get angry, and you know how terrifying that can be!” Itfut fell to her knees in despair. “Oh no, I think I’m going to cry.”

突然間，祭司猛然發覺自己幾乎已無法記起究竟是誰，也無法想起來自何方。模糊的記憶片段在腦海中交織，她隱約記得自己曾是一位大祭司和統治者……曾擁有神殿、大臣和一位導師，但那些細節如今卻已全然模糊，甚至連自己的名字也記不清了。

Then it suddenly came to the priestess that she could barely remember who she was or where she was from. Vague fragments of memory were tangled in her mind. She recalled that she was a High Priestess and ruler... she had a temple, ministers, a Teacher but she could not recall the details. She could not even remember her name.

「哦！眾神啊，我究竟是誰？」

“Oh! Gods, who am I?”

她話音剛落，頓時有一陣低語如同不安的微風般在虛空中來回飄蕩：

No sooner had she spoken than a whisper appeared in the emptiness flicking from one direction to another like an unsettled wind:

“Itfut, Itfut! 祭司 Itfut! 祭司，祭司！”

“Itfut, Itfut! Priestess Itfut! Priestess, priestess!”

祭司低語說：「奇怪，這聽起來有點像我的名字，但又似乎不是……」她四處張望尋找聲音的來源，「誰在那裡？」

“Strange, that is kind of like my name, and at the same time, it isn’t...” the priestess muttered while looking around for the source of the voice. “Who’s there?”

低語回答：「臨界，臨界！」

“Threshold, Threshold!” the whisper responded. “Threshold of what?”

「時間，時間！」

“Time, time!”

「你在哪裡？快現身！」

“Where are you? Show yourself!”

然而，低語剎那間便消逝得無影無蹤，再無回音。

But the whisper faded just as suddenly as it had appeared and did not respond.

Itfut 長嘆一聲，「好吧……」她不再等待回應，「這一定是一場惡夢。要不然我就要醒來，要不就是我快瘋了。不論如何，我再也受不了了。」

“Right...” sighed Itfut, not waiting for a reply. “This must be a bad dream. Either I’m about to wake up, or I’m going mad. Either way, I can’t take this anymore.”

此時，她忽然想起導師曾教過的一句話：若要從夢境中回歸現實，就必須清楚地意識到你是誰，你真正的身份是什麼。

Then, she suddenly remembered something her Teacher had taught her: to return to reality from a dream you have to be consciously aware of who you are, who you really are.

祭司斷然宣稱：「那不是我，這才是我！」然而，她的咒語卻毫無反應，什麼也未改變。她心中暗忖：‘那麼，我究竟是誰？如果我永遠無法完整記住自己，將會怎樣？’而且，那低語中傳來的名字，竟也讓人覺得並非真正屬於我，這又究竟意味著什麼？一切都顯得那麼虛幻。

“That’s not me,” the priestess declared. “This is me!” But the priestess’s incantation did not help. Nothing happened. ‘So, who am I? What will happen if I never remember myself fully?’ thought the priestess. ‘Even the name the whisper spoke somehow did not quite feel like it was her real name. And what did that mean, it did not quite feel real?’

祭司自語道：「那麼，我該怎麼辦，Itfut？」接著她又反覆念道：「好吧，我叫 Itfut，我就是 Itfut。接下來呢？再往前走也毫無意義，眼前只是一望無際的沙海。等等，導師還說了些什麼來著？」

“So, what are we going to do, Itfut?” the priestess asked herself. “Ok, my name is Itfut, my name is Itfut. What next? There is no point in walking any further. There’s just sand and nothing but sand as far as the eye can see. Hang on a minute. What else did the Teacher say?”

這段新湧現的記憶，讓祭司看到了希望的曙光。‘在夢中醒來，你便能掌控夢境。要做到這一點，你必須細心觀察周遭的一切，然後問自己：一切是否都如預期運行？是否有哪裡出現問題？如果有，究竟是什麼？學習去看清你所處的現實。’

The fresh memory gave the priestess a glimpse of hope. ‘Wake up in the dream and you can take control of the dream. To do this you have to look very carefully at all that surrounds you and then ask yourself whether everything is as it should be, or whether something is wrong, and if so, what exactly. Learn to see your reality.’

「不，我和周遭的一切都錯了，一切都錯了！這裡除了沙子，究竟還有什麼可看？順便問一下，這沙子為什麼竟然是藍色的？」 Itfut 坐下來，開始不斷地把沙子從一隻手倒到另一隻手中。

“No, everything is wrong with me and my surroundings. Everything is wrong! And what is there to see here except sand? And, by the way, why is it blue?” Itfut sat down and began pouring sand from one hand to the other.

「沙子，這不是沙子，沙子就是沙子！」她按照導師的教誨，試著在平凡的事物中尋找那不尋常的本質，邊說邊質疑，「除了顏色之外，它究竟有何異樣？它由顆粒構成，倒流如沙。」

“Sand, this is not sand. Sand is sand!” she said trying to see the unusual essence in ordinary things as her Teacher taught her to. “What is unusual about it aside from the color? It consists of grains and pours like sand.”

就在此刻，祭司面前的沙子猶如煙霧般升騰，迅速匯聚成一股巨大的漩渦，直衝天際。面對這恐怖的景象，祭司尖叫起來並急忙逃跑，但無論她往哪裡跑，那旋轉的沙漩總在她眼前出現。Itfut 穿著的鞋子根本不適合奔跑，結果她不慎絆倒摔了下來。

In that moment, the sand in front of the priestess began to rise up like smoke turning into a huge vortex and charging up into the sky. The priestess screamed at the terrifying spectacle and tried to run away but it was futile. Wherever she ran, the sandy spiral appeared in front of her. The shoes Itfut was wearing were not meant for running in and she stumbled and fell.

祭司幾乎陷入極度的絕望，但她強迫自己冷靜下來，勉強穩住心神，自我安慰道，至少這旋風並未對她造成傷害。

The priestess was almost on the verge of great despair, but she pulled herself together again and managed to calm herself a little, telling herself that the whirlwind was not doing her any harm at least.

「好啦，好啦，我現在真是怕得要命，已經無法再更恐懼了。如果情況不能再變糟，那就代表它們即將好轉。但我真的是受夠了這一切。我的恐懼已與我分離，我也不再屬於它。我不想再與它共存。我走了，並把這恐懼留在我的鞋子裡——反正這裡也不適合它。走開，快走，離我遠點！」祭司一邊說著，一邊脫下鞋子，猛地將它們丟進旋風之中。

“Okay, okay. I’m really scared now; I couldn’t be any more scared. So, if things can’t get any worse, then that’s good — they’re about to get better. But I’ve seriously had enough of all this. My fear is now separate from me, and I am separate from it. I don’t want to be with it anymore. I’m going and leaving my fear in my shoes. They’re no good here anyway. Away, away, get away from me!” The priestess kicked off her shoes and flung them straight into the whirlwind.

「就是這樣。我走了，也把我的恐懼留在這裡了！」

“That’s it. I’ve gone and I’ve left my fear here!”

鞋子隨即消失於那股旋風中，而那漩渦此刻更是以越發震耳欲聾的吼聲猛烈扭轉著。

The shoes disappeared into the whirlwind which twisted even more powerfully now with an increasing roar.

Itfut 心中暗想：「這情況糟透了，我必須採取更有效的措施，不然一切都會變得更糟。」

’This is bad,’ thought Itfut. ‘I need to take more effective measures otherwise this is not going to end well.’

「對了，Itfut，Itfut，祭司，祭司，你必須看清這該死的現實，弄明白它到底是什麼，否則就完了。這不僅僅是沙子，那也不是普通的旋風。這究竟是什麼？快思考，快點，趕緊！」

“Right, Itfut, Itfut, priestess, priestess, you need to see this damn reality, work out what it is, or this is the end. This isn’t just sand and that isn’t just any old whirlwind. What is it? Think, quickly, quickly now, hurry, hurry!”

然後，她頓時恍然大悟。

And then it dawned on her.

「原來是個沙漏！」她驚呼道，「是個沙漏！我看穿你了，該死的現實！」

“It’s a sand-timer!” she exclaimed. “It’s a sand-timer! I see you, devilish reality!”

就在那一刻，旋風停止了扭轉，狂吼聲逐漸變為悠揚的玻璃鐘聲，巨大的漏斗轟然墜地。沙子瞬間恢復了天然的黃色，而天空也再次湛藍起來，唯獨太陽仍然缺席。

In that moment, the whirlwind stopped twisting, the roar was replaced with a glassy chime, and the gigantic funnel came crashing to the ground. The sand acquired a natural yellow color, and the sky shone blue again. The sun was the one thing still absent from the sky.