Chapter 7

chapter seven IN OUR PIMENSION, THERE WAS A LEGEND, A STORY TOLD TO KEEP YOUNG ONES AWAKE AT NIGHT. THE STORY OF A BEING KNOWN AS REZAC, THE ANCIENT DESTRUCTOR OF WORLDS. "How ancient is he? Older than you?" June asks. Bardle chuckles. "Oh yes. Much. .e...c. the Ancient comes from the time before time, when great battles were fought in our lands. After an age, .e...c. was defeated. And for millennia, he was gone. We lived in peace.

在我们的庄园里，有一个传说，一个用来让小孩子夜不能寐的故事。 一个叫做雷扎克的生物的故事，古老的世界毁灭者。 “他多大年纪了？”比你还大？”6月问道。 Bardle笑着说。“哦,是的。多。 社会事务部…c。“远古”这个词来自更早的时代，那时在我们的土地上发生了伟大的战争。 过了一段时间，……被击败了。 几千年来，他都不见了。 我们和平相处。

"But he returned. Throughout the ages, there have been rare, evil creatures who strive to bring about the return of .e...c.. One of these servants of .e...c. awakened his spirit. And .e...c. came like a summer storm, hard and fast, wielding magic more powerful than we had ever known. In his sleep, his hunger had grown strong." "I know the feeling," I say. "Sometimes when I wake up, I'm just craving a Baby Ruth, like—" "Jack!" Quint whispers. "Oh. Right. Story time." Bardle chuckles. ".e...c. did not crave 'Baby Ruths.' .e...c. craved death. He is the destructor." I gulp. That sounds bad. ".e...c.'s magic had grown strong," Bardle continues. "And then, at the peak of his power—it happened. In an instant, our world turned dark. The skies clouded. The atmosphere crackled. Doors opened—portals of energy. I do not know how. I do not know if it was .e...c. himself who opened the doors—or something else..." Quint shoots me a nervous look. None of this is sounding good.

但他还是回来了。古往今来，一直有罕见的邪恶生物努力带来……的回归…… 他的一个仆人… 唤醒了他的灵魂。和社会事务部…c。 就像一场夏季风暴，猛烈而迅速，挥舞着比我们所知道的更强大的魔法。 在他的睡眠中，他的饥饿感变得越来越强烈。” “我知道那种感觉，”我说。 “有时候我醒来的时候，我就想吃Ruth宝宝，就像——”“杰克！”五胞胎低声说。 “哦。正确的。故事时间。”Bardle笑着说。 “即…c。我并不渴望“婴儿露丝”。“生产…c。 渴望死亡。他是破坏者。” 我吞咽。听起来很糟糕。“即…c。“魔法变得越来越强大，”巴德尔继续说道。 “然后，在他权力达到顶峰的时候，事情发生了。 刹那间，我们的世界变暗了。 天空乌云密布。大气噼啪作响。 门打开了——能量的入口。 我不知道怎么做。我不知道是不是…… 打开门的那个人——或者别的什么……” 昆特紧张地看了我一眼。 这些听起来都不好。

Bardle continues, "But I know that next, we were sucked through those doors. All of us: the wild vines, the undead who carry and spread the zombie plague, my friends whom you see here—all of us, in an instant, propelled through a thousand doors, into your world." "Wait," I say. "And then this bad guy, .e...c. the Ancient—he came through these energy door portal gate things? HE'S HERE?!"

巴德尔继续说道：“但我知道，接下来，我们被那些门吸走了。 我们所有人：野生的藤蔓，携带和传播僵尸瘟疫的亡灵，我的朋友们，你们在这里看到的——我们所有人，在一瞬间，被推进了上千扇门，进入了你们的世界。” “等等，”我说。“然后这个坏人，……” 那个古人，他是从这些能量门，传送门之类的东西进来的？ 他在这里? !”

Bardle shakes his head. "No. The doors closed before .e...c. could come through. .e...c. the Ancient was left behind. For us, it is a relief—we suffered under his rule. But now we are here, in a new, strange world." "Oh," I say softly. "But, so—are we safe from this .e...c. fella?" Bardle nods. "It seems that way. For now. He was left behind in our world. We are now in yours." Phew. Bardle smiles. "And we owe you a great deal of thanks for defeating Blarg. He was a servant of .e...c.. One who worshipped him. One who would do his best to bring .e...c. into this world." Thrull takes a break from chomping on something that looks like fried rat tail. "You are building a bestiary?" he grunts. "How did you know?" I ask. "I see your friend writing and writing. And you have a device for image capture, correct?" I look down to the camera around my neck. Before the Monster Apocalypse, I took photos for the school paper. I wasn't half-bad, either.

巴德尔摇了摇头。“没有。 在……之前，门关上了。 可以通过…… 远古的人被留下了。 对我们来说，这是一种解脱——我们在他的统治下遭受了苦难。 但现在我们在这里，在一个陌生的新世界里。” “哦，”我轻声说。“但是——我们安全吗？” 小伙子吗?”Bardle点点头。“似乎是这样。 现在。他被留在了我们的世界。 我们现在在你的世界里。”唷。 Bardle微笑。“我们非常感谢你打败了布拉格。 他是……的仆人…… 崇拜他的人一个会尽他所能带来……的人。 进入这个世界。”Thrull正在咀嚼一种看起来像炸鼠尾的东西。 “你在建造一个动物的宝库？”他咕哝道。 “你怎么知道的？”我问。 “我看到你的朋友一直在写。 你们有图像捕捉设备，对吗？”我低头看了看脖子上的相机。 在怪物启示录之前，我为校报拍了照片。 我也不差一半。

Photography is kinda my thing—photography and monster slaying. "Yes," I say. "May I see this bestiary?" Thrull asks. Bardle cocks a sharp eyebrow at Thrull, but Quint shrugs and hands over his notebook. I watch as Thrull feels the weight of it in his massive hands. He opens it up and examines the three-ring binder like an infant touching something for the first time. At last, he shakes his head and says, "No, no—this won't do at all." Quint and I frown. He's bad-mouthing our bestiary? Thrull reaches into one of the bags draped over his shoulder and removes a thick, dusty tome. He holds it out. As I reach for this new book, I feel something like energy leap into my fingertips. My hands are tingly. Sound seems to fade, like someone is turning down the volume. My breaths come short and quick. My hand trembles as I lift open the heavy cover. And immediately sneeze. "Uh, sorry," I say, feeling really doofy.

摄影是我的爱好——摄影和杀妖。 “是的，”我说。“我可以看看这本兽书吗？”Thrull问道。 巴德尔对瑟鲁竖起了锐利的眉毛，但昆特耸了耸肩，交出了他的笔记本。 我看着Thrull用他粗壮的双手感受着它的重量。 他把它打开，像一个婴儿第一次接触什么东西一样，仔细检查着那个三环活页夹。 最后，他摇了摇头说：“不，不，这根本不行。” 昆特和我皱着眉头。他在说我们的圣经的坏话？ 瑟鲁把手伸进肩上的一个袋子里，拿出一本厚厚的、满是灰尘的大部头。 他坚持住了。当我伸手去拿这本新书时，我感到一种能量跃入我的指尖。 我的手刺痛了。声音似乎消失了，就像有人在调低音量。 我呼吸急促。 当我打开沉重的盖子时，我的手在颤抖。 然后马上打喷嚏。“呃，对不起，”我说，感觉自己很傻。

No one says anything. My friends stare, eyes wide, at the book. The cover is made of something hard, like old monster skin. The pages are yellow and thick and textured. Each one is covered with creepy sketches of strange, terrifying creatures. Words scrawled in monster writing. And stuff. Things. Teeth and fingernails and hair and—eww—a flattened eyeball. "Um... what is this disgusting but awesome book?" I ask. Thrull grins proudly. "THAT is a bestiary. A true bestiary. From our world."

没人说什么。我的朋友们瞪大眼睛盯着那本书。 封面是由一些坚硬的东西做成的，就像老怪物的皮肤。 书页是黄色的，很厚，很有质感。 每一幅画上都画着奇怪可怕的生物。 潦草的怪物字。 和东西。的事情。牙齿，指甲，头发还有扁平的眼球。 “嗯……这本恶心但很棒的书是什么？”我问。 Thrull骄傲地笑着。“那是一本兽书。 一本真正的兽书。从我们的世界。”