第四十四章（1）
THE PHOENIX SAT on its perch with the Palace of the Fates some distance beyond it.
不死鸟栖于枝头，命运女神的神殿在它前方远处。
Kratos compared the newly resurrected firebird with the spire of ash and the opened wing replica with the palace in its mouth.
奎托斯将新复活的不死鸟与那灰烬之塔以及口中含着神殿、展翅的石制复制品进行比较。
There had to be a connection between the actual Phoenix and the location of the Fates’ palace, but he could not see what it was.
真实的不死鸟与命运女神神殿的位置之间必有联系，但他未能参透。
Blowing again on the horn would solve nothing, but a different perspective on both Phoenix and palace might.
再次吹响号角无济于事，但换个角度观察不死鸟和神殿或许有用。
He began edging along a narrow walkway to find the true path to the Sisters.
他开始沿着一条狭窄走道小心移动，寻找通往命运女神的真正路径。
The walkway ended in a room opening on the sea, the Phoenix, and the palace but otherwise in utter darkness.
走道尽头是一个房间，面向大海、不死鸟和神殿敞开，除此之外一片漆黑。
But Kratos sensed another being near even before he heard, “I have come too far to fail!”
但奎托斯在听到“我历尽艰险至此，绝不能失败！”之前，就已察觉到附近有另一个存在。
Kratos drew the Blades of Athena and swung around in time to meet a sword thrust with a quick parry.
奎托斯抽出雅典娜之刃，及时转身格挡开一记突刺。
His opponent, cloaked in darkness, peppered blows with a fist along with his sword attack.
他的对手隐于黑暗，在挥剑攻击的同时以拳猛击。
Kratos ignored the pummeling, blocked a lunge with the flat of one blade, then swung about and brought its razored edge down on the attacker’s head.
奎托斯无视捶打，用一柄刀的平面挡开突刺，随即转身将利刃砍向袭击者的头部。
Only a last-instant twitch saved the man from having his head split open.
在最后一刻的抽搐使那人免于头颅被劈开。
This turned the tide of combat.
这扭转了战局。
His opponent weakened rapidly from the blow, which had severed an ear and cut deeply into his shoulder.
这一击削掉了他一只耳朵并深深砍入肩膀，对手迅速衰弱。
Kratos pressed his advantage.
奎托斯乘胜追击。
He batted the sword from the man’s hand, grabbed him around the waist, and lifted.
他打掉那人手中的剑，拦腰将其抓起举起。
Grunting, Kratos slammed the man into a wall and felt even more fight drain away.
奎托斯低吼着将那人猛撞在墙上，感到其反抗之力进一步消退。
But his foe proved not to be as easy a kill as it first seemed.
但他的对手并非起初看来那般容易解决。
Kratos punched hard, but the man jerked to one side.
奎托斯重拳出击，但那人猛地闪向一侧。
Kratos’ fist slammed into the wall, and he loosened his grip on the hidden man.
奎托斯的拳头砸在墙上，对那隐匿之人的抓握随之松动。
Kratos landed two more hard punches.
奎托斯又击中两记重拳。
As quickly as the fight began, it ended.
战斗开始得突然，结束得也迅速。
The man grappled with Kratos and wrenched him about.
那人与奎托斯扭打，猛地将他扭转。
Kratos drew his sword and lunged; locked together, they plunged through an interior window, fell two stories, and landed hard in the center of a large porch overlooking the ocean, surrounded by shards of glass from above.
奎托斯拔剑突刺；两人紧锁在一起，撞穿一扇内窗，跌落两层，重重摔在一个俯瞰大海的大露台中央，四周散落着上方的玻璃碎片。
Kratos started to twist the sword he had buried in the man’s gut, then saw his opponent clearly for the first time.
奎托斯开始扭转刺入那人腹部的剑，随后第一次看清了对手。
“You?” Kratos slid his sword from the soldier’s torso.
“是你？”奎托斯从士兵躯干中抽出剑。
The soldier looked up, clutching Kratos’ sword, which had run through his chest.
士兵抬起头，握着贯穿他胸膛的奎托斯之剑。
“My lord. In the darkness, I didn’t recognize you! I sought the Sisters to …”
“大人。黑暗中，我没认出是您！我寻找命运女神是为了……”
Kratos grabbed him by the cuirass as he had once before back in Rhodes.
奎托斯抓住他的胸甲，如同昔日在罗德岛时那样。
“I told you to return to Sparta.
“我告诉过你返回斯巴达。
Why do you leave Sparta unprotected?”
为何让斯巴达无人守护？”
“Sparta,” the young soldier gasped out, visibly weakening, “is no more.”
“斯巴达，”年轻士兵喘息着说，带着肉眼可见的虚弱，“已不复存在。”
He looked away, unable to meet Kratos’ accusing gaze.
他移开目光，无法面对奎托斯质问的眼神。
“What treachery is this?” Kratos shook him hard to focus his attention on reporting rather than dwelling on the sword wound that would soon end his life.
“这是何等的背叛？”奎托斯猛摇他，让他专注于报告，而非纠结于那即将终结他生命的剑伤。
“Zeus,” the young soldier said, coughing up blood.
“宙斯，”年轻士兵说着，咳出鲜血。
“He came under the cloak of darkness.
“他趁着黑暗的掩护而来。
I was standing guard with two others when a thunderbolt destroyed the wall and sent us flying through the air.
我与另外两人正在站岗，一道雷霆摧毁了墙壁，将我们掀飞至空中。
They were killed.
他们死了。
I was trapped under a large stone, unable to move—but I saw.
我被困于一块巨石下，无法移动——但我看见了。
Oh, my lord, I saw every moment of the destruction!”
哦，大人，我目睹了毁灭的每一刻！”
Kratos stared in disbelief, trying to understand what he was being told.
奎托斯难以置信地瞪着，试图理解所闻之事。
Sparta laid to waste? Impossible!
斯巴达化为废墟？不可能！
“The people ran about in confusion, begging for their god to save them.
“人们慌乱奔逃，乞求他们的神拯救他们。
I saw Zeus striding through the city, a hundred feet tall.
我看见宙斯阔步穿过城市，高达百英尺。
More!
不止！
He reached down and destroyed the tallest structures by plucking them like a thorn from flesh.
他俯身摧毁最高的建筑，如同从肉中拔除荆棘。
He crushed smaller buildings underfoot, then ground what he had already crushed into powder finer than flour.
他将较小建筑踩碎脚下，继而将已碎之物碾磨成比面粉更细的粉末。
Fires raged, fires Zeus caused by plucking lightning bolts from the sky and hurling them into the city.
烈火肆虐，是宙斯从天空攫取闪电掷入城中引发的。
Women and children were burned to death before my eyes.”
妇女和儿童在我眼前被活活烧死。”
The soldier sagged back.
士兵瘫软下去。
Kratos shook him again until his eyelids fluttered and the soldier forced himself to speak.
奎托斯再次摇晃他，直到他眼皮颤动，士兵强迫自己开口。
“They ran past me, on fire, and I could do nothing.
“他们浑身着火从我身边跑过，我却无能为力。
My legs were pinned under a stone from a temple—your temple, God of War.”
我的腿被一座神庙——您的战神神庙——的石头压住了。”
“Yet you are here,” Kratos said.
“然而你却在此，”奎托斯说。
“I forced the stone from my legs and stood weaponless to face a god, but Lord Zeus had already gone to destroy more distant sections of Sparta.
“我奋力移开腿上的石头，手无寸铁地站立面对神明，但宙斯大人已去摧毁斯巴达更远的区域。
I was left with no choice.
我别无选择。
I had to seek out the Sisters to change the fate of our beloved Sparta.”
我必须寻找命运女神来改变我们挚爱的斯巴达的命运。”
“How did you penetrate this far into their temple?” Kratos asked.
“你如何能深入她们的神殿至此？”奎托斯问。
The soldier looked up, his lips moving but no sound coming out.
士兵抬起头，嘴唇蠕动却发不出声音。
He shuddered and blood trickled from his lips before he spoke.
他颤抖着，鲜血从唇间淌下，然后才开口。
“I was brought here.
“我被带至此地。
A giant eagle caught me in its claws, then dropped me.”
一只巨鹰用爪子抓住我，然后将我丢下。”

第四十四章（2）
Kratos caught his breath.
奎托斯屏住呼吸。
Could the soldier have been brought by Zeus?
这士兵可能是被宙斯带来的吗？
The Sisters of Fate had to have allowed it.
命运女神必定允许了此事。
This made Kratos suspicious.
这令奎托斯心生疑虑。
Lahkesis had chosen to present him with a new challenge before giving him an audience.
拉克西丝在给予他觐见之前，选择向他提出新的挑战。
The dying soldier might be part of that barrier to his quest.
这垂死的士兵或许是他追寻之路上的障碍之一。
Was his hatred for Zeus greater than his loyalty to his Spartans?
他对宙斯的恨意是否超过了对斯巴达子民的忠诚？
A wrong decision now might doom him in Lahkesis’ eyes.
此刻一个错误的决定可能使他在拉克西丝眼中注定失败。
Kratos held the soldier upright.
奎托斯扶住士兵使其坐直。
No strength remained in him, but he fought to finish his tale.
他已无力，但仍挣扎着讲完他的故事。
The soldier coughed and turned, croaking out, “For I am all that’s left.”
士兵咳嗽着转过身，沙哑地说：“因为我以为我是仅存之人了。”
He fell back and stared up, a tiny smile curling his lips.
他向后倒下，仰望着，嘴角泛起一丝微笑。
“Now you are all that’s left.
“如今您是仅存之人了。
I have faith that our brothers of Sparta will live on to see the true God of War.”
我坚信我们斯巴达的兄弟将活下去，见到真正的战神。”
He choked on his own blood, and died.
他被自己的血呛住，死去了。
Kratos released his grip and stood, staring at his fallen comrade.
奎托斯松手站起，凝视着倒下的同伴。
The soldier’s death had taken away one possible course.
士兵之死断绝了一种可能。
There was no reason for him to abandon Gaia’s quest now and return to Sparta to save that city.
他现在没有理由放弃盖亚的引导而返回斯巴达去拯救那座城市。
He threw back his arms and looked skyward, bellowing, “Zeus! Is this how you face me? Coward! I am through doing the bidding of the gods. Come down here and face me now, Zeus!”
他张开双臂仰天怒吼：“宙斯！你就这样面对我吗？懦夫！我已不再听从众神之命。立刻下来面对我，宙斯！”
A fetid gust of wind pressed into Kratos’ back.
一阵恶臭的狂风吹袭在奎托斯背上。
He heard a squishing sound followed by the sharp clack of what might have been steel against steel.
他听到挤压声，随后是可能是钢铁撞击的尖锐铿锵声。
Slowly turning, he stared into a gaping mouth filled with viciously curved fangs.
他缓缓转身，凝视着一张布满凶恶弯牙的血盆大口。
Eyes the size of a warrior’s shield fixed him with utter hatred, and curved pincers pressed into the stone flooring as the Kraken drew itself up from the sea.
如战士盾牌般大小的眼睛充满憎恨地锁定他，弯曲的钳爪压入石地，克拉肯从海中升起。
（楼主：乐，北海巨妖客串来了）
“Zeus won’t even fight his own battle,” Kratos said, sneering.
“宙斯甚至不愿亲自作战，”奎托斯嗤笑道。
“He has Poseidon send his minion!”
“他让波塞冬派来了他的爪牙！”
The Kraken roared and spat at him.
克拉肯咆哮着向他吐唾。
“Come down here and face me now!” Kratos roared, not at the Kraken but at Olympus.
“立刻下来面对我！”奎托斯咆哮道，不是对克拉肯，而是对奥林匹斯。
“I grow tired of the lies of the gods.”
“我已厌倦了众神的谎言。”
Kratos swung his war hammer in an arc before him.
奎托斯在身前弧形挥舞战锤。
The Kraken reared higher and pulled more tentacles from the sea.
克拉肯扬起身躯，从海中抽出更多触手。
It roared and lashed out with preternatural speed, a tentacle whipping around Kratos and circling him entirely.
它咆哮着以超自然的速度猛击，一条触手缠绕住奎托斯，将他完全包围。
Arms pinned to his side, Kratos struggled in the slimy grasp—to no avail.
双臂被压在身侧，奎托斯在滑腻的抓握中挣扎——徒劳无功。
The Kraken lifted him high and drew him closer to its maw.
克拉肯将他高高举起，拉近其巨口。
It would feast this day.
它今日将饱餐一顿。
Kratos made a mighty heave in an attempt to break free but the tentacle slithered up around his neck.
奎托斯奋力猛挣试图脱困，但触手滑绕上他的脖颈。
And squeezed.
然后收紧。
And squeezed and squeezed.
不断收紧，再收紧。
He blacked out for a moment and then thrashed about, startled to find himself on a hillside.
他昏迷了片刻，然后猛地挣扎，惊觉自己身处一座山坡上。
The clouds in the overcast sky reflected light from the fires burning in the city below.
阴云密布的天空映照着下方城市燃烧的火光。
Kratos took a step forward when he saw the woman making her way toward him.
奎托斯向前迈了一步，看见一名女子向他走来。
Silently she stopped a few feet away.
她无声地在几英尺外停下。
“I am so sorry, my love.”
“我很抱歉，我的爱人。”
The furious hatred for Zeus faded as Lysandra stepped even closer.
当吕珊德拉更近一步时，对宙斯的狂怒憎恨消退了。
“Can you ever forgive me?”
“你能原谅我吗？”
His voice was hardly a whisper, but earnest and spoken from the heart that he had forsaken for vengeance.
他的声音几不可闻，但真诚且发自那颗他曾为复仇而抛弃的内心。
“All is not lost, Kratos.”
“并非全盘皆输，奎托斯。”
His eyes widened.
他睁大了眼睛。
The voice was not that of his beloved wife but of Gaia.
那声音并非他挚爱妻子的，而是盖亚的。
He tried to speak but words refused to form.
他试图说话却语不成声。
The gods had used him for their own whims, and he had rebelled.
众神为自身私欲利用他，而他已反抗。
Gaia used him, too, speaking through Lysandra to manipulate him.
盖亚也在利用他，通过吕珊德拉之口来操纵他。
Kratos found he did not care.
奎托斯发现自己并不在意。
Seeing his wife again, come across the Elysian Fields, even with the backdrop of a burning, destroyed Sparta, filled him with joy and longing.
再次见到妻子，穿越至福乐土而来，即使背景是燃烧毁灭的斯巴达，也让他充满喜悦与渴望。
“You must go on,” she said.
“你必须继续前进，”她说。
“There is much at stake here.”
“此地事关重大。”
Kratos held up his hands, palms toward his wife, and shook his head in sorrow.
奎托斯举起双手，掌心朝向妻子，悲伤地摇头。
“I cannot defeat the gods.”
“我无法击败众神。”
“Victory favors you, Kratos.
“胜利眷顾你，奎托斯。
But you must grab hold of your destiny and command it.
但你必须抓住你的命运并掌控它。
There is a war on the horizon, and we need you to lead us into battle.”
一场战争即将来临，我们需要你率领我们投入战斗。”
Kratos looked past his wife—past Gaia—to destroyed Sparta.
奎托斯目光越过妻子——越过盖亚——望向被毁的斯巴达。
Fires burned like the campfires of some vast army, but none lived amid the ruins.
火焰如某支大军的营火般燃烧，但废墟中已无生灵。
Zeus had been too thorough in his rampage.
宙斯的肆虐太过彻底。
“To what end?” He was pleading for an answer.
“为了什么结局？”他恳求着一个答案。
“The death of Zeus!
“宙斯之死！
If you relent, Zeus will torment you still.
如果你手软，宙斯仍将折磨你。
He will not rest knowing you live.
知你活着，他绝不会安息。
And when you die his brother Hades will see that your shade is tortured for all eternity.
而当你死后，他的兄弟哈迪斯将确保你的亡魂受永恒折磨。
You will have no rest until you destroy him.”
除非你毁灭他，否则你将永无宁日。”
His wife lifted her hands and placed them on his shoulders.
妻子抬起双手放在他肩上。
Her touch was magic, electric—fire.
她的触碰如同魔法，带电——如火。
Flames rose to consume her, to blend with those of the distant destruction in Sparta.
火焰升腾吞噬了她，与远方斯巴达毁灭的火焰融为一体。
Thunder rolled across the sky, and the flames consumed them both where she touched his shoulders.
雷声滚过天空，火焰在她触碰他肩膀之处吞噬了他们两人。
“Take within you this fire that burned your beloved Sparta.
“将这份燃尽你挚爱斯巴达的火焰纳入己身。
Let it fuel your rage and hasten your steps toward destiny.”
让它为你的狂怒添薪，加速你迈向命运的脚步。”

第四十四章（3）
From head to foot Kratos filled with molten fire.
奎托斯从头到脚充满熔岩之火。
It raced through his veins and caused his heart to hammer so hard in his chest, he thought it might explode.
它在他血管中奔流，使心脏在胸腔内猛烈锤击，他觉得它可能要爆炸。
She removed her hands but remained close.
她移开双手但仍靠近。
“The time to act is upon us, Kratos.
“行动的时刻到了，奎托斯。
This battle is just the beginning of a great war that is to come.”
这场战斗只是即将到来的大战的开端。”
He reached for her and found his arms pinioned at his sides by slippery flesh.
他伸手向她，却发现双臂被滑腻的肉体紧压在身侧。
Kratos shook all over and twisted about in the Kraken’s tentacled grasp.
奎托斯浑身颤抖，在克拉肯的触手紧握中扭动。
It opened its mouth and roared.
它张开嘴咆哮。
Kratos stared down its gullet and saw not flesh and blood but the eternal torture Gaia had promised at Hades’ hand should he fail.
奎托斯凝视其咽喉深处，看到的不是血肉，而是盖亚所预言的他若失败将在哈迪斯手中承受的永恒折磨。
Kratos summoned the Rage of the Titans and forced open the tentacle wide enough to slip to the stone flooring.
奎托斯召唤泰坦之怒，强行撑开触手，得以滑落至石地。
The Kraken wrapped more tentacles around two pillars on either side to better pull itself up to the attack.
克拉肯将更多触手缠绕在两侧的柱子上，以便更好地拉升身体进行攻击。
Kratos swung his spiked war hammer with all his strength.
奎托斯全力挥舞带刺战锤。
He tore away a gobbet of the Kraken’s tentacle but did not seem to affect it.
他撕下克拉肯触手的一大块肉，但似乎未对其造成影响。
The mighty sea monster roared, a green cloud expanding outward and searing all that it touched.
巨大的海怪咆哮着，一团绿色云雾向外扩张，灼伤其触及的一切。
Seeing how close it came to the fallen Spartan soldier, Kratos rushed over and heaved the young man’s body over his shoulder.
见其逼近倒下的斯巴达士兵，奎托斯冲过去将那年轻人的尸体扛上肩。
The Kraken roared again and lashed out with its tentacles.
克拉肯再次咆哮，挥动触手猛击。
Every attack Kratos made on the left side produced movement.
奎托斯对左侧的每次攻击都引发了动静。
He dropped the soldier’s body onto a pressure plate near the left tentacle and immediately felt a rising column of hot air directly in front of the Kraken.
他将士兵的尸体丢在左触手附近的压力板上，立刻感到克拉肯正前方升起一股热空气柱。
Extending the wings of Icarus allowed Kratos to soar upward on the thermal so he could circle just above the sea monster’s head.
展开伊卡洛斯之翼让奎托斯得以乘热流翱翔上升，在海怪头顶盘旋。
With the Blades of Athena aflame, he stabbed downward into the ribbed forehead, cutting off part of a dorsal fin and further enraging the creature.
雅典娜之刃燃起火焰，他向下刺入其肋状前额，切掉部分背鳍，进一步激怒了这生物。
A lashing tentacle knocked him from the sky, sending him rolling across the stone floor.
一条猛抽的触手将他从空中击落，使他在石地上翻滚。
As the Kraken brought down a tentacle to crush him, Kratos lashed out with both blades and began sawing away at the slimy appendage.
当克拉肯挥下触手要压碎他时，奎托斯双刃齐出，开始锯断那滑腻的附肢。
The Kraken fought to get free but only succeeded in aiding Kratos as he chopped off the tentacle’s end.
克拉肯挣扎着想摆脱，却只在奎托斯砍断触手末端时帮了他。
The Kraken recoiled, giving Kratos a chance to again become airborne and stab repeatedly at its head and upturned ugly face.
克拉肯退缩，给奎托斯再次升空的机会，反复刺击其头部和上仰的丑陋面孔。
Try as he might to blind it, the heavy bony ridges over the Kraken’s eyes protected its sight.
尽管他竭力想弄瞎它，但克拉肯眼上厚重的骨脊保护了它的视力。
A chance blow sent Kratos tumbling from the sky once more.
一次偶然的击打再次将奎托斯从空中击落。
He came to his feet in time to avoid a tentacle crashing down on him.
他及时起身避开一条砸下的触手。
As before, he slashed at the end, worrying his blades about and digging deeply whenever the opportunity presented itself.
如之前一样，他劈砍末端，抓住一切机会用刀刃撕扯并深挖。
The end of this tentacle soon lay on the floor, severed by Kratos’ slashing blades.
这条触手的末端很快被奎托斯的利刃切断，落在地上。
The Kraken recoiled at this new pain, giving Kratos the chance to unleash the Rage of the Titans once more.
新的痛楚使克拉肯退缩，给了奎托斯再次释放泰坦之怒的机会。
Electric sparks erupted, enveloping the Kraken, dancing from its eyes to the fangs in its mouth and finally burning at its tentacles.
电火花爆发，包裹住克拉肯，从其眼睛跳跃到口中尖牙，最终灼烧其触手。
As the spell worked to humble Poseidon’s monster, Kratos launched himself upward on flapping wings and renewed his attacks against the monster’s head and eyes.
当咒语生效，挫败波塞冬的怪物之际，奎托斯振翅腾空，再度攻击怪物的头和眼。
He drove it downward.
他将其逼退向下。
Seeing victory within his grasp, Kratos landed on the edge of the terrace.
见胜利在望，奎托斯降落在露台边缘。
The Kraken’s massive body had hidden a lever.
克拉肯的巨大身躯隐藏了一个杠杆。
Kratos drew it back.
奎托斯将其扳回。
A bridge shot outward, decapitating the Kraken.
一座桥向外射出，夹断了克拉肯的头。
Kratos nodded solemnly as he saw the bridge extended to the pedestal where the Phoenix perched, as if waiting for this moment.
奎托斯庄严地点头，看到桥延伸至不死鸟栖息的基座，仿佛正等待着此刻。
Kratos ran out onto the bridge, vaulted over the pieces of Kraken staining the roadway, and landed only a few feet from where the firebird perched on a roost atop a fiery brazier.
奎托斯跑上桥，跃过玷污路面的克拉肯碎块，落在距不死鸟栖息于烈火熊熊的铜盆上方栖木仅几英尺处。
Kratos walked around the brazier, staring up at the thirty-foot-tall Phoenix.
奎托斯绕铜盆而行，仰视着三十英尺高的不死鸟。
He glanced from its nervous movement on the perch to the distant spire of ash and the stone Phoenix that had opened its beak to reveal the Temple of the Fates.
他看着它在栖木上不安的动作，又将目光投向远方的灰烬尖塔和那已张开嘴露出命运女神神殿的石制不死鸟。
Stopping directly in front of the Phoenix, Kratos cast out his blades, using them as grapples that caught on either side of the bird, just in front of its wings.
停在不死鸟正前方，奎托斯掷出双刃，作为抓钩扣住鸟身两侧，恰在翅膀前方。
The Phoenix went berserk, flapping and thrashing, burning hotter and trying to escape the punishment.
不死鸟变得狂暴，拍打挣扎，燃烧得更炽热，试图摆脱这折磨。
With a powerful tug, Kratos dragged the Phoenix from its perch and knocked it flat on its breast in front of him.
奎托斯猛力一拉，将不死鸟从栖木上拽下，使其胸腹朝前平摔在他面前。
Ignoring the fiercely burning feathers, Kratos jumped onto the firebird’s back.
无视猛烈燃烧的羽毛，奎托斯跃上不死鸟的背部。
It surged upward, dropped one wing, did everything possible to dislodge him.
它向上猛冲，垂下一边翅膀，用尽一切办法想甩掉他。
Kratos held on firmly to the grapples and reined them in to gain better control.
奎托斯紧抓抓钩并收拢它们以获得更好控制。
The Phoenix took to wing, rolling over and banking suddenly in further attempts to unseat him.
不死鸟振翅飞行，翻滚并突然倾斜，进一步试图甩落他。
It would take more than this to deter Kratos now.
此刻，仅凭这些已无法阻挡奎托斯。
He bent forward and guided his fiery transport toward the open mouth of the stone Phoenix far out to sea.
他俯身引导他这火焰坐骑，飞向远在海中、张开大口的石制不死鸟。
The Phoenix understood that it would be free if it obeyed his commands.
不死鸟明白，若服从他的命令便能获得自由。
On powerful wings blazing, the Phoenix carried Kratos toward his goal: the Temple of the Fates.
不死鸟以燃烧的强健双翼承载着奎托斯，飞向他的目标：命运神殿。

第四十五章（1）
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” cried Athena.
“你都干了些什么？”雅典娜喊道。
“Keep a civil tone,” Zeus said, glowering at her.
“注意你的语气，”宙斯怒视着她说道。
“I did what was necessary.
“我只是做了我必须做的。
Kratos had destroyed the other cities.
奎托斯已摧毁了其他城邦。
I destroyed Sparta.”
我摧毁了斯巴达。”
“That won’t keep him from killing you—from trying to kill you,” she hastily amended, shocked at the slip of her tongue.
“这并不能阻止他杀你——试图杀你，”她急忙改口，为自己失言而震惊。
More and more she said what she thought rather than what was wisest.
她越来越多地直言所想，而非最明智之言。
Dealing with the Olympians had always required a large amount of diplomacy, to soothe bruised vanity, to gloss over slights, to guide the others in the direction she desired.
与奥林匹斯众神打交道向来需要大量外交手腕，以抚慰受损的虚荣，粉饰轻慢，引导他人走向她期望的方向。
Not for nothing had Zeus valued her counsel above all others.
宙斯将她置于众神之上绝非无缘无故。
She had remained calm and tactful when others grew wroth or sulked.
当他人暴怒或愠怒时，她始终保持冷静与得体。
“Kratos has always been your pet mortal.
“奎托斯向来是你宠爱的凡人。
No longer.
今非昔比。
I declare him nothing more than a stag to hunt, game to bring down.
我宣告他不过是一头待猎的雄鹿，待宰的猎物。
I want him dead!
我要他死！
For good!
彻底死去！
I want my brother Hades to imprison him in the deepest hellhole in the Underworld for the rest of eternity.”
我要我兄弟哈迪斯将他囚于冥界最深的地狱深渊，永世不得超生。”
“Destroying Sparta only stiffened his resolve,” she said.
“摧毁斯巴达只会坚定他的决心，”她说。
“How do you know this, daughter? Where is he?”
“你从何得知，女儿？他在何处？”
“I know Kratos.
“我了解奎托斯。
Wherever he is—”
无论他在何处——”
“I know where he is,” came a clear, lilting voice that rang out as clear as a bell.
“我知道他在何处，”一个清晰、抑扬顿挫如钟鸣般的声音响起。
“Hermes!”
“赫耳墨斯！”
The name slipped from her lips before she realized it.
她未及反应，名字已脱口而出。
She raised her hand to motion him away, but the god paid her no heed and flew forward to the bottom step leading to Zeus’ throne.
她抬手示意他离开，但这神祇未加理会，飞身向前，落在通往宙斯王座台阶的底层。
“I banished you! You defy me!” Zeus jumped to his feet and drew down the power of lightning to slay Hermes.
“我放逐了你！你竟敢违抗我！”宙斯跃身而起，引动雷霆之力欲诛杀赫耳墨斯。
“I venerate you, Sky Father,” Hermes said, bowing deeply.
“我敬奉您，天父，”赫耳墨斯深鞠一躬说道。
“I bring you news of Kratos that will allow you to destroy him.”
“我为您带来奎托斯的消息，可使您摧毁他。”
“You were banned from Mount Olympus,” Zeus said, but his tone moderated.
“你被禁止踏入奥林匹斯山，”宙斯说，但语气缓和下来。
Athena stepped to one side, marveling at Hermes’ foolhardiness.
雅典娜退至一旁，对赫耳墨斯的鲁莽感到惊讶。
Or was it bravery?
抑或是勇敢？
She looked at him with new appreciation.
她带着新的赏识看着他。
“I serve you, no matter where I go.
“我侍奉您，无论身在何方。
And always I seek the truth that you have been denied.”
并且始终追寻您被蒙蔽的真相。”
“What are you saying?” Zeus tossed a glowing sphere of lightning from one hand to the other.
“你想说什么？”宙斯将一团发光的闪电球在双手间抛接。
“Ask Lord Poseidon why he sent the Kraken to kill Kratos.”
“请问波塞冬大人为何派遣克拉肯去杀奎托斯。”
“He did what?”
“什么？他干了什么？”
“My brother!” Poseidon roared into the audience chamber.
“我的兄弟！”波塞冬吼叫着闯入觐见室。
“I know nothing of what this fool is saying.”
“我对这蠢货所言一无所知。”
“Lord Poseidon loves and honors you above all and wanted only to stop Kratos,” Hermes said in his clarion voice.
“波塞冬大人对您敬爱有加，一心只想阻止奎托斯，”赫耳墨斯用他号角般清晰的声音说道。
“He did not know he had been deceived.”
“他不知自己受骗了。”
“Deceived?” Poseidon shook his trident in Hermes’ face.
“受骗？”波塞冬在赫耳墨斯面前晃动他的三叉戟。
“What are you saying?”
“你什么意思？”
“You did what you had been told was proper, sending your Kraken against Kratos.
“您做了被告知是恰当的事，派遣您的克拉肯对付奎托斯。
You did not know the Sisters of Fate had decreed that the Kraken would fail.”
您不知命运女神已裁定克拉肯必将失败。”
“Fail?” Poseidon looked uneasy.
“失败？”波塞冬看起来很不安。
“Why did you send the Kraken, brother?” Zeus continued to toss the glowing sphere back and forth but now squeezed it, compressing it, intensifying the power within.
“你为何派遣克拉肯，兄弟？”宙斯继续抛接着光球，但此刻开始挤压它，压缩它，增强其内的力量。

第四十五章（2）
“To aid you, Zeus,” Hermes answered for the Lord of the Oceans.
“为了协助您，宙斯，”赫耳墨斯替这位海洋之主回答。
“He did not know the Sisters of Fate had forbidden the Kraken’s success.
“他不知命运女神已禁止克拉肯成功。
Iris led him astray and put him in conflict with the Sisters.”
伊里斯误导了他，使他与命运女神们对立。”
“Iris? What do you mean, Hermes?”
“伊里斯？你意指何事，赫耳墨斯？”
Athena started to intervene, then forced herself to silence.
雅典娜欲出面干预，又强令自己保持沉默。
Hermes was proving more diplomatic—more cunning—than she could ever be.
赫耳墨斯正展现出比她现在所能做到的更娴熟——或者说更狡黠——的外交手腕。
His banishment had forced him to mature and become more circumspect.
他受到的放逐迫使他成熟起来，变得更为谨慎。
“She has lied to you, my king, to disgrace Poseidon in your eyes.
“她向您撒谎，我的王，意在让波塞冬在您眼中失宠。
In this way she would gain more influence among the Olympians.”
借此，她将在奥林匹斯众神中获得更多影响力。”
“That’s so, Zeus,” bellowed Poseidon.
“正是如此，宙斯，”波塞冬吼道。
“Is it?” Zeus frowned.
“是吗？”宙斯皱眉。
“It is, Sky Father,” Athena said.
“确实如此，天父，”雅典娜说。
“My uncle speaks the truth.
“我叔父所言属实。
He was misled by Iris.”
他被伊里斯误导了。”
“Iris thought to anger the Sisters of Fate and turn them against you,” Hermes went on.
“伊里斯意图激怒命运女神，使她们与您对立，”赫耳墨斯继续说道。
“She seeks your throne, Zeus.
“她觊觎您的王位，宙斯。
By pitting the Sisters against the gods, Iris thought to emerge the victor.”
通过挑拨命运女神与众神敌对，伊里斯妄想成为胜利者。”
Zeus looked from Hermes to Poseidon and then to Athena.
宙斯的目光从赫耳墨斯移向波塞冬，再到雅典娜。
He had no trouble interpreting whom Hermes meant by “the gods.”
他毫不费力地解读出赫耳墨斯所指的“众神”是谁。
Athena kept her face solemn, although she wanted to cry out in triumph.
雅典娜内心想欢呼胜利，但仍保持面容肃穆。
Hermes might embellish Iris’ plans, but the kernel of truth was obvious, even to Zeus.
赫耳墨斯或许润色了伊里斯的计划，但核心真相显而易见，即使对宙斯而言也是如此。
“I once more greet you as Messenger of the Gods, Hermes,” Zeus said.
“我再次迎你为神之使者，赫耳墨斯，”宙斯说。
“Your first mission as courier is to tell Iris she is banished.
“你作为信使的首项使命，是告知伊里斯她已被放逐。
Never again will she be allowed to walk the earth save at sunrise or sunset and then only when it is raining.”
她永不得再踏足大地，除非在日出或日落时分，且仅当降雨之时。”
“I hear and obey, great lord,” Hermes said, bowing deeply.
“我聆听并遵命，伟大的主上，”赫耳墨斯深鞠一躬说道。
“You are to return and tell me more.
“你需返回并告知我更多。
Kratos destroyed my brother’s Kraken?
奎托斯摧毁了我兄弟的克拉肯？
This can only be possible with the acquiescence of the Sisters of Fate.
这只能是命运女神默许的结果。
Gifts must be sent to them in the name of all gods and goddesses.”
必须以所有神祇的名义向她们献上礼物。”
Zeus turned to Athena.
宙斯转向雅典娜。
“Since Poseidon sent his Kraken, you are less likely to stir their ire.
“既然波塞冬派遣了他的克拉肯，你激起她们怒火的可能性较小。
Send what tribute is appropriate.”
送去适宜的贡品。”
“They were our allies during the Great War,” Athena said.
“她们在传说大战中曾是我们的盟友，”雅典娜说。
“We must never lose their cooperation.”
“我们绝不能失去她们的合作。”
“No, we must not,” Zeus said.
“是的，我们绝不能，”宙斯说。
His dour expression returned.
他阴郁的表情重现。
He sat heavily and crushed the lightning ball in his hand, sending sparks exploding outward.
他沉重地坐下，捏碎手中的闪电球，火花向外迸射。
“But I will not allow them to protect Kratos.
“但我不会允许她们保护奎托斯。
He will die.
他必须死。
I will see Kratos dead!”
我必眼见奎托斯毙命！”
As his wrath cooled, a look of determination settled on his craggy face.
随着怒火平息，坚定的神色落在他棱角分明的脸上。
“Iris told me Kratos was dead, when she lied to use him against me.”
“伊里斯对我谎称奎托斯已死，实为利用他来对付我。”
Zeus’ right hand closed, leaking a lambency that increasingly turned to rainbow colors.
宙斯的右手握紧，泄出的微光逐渐转为虹彩。
“She will rue the day she sought to deceive me.”
“她将悔恨企图欺骗我的那一天。”
His hand opened and rainbow colors exploded in all directions until nothing but a dull gray fog remained.
他张开手，虹彩向四面八方爆发，直至只剩一团灰暗的雾气。
Athena had nothing to say to this.
雅典娜对此无言以对。
Not now.
此刻不行。
Hermes had returned to his wonted position and Iris had been relegated to a minor role again, stripped of her spectrum.
赫耳墨斯已重归其位，而伊里斯再次被贬至次要角色，被剥夺了她的光谱。
There would be time to plead Kratos’ case to Zeus.
尚有时间为奎托斯向宙斯陈情。
Soon.
很快。
But not now.
但不是此刻。
She bowed to her father, then left.
她向父亲鞠躬，随后离去。
Perhaps Aphrodite or Artemis would accompany her to an audience with the Sisters.
或许阿芙洛狄忒或阿耳忒弥斯会陪同她觐见命运女神。
For the first time since Ares had been killed, she felt that serenity for all Olympus was within her grasp.
自阿瑞斯被杀以来，她第一次感到，令整个奥林匹斯恢复宁静已触手可及。

第四十六章
“WE MUST CONSULT CLOTHO,” Atropos said.
“我们必须与克洛索商议，”阿特洛波斯说道。
Her voice almost broke with strain.
她的声音因紧张几乎破裂。
Lahkesis nodded slowly, thinking about all that had happened.
拉克西丝缓缓点头，思忖着已发生的一切。
“You are right, sister.
“你是对的，姐姐。
Your meddling has—”
你的插手已——”
“Mine! What of your silly dallying with Kratos?
“我的！那你愚蠢地与奎托斯周旋又算什么？
He is yours, and you have allowed him to come this far!”
他是你招惹的，而你竟容他走到这一步！”
“We must share some of the blame for that, sister,” Lahkesis said.
“对此我们都难辞其咎，姐姐，”拉克西丝说。
“We have worked at cross purposes.
“我们一直目的相左。
The Warrior of Destiny was too hesitant with the use of the Spear of Destiny and allowed Kratos to recover it.”
宿命战士在使用命运之矛时过于犹豫，让奎托斯有机会将其夺回。”
“Cut his thread now.
“现在就切断他的命运之线。
I will measure it, you cut it,” Atropos said, her voice shrill.
我来丈量，你来切断，”阿特洛波斯说道，声音尖利。
“Kratos is aided by Gaia.”
“奎托斯得到了盖亚的相助。”
“Gaia,” Lahkesis said, waving her hand in dismissal.
“盖亚，”拉克西丝说着，挥手表示不屑。
“The Titans dream of bygone days.
“泰坦们还在做着昔日旧梦。
They will never be a threat.
他们永远构不成威胁。
What worries me more is the Kraken.
我更担忧的是克拉肯。
Did you weave the monster’s attack into Poseidon’s thread?
你可曾将那怪物的攻击织入波塞冬的命运之线？
No, of course not.
不，你当然没有。
Neither did I.”
我也没有。”
“That’s not possible.
“这不可能。
You must have.
你肯定做了。
You were teasing Kratos and had Poseidon send his monster,” Atropos said.
你一直在戏弄奎托斯，并让波塞冬派出了他的怪物，”阿特洛波斯说。
She fell silent when she saw the answer on her sister’s face.
当她从妹妹脸上看到答案时，她沉默了。
“We who are mistresses of the fate of the world are not supposed to be surprised by such things, especially when the attack occurs on our doorstep.”
“我等身为世界命运的掌控者，本不该为这样的事感到惊讶，尤其当攻击就发生在我们门前时。”
“If you didn’t weave the Kraken’s attack into a thread and I didn’t, could Clotho have done so?”
“如果你我都未将克拉肯的攻击织入命运之线，那会不会是克洛索做的？”
“Come with me to the Loom Chamber,” Lahkesis said, “and we will settle this matter.
“随我去命运纺织间，”拉克西丝说，“我们将了结此事。
We must decide on a destiny for Kratos immediately.”
我们必须立即决定奎托斯的命运。”
“We had done so,” Atropos said.
“我们早已决定过了，”阿特洛波斯说。
“He defies the fate that we set for him.”
“他正在反抗我们为他设定的命运。”
“Impossible,” Lahkesis said, though she had an uneasy feeling that her sister might skirt the truth.
“不可能，”拉克西丝说，尽管她有种不安的感觉，觉得姐姐所言或许接近真相。
She shook it off.
她甩开这个念头。
The Sisters of Fate were supreme.
命运女神至高无上。
This problem with Kratos had occurred only because Atropos had dabbled in what she thought would be an adventure, just as she had.
奎托斯带来的问题，仅仅是因为阿特洛波斯和她自己一样，插手了她以为会是一场冒险的事情。
Their work on Kratos’ thread had proven to run at cross-purposes, creating the current situation with him prowling about the Island of Creation.
她们对奎托斯命运之线的操作已被证明是相互冲突的，从而造成了他如今在创世之岛徘徊的局面。
“Clotho!” Atropos called the instant they reached the Loom Chamber.
“克洛索！”一抵达命运纺织间，阿特洛波斯便喊道。
Their immense sister hunkered on her pedestal, working to spin countless fates.
她们巨大的妹妹蜷伏在基座上，正纺着无数命运。
A huge eye turned toward them.
一只巨大的眼睛转向她们。
“Sister,” Lahkesis said, keeping her own tone level.
“妹妹，”拉克西丝说道，保持着自己平稳的语调。
“We must discuss Kratos.”
“我们必须谈谈奎托斯。”
“Have you cut his thread too soon?
“你们是否过早切断了他的命运之线？
That is all right, though, there is still tension,” Clotho said, reaching out to pluck at a black thread.
不过没关系，张力仍在，”克洛索说着，伸手拨动一根黑色的线。
She rested her hand on the thread, then slowly stroked it before turning to her sisters.
她将手放在线上，缓缓抚过，然后转向她的姐姐们。
“What have you done?
“你们都做了些什么？
This is outrageous!
真是岂有此理！
Cut the thread now, Lahkesis.
立刻切断这条线，拉克西丝。
Now!”
马上！”
“Note how his thread intertwines with so many of the Titans,” Lahkesis said.
“注意他的命运之线与众多泰坦的命运交织在一起，”拉克西丝说。
“Gaia mentors him and has allowed him to come as far as he has.”
“盖亚在指引他，并容他走到了如今这一步。”
“You and Atropos are responsible, meddling individually.
“你和阿特洛波斯都有责任，各自胡乱插手。
Cut the thread now!” Clotho plucked it again, but the vibrations died out quickly.
立刻切断这条线！”克洛索再次拨动它，但振动很快平息了。
Too quickly.
太快了。
Such a tweak should have crippled Kratos.
这样的拨动本应重创奎托斯。
It didn’t.
但它没有。
“I should face him,” Lahkesis said.
“我应当去面对他，”拉克西丝说。
“There is more to Kratos than we know.”
“奎托斯身上有我们尚未知晓的东西。”
“No!” Both Atropos and Clotho cried out in unison at such a heretical thought.
“不！”阿特洛波斯和克洛索同时喊出声，反对这异端想法。
“The Ghost of Sparta is Gaia’s pawn, but there is more to him.
“斯巴达的亡魂是盖亚的棋子，但他不止于此。
He is developing a will not controlled by our determination of his fate.”
他正在形成一种不受我们为其设定的命运所控制的意志。”
“This cannot be,” Clotho said.
“这不可能，”克洛索说。
“We are sole arbiters of destiny.”
“我们是命运的唯一仲裁者。”
She looked at her sisters and said in a cold voice, “If he has somehow escaped our rule, others might, also.
她看着姐姐们，冷声道：“如果他以某种方式逃脱了我们的掌控，其他存在也可能如此。
Can it be an effect of Pandora’s Box?”
这难道是潘多拉魔盒的影响？”
“The gods are becoming agitated,” Atropos said, “but doing nothing to contradict our destinies for them.”
“众神正变得躁动不安，”阿特洛波斯说，“但尚未做出违背我们为他们设定的命运之举。”
“Yet,” Lahkesis said, “the evidence is mounting that we must more tightly monitor our work.
“然而，”拉克西丝说，“越来越多的证据表明，我们必须更严密地监控我们的工作。
The Kraken, Gaia and the other Titans, the gods’ behavior after Ares was killed … and at the center of it all is Kratos.”
克拉肯、盖亚与其他泰坦、阿瑞斯死后众神的行为……而这一切的中心，就是奎托斯。”
“Very well, sister,” Clotho said.
“很好，姐姐，”克洛索说。
“Put the worst possible obstacles in his path.
“在他前路上设下最险恶的阻碍。
If those do not stop him, then confront him.
如果那些阻挡不了他，便去面对他。
Find out if he has somehow escaped from his thread of destiny, though I feel it is only your and Atropos’ poor judgment and poorer execution that is responsible.”
查明他是否真的以某种方式逃脱了命运之线的束缚，尽管我认为这仅仅是你和阿特洛波斯糟糕的判断与更糟的执行所致。”
Lahkesis bowed slightly, then left the Loom Chamber with Atropos trailing.
拉克西丝微微欠身，随后离开了命运纺织间，阿特洛波斯紧随其后。
Kratos would return to the Underworld soon.
奎托斯很快将重返冥界。
The Phoenix would be his bane.
不死鸟将成为他的灾星。
And if he somehow survived, she would face him to see what made the Ghost of Sparta able to evade his fate.
而如果他竟能幸存，她将亲自面对他，看看究竟是什么让斯巴达的亡魂能够逃避他的命运。

第四十七章（1）
THE PHOENIX TRIED to bank away from the opened mouth of the stone Phoenix, but Kratos forced it back onto course.
不死鸟试图偏离石制不死鸟张开的巨口，但奎托斯迫使它回归航线。
As they flew nearer, he saw a pool of water in the gaping mouth.
当他们飞近时，他看见巨口中有一池水。
The Phoenix flared all over and sent fiery sparks everywhere as it fought to avoid entry.
不死鸟通体闪耀，迸发出炽热火花，奋力抗拒进入其中。
Kratos gathered his strength, put his feet against the firebird’s side, and then launched himself into space, diving into the pool.
奎托斯聚力，双脚抵住不死鸟身侧，随后将自己射入空中，潜入池中。
By the time he surfaced and looked out the mouth, the true firebird was winging its way out of sight.
待他浮出水面，从巨口向外望去时，真正的不死鸟已振翅飞远，消失不见。
He swam strongly to a platform and pulled himself up.
他奋力游向一个平台，攀爬上去。
The large bell in the center of the mouth, where a uvula might have been expected, could be rung with a swinging pendulum clapper.
位于口中本应是悬雍垂所在之处的中央，有一口大钟，可通过摆动的钟舌敲响。
Kratos placed his hand on the huge bronze rod that could be sent crashing into the side of the bell.
奎托斯将手放在那根可被甩动撞击钟壁的巨大青铜杆上。
To announce visitors?
是为了宣告访客的到来吗？
Why would the Sisters of Fate not know who came to their palace when Lahkesis had twice visited him in the form of a red-hued ghost as he fought his way to this point?
当拉克西丝曾两次以红色幽灵形态在他一路奋战至此途中造访他时，命运女神又怎会不知谁来到了她们的神殿？
Some other secret lay hidden in the bell and its clapper.
这钟与其钟舌之内，必定隐藏着其他秘密。
Kratos examined the structure and saw how the clapper could be rotated using a capstan.
奎托斯检查结构，发现钟舌可利用绞盘旋转。
He began turning the crank, repositioning the huge bronze rod until it hung at a right angle to the bell.
他开始转动曲柄，调整巨大青铜杆的位置，直至其与钟身呈直角悬挂。
Only then did Kratos hop up and draw it back to the full extent of the arc permitted by its chains.
直到此时，奎托斯才跃起，将其向后拉至锁链允许的最大弧度。
He released it to smash into a wall.
他松开手，让它猛撞向一堵墙。
The masonry collapsed in a pile and created dust clouds.
砖石结构崩塌成一堆，扬起尘土。
Kratos stepped away and peered through, hunting for traps or foes.
奎托斯退开，透过尘埃窥视，搜寻陷阱或敌人。
After the dust settled and he saw nothing to impede his advance, Kratos rushed through.
尘埃落定，未见阻碍，奎托斯冲了过去。
On the far side of the wall he found an impeccably maintained corridor that led to a chamber so huge, he could hardly see to the far side.
在墙的另一边，他发现了一条维护极佳的走廊，通向一个广阔得几乎望不见对岸的巨室。
In the center some hundreds of feet below was a round platform, as if for supplicants.
在下方数百英尺的中心处，有一个圆形平台，似是为请愿者所设。
Kratos spread Icarus’ wings and glided down, barely touching before he heard a commotion above.
奎托斯展开伊卡洛斯之翼滑翔而下，脚刚沾地，便听见上方传来骚动。
Looking aloft he saw Lahkesis step off a platform, then slowly float lower until her feet were only a few inches above the platform where Kratos stood.
抬头望去，他看见拉克西丝步下一处平台，缓缓飘落，直至双足离奎托斯所站的平台仅数英寸。
The intent was obvious.
其意图显而易见。
She was superior and he was a mere mortal.
她高高在上，而他不过一介凡人。
“We’ve been expecting you.”
“我们一直在等你。”
The upper part of her face was hidden by a black mask, and her voluptuous body was more beguiling than any houri Kratos had ever seen.
她上半张脸隐于黑色面具之后，其丰腴身姿比奎托斯所见任何天园仙女更令人迷醉。
（楼主：二姐确实涩的捏，香草）
Sleek, bare legs extended down, but her feet did not touch the floor.
光滑裸露的双腿向下延伸，但她的脚并未触及地面。
She floated inches above the tiled flooring, as if she disdained sharing the act of walking with a mere mortal.
她漂浮在铺砖地面上方数英寸，仿佛不屑与凡人共享行走之举。
Kratos reached out an arm to grab the Sister.
奎托斯伸臂欲抓住这位女神。
Lahkesis smiled and brushed off his hand.
拉克西丝微笑着一挥手挡开。
“Your resolve is admirable, even if it is misguided.
“你的决心可嘉，纵使是误入歧途。
I truly thought you would have given up by now.”
我原以为你此刻早已放弃。”
Lahkesis rose a few more inches and orbited about Kratos, as if seeing him for the first time.
拉克西丝又升高数英寸，环绕奎托斯移动，如同初次见他。
The amused smile grew.
饶有兴趣的笑容加深。
“None can change their destiny, Kratos,” she went on, coming to a halt in front of him.
“无人能改变其命运，奎托斯，”她继续说道，停在他面前。
“We sisters determine the fate of all.
“我们姐妹决定万物命运。
It was I who deemed that the Titans lose the Great War and I who have allowed you to come this far, because it pleased me.”
是我裁定泰坦输掉传说大战，也是我允许你走到这一步，因这取悦了我。”
The smile disappeared.
笑容消失。
“It is not your destiny to kill Zeus.”
杀死宙斯并非你的命运。”
She floated around him and reached out to touch his shoulder, but he drew back.
她漂浮着绕他而行，伸手欲触其肩，但他避开了。
“You no longer control my destiny.”
“你不再掌控我的命运。”
“Gaia has filled you with her lies—”
“盖亚以其谎言蛊惑了你——”
Kratos grabbed Lahkesis by the throat and squeezed hard so she could not finish the sentence.
奎托斯扼住拉克西丝的喉咙用力挤压，使她无法说完。
“Give me what I want.
“给我所求之物。
I would go back in time and kill Zeus.”
我要回到过去杀死宙斯。”
Lahkesis made a small gesture, knocking Kratos’ hand away with the contempt born of total power.
拉克西丝做了个细微手势，带着源于绝对力量的轻蔑拨开奎托斯的手。
“You have always amused us, Kratos.
“你总能逗乐我们，奎托斯。
But know this, mortal, there is no power greater than the Sisters of Fate.”
但须知，凡人，没有任何力量能凌驾于命运女神之上。”
She held up her staff with the shepherd’s crook edged with a knife blade, but no shepherd’s staff ever produced such eye-searing light.
她举起那柄带刃牧杖模样的权杖，但没有牧杖能散发出如此刺眼的光芒。
It exploded outward toward Kratos.
光芒向奎托斯爆发开来。
Barely was he able to raise the Golden Fleece to deflect the magicks.
他勉强举起金羊毛护符偏转这魔法。

第四十七章（2）
Many battles had been won through aggression.
许多胜利皆因主动进攻而得。
Kratos attacked rather than waiting to see how Lahkesis would further employ the staff, now completely bathed in green light.
奎托斯发起攻击，而非静观拉克西丝如何进一步运用那已完全笼罩在绿光中的权杖。
He rushed forward, the Blades of Athena slashing furiously.
他前冲，雅典娜之刃狂怒劈砍。
Lahkesis gasped as the edges cut into her coppery flesh.
利刃切入她古铜色肌肤，拉克西丝倒抽一口气。
She tried to flutter higher, but Kratos prevented it with a high strike that arced above his head and came down on the Sister’s shoulder.
她试图飞得更高，但奎托斯一记过顶弧劈砍在她肩上，阻止了她。
The blow knocked her to the floor.
这一击将她打落在地。
Kratos pressed his advantage with a flurry of thrusts and cuts.
奎托斯乘胜追击，一连串刺砍。
Somehow Lahkesis once more gained the air and floated high, the hem of her long, intricately woven robe barely brushing the platform.
不知何故，拉克西丝再度升空飘高，她织工精细的长袍下摆轻拂平台。
Kratos unleashed the Rage of the Titans and again knocked Lahkesis to the floor, but this time she used the long staff as a sweep and caught his leg.
奎托斯释放泰坦之怒，再次将拉克西丝击落，但此次她以长杖横扫，绊住他的腿。
A quick yank sent him sprawling onto his back.
猛力一拉使他仰面摔倒。
She soared above him, her glowing staff aimed at him.
她高悬于他上方，发光的权杖对准他。
Kratos caught the new bolt of energy on his crossed swords but felt the shock all the way up his arms and across his shoulders.
奎托斯交叉双刃挡住新的能量冲击，但震感直贯手臂与肩头。
It was as if he had been hit with the Barbarian King’s maul.
仿佛遭野蛮人之王的重锤击中。
A second bolt narrowly missed him.
第二道冲击险险擦过。
He rolled to the left and scrambled to get his feet under him.
他向左翻滚，挣扎着站起。
He faced away from Lahkesis and she swooped in for the kill.
他背对拉克西丝，而她俯冲而下欲施致命一击。
War hammer in hand, he spun about.
他手持战锤，旋身迎击。
The full power of the rotation and his incredible muscular strength powered the spiked head directly into the Sister’s body.
旋转的全部力量与他惊人的肌肉力量，推动带刺锤头直击女神身躯。
Lahkesis turned a flip in midair and crashed to the floor, lying on her face and moaning in pain.
拉克西丝在空中翻了个筋斗，重重摔落，面朝下伏地痛苦呻吟。
Kratos walked over, the hammer raised for a killing blow.
奎托斯走近，高举战锤欲施致命一击。
Lahkesis looked up at him.
拉克西丝抬眼望他。
“You do not deny fate, Kratos.”
“你无法对抗命运，奎托斯。”
She slammed her staff onto the floor.
她将权杖猛击地面。
At first Kratos wanted to laugh at the ineffectual gesture.
起初奎托斯想嘲笑这徒劳之举。
It was nothing more than spite and not a real attack or attempt at defense.
这仅是泄愤，并非真正的攻击或防御。
“We have woven the events of your life …”
“我们已编织了你生命的轨迹……”
The crook grew brighter yet and cast a shadow against the far wall.
权杖弯头愈发闪亮，在远墙上投下阴影。
Lahkesis tapped her staff against the floor and caused an inky mist to expand slowly, roiling and taking form in front of a tall mirror.
拉克西丝以杖轻点地面，一股漆黑雾气缓缓扩展，翻涌着在一面高镜前成形。
“Atropos,” he growled, recognizing the sister flowing from the mirror.
“阿特洛波斯，”他低吼道，认出从镜中流溢而出的女神。
In place of legs she rode on the ebon mist, floating toward him.
她无腿，乘着乌黑雾气，向他飘来。
Both Sisters of Fate intoned, “… and now that life is at an end.”
两位命运女神齐声吟诵：“……而今那生命已至尽头。”
Kratos backed away to confront the two Sisters.
奎托斯后退，迎战两位女神。
Atropos screeched as she swooped down, her long, talon-like fingers clawing at Kratos.
阿特洛波斯尖啸着俯冲而下，长爪般的手指抓向奎托斯。
He caught her up and threw her to the floor, but holding her was difficult.
他抓住她并将其摔在地上，但擒住她颇为困难。
She proved stronger and more agile than her fragile appearance suggested as she writhed away from him.
她挣脱他时，展现出远超其脆弱外表的强韧与敏捷。
Atropos screeched again and grabbed him, carrying him through the mirror.
阿特洛波斯再次尖啸，抓住他，携他穿过镜子。
It was Kratos’ turn to scream.
这次轮到奎托斯嘶喊了。
It felt as if every muscle in his body was strained to the breaking point.
仿佛全身肌肉皆被拉伸至断裂边缘。
Bones cracked and nerves sang with pain.
骨骼作响，神经因剧痛而震颤。
And the brightly lit throne room of the Fates had turned to inky night.
而命运女神灯火通明的觐见室已化为漆黑夜晚。
He took a step and sank to hands and knees, fighting the dizziness.
他迈出一步，便瘫跪在地，与眩晕抗争。
His gorge rose, but he forced it back, despite the burning bile in his mouth.
他欲呕吐，但强忍回去，无视了口中灼热的胆汁。
He looked up, got to his feet, and stared into the distance, where he saw himself as a giant battling with an equally outsized Ares.
他抬头起身，望向远方，看见自己正以巨人之姿与同样庞大的阿瑞斯搏斗。
A curse came to his lips when he saw that distant self wielding the Blades of Chaos, their chains still welded to the bones of his forearms showing he was a minion of Ares.
当他看见远处的自己挥舞着混沌之刃，其锁链仍焊接在前臂骨上，表明他是阿瑞斯的奴仆时，咒骂脱口而出。
“We control your destiny, foolish mortal,” cackled Atropos.
“我们掌控你的命运，愚蠢的凡人，”阿特洛波斯尖笑道。
“With a whim, we can end your life … or allow you to live.”
“一念之间，我们便可终结你的生命……或容你存活。”
Kratos looked at the ground and realized he stood on a broad strip of steel.
奎托斯看向地面，发现自己站在一条宽阔的钢带上。
Then his attention was drawn once more to the distant fight.
随后他的注意力再次被远方的战斗吸引。
Ares fired a massive fireball that whirled and spun and formed a vortex so powerful, it sucked up everything around it.
阿瑞斯发射出一颗巨大的火球，旋转着形成强力漩涡，吞噬周遭一切。
Kratos cried out, but his other self was sucked into the tornado.
奎托斯惊呼，但另一个他被吸入龙卷风。
Ares threw back his head and laughed, then vanished in a sheet of lambent light.
阿瑞斯昂首大笑，随即消失在一片柔光中。
Kratos swung his sword as Atropos swooped past.
阿特洛波斯掠过时，奎托斯挥剑砍去。
Her impossibly long talons lightly raked his cheek, and then she soared away, hovering high above him, her feet hidden by the blackness.
她长得不可思议的利爪轻刮过他的脸颊，随后她高飞远去，悬于他上方，双足隐没于黑暗中。
“Search your memory, Kratos.
“搜寻你的记忆吧，奎托斯。
The sword on which you stand delivered your victory against Ares.
你所立之剑曾助你战胜阿瑞斯。
Without it, you will be the one who dies this day, not Ares.
若无此剑，今日殒命者将是你，而非阿瑞斯。
We can change your past and set your future.
我们能改变你的过去，设定你的未来。
This is the power of the Fates!”
这就是命运的力量！”
Kratos spun and saw that the Sister spoke truly.
奎托斯转身，见女神所言不虚。
He stood on a long bridge made from a sword—a sword he knew all too well.
他立于一把长剑构成的长桥上——一把他再熟悉不过的剑。
The steel blade cracked under his feet, causing him to fight to retain his balance.
钢制剑身在他脚下开裂，使他竭力保持平衡。
He fell to one knee and saw Atropos preparing to release a glowing sphere of pure energy at him.
他单膝跪地，见阿特洛波斯正欲向他释放一团纯能量的发光球体。
Drawing Typhon’s Bane, he released one icy arrow after another.
他抽出堤丰之灾，接连射出寒冰箭。
One caught Atropos and sent her spinning back.
一箭击中阿特洛波斯，令她旋转后退。
Atropos launched one of her fireballs.
阿特洛波斯发射出一颗火球。
Never hesitating, Kratos deflected it with the Golden Fleece, but it did not soar back at Atropos.
奎托斯毫不犹豫地用金羊毛护臂将其偏转，但火球并未飞回阿特洛波斯。
Rather it looped out in a wide arc and came back toward him.
而是划出一道大弧线，回旋着袭向他。
He ran.
他开始奔跑。
The sphere chased him, gaining swiftly.
光球紧追不舍，迅速逼近。

第四十七章（3）
The white burning star of energy that formed before releasing the Cronos Rage failed to grow.
释放克洛诺斯之怒前形成的炽白能量星体未能增长。
He had to rejuvenate, and only time would accomplish that.
他需恢复，而这唯有时间能办到。
Instead, he felt the chill suffuse his entire body from the gift Atlas had given him.
取而代之的，是阿特拉斯所赐之力带来的寒意弥漫全身。
Kratos stumbled, fell onto his back, and lifted arms and legs.
奎托斯踉跄倒地，仰面举起四肢。
From hands and feet roared the Atlas Quake.
阿特拉斯之震的力量从手脚咆哮而出。
The power of the magic met, meshed, and canceled out Atropos’ sphere of death.
魔法之力相遇、交织，抵消了阿特洛波斯的死亡球体。
Getting to his feet, Kratos unleashed a new attack on Atropos using Typhon’s Bane.
奎托斯起身，用堤丰之灾向阿特洛波斯发起新攻势。
The bowstring hummed as he loosed one gelid wind gust after another.
弓弦嗡鸣，他射出一道道刺骨寒风。
Several more airy missiles struck Atropos, causing her to sink until she hovered only a few feet above the sword bridge.
数枚气箭击中阿特洛波斯，使她下沉，直至仅悬于剑桥上方数英尺。
Kratos lashed out with his swords and caught the Sister of Fate on each shoulder with the grapples.
奎托斯挥出双刃，以抓钩扣住命运女神双肩。
He jerked her downward to the bridge, kicked her in the head, then drew his sword and drove the point through her forehead.
他将她猛拉至桥上，踢中其头部，继而拔剑刺穿其前额。
Orange fire enveloped Atropos’ body as he stepped away.
当他退开时，橙红火焰包裹了阿特洛波斯的身体。
Bit by bit the blackness that had encircled her lower extremities worked its way upward, as if devouring her.
曾环绕她下肢的黑暗逐渐向上蔓延，仿佛在吞噬她。
The smoky blackness circled and enveloped Kratos, then he was spun about and exploded in size to match that of the advancing Ares.
烟雾般的黑暗环绕并包裹住奎托斯，随后他旋转着体型暴涨，与逼近的阿瑞斯相当。
Kratos looked from the God of War to the immense sword bridging the great chasm.
奎托斯目光从战神移向横跨巨渊的巨剑。
He reached down and ripped it free from its stone anchors to use against Ares.
他俯身将其从石锚中撕扯而出，用以对抗阿瑞斯。
As the blade pulled free, what remained of Atropos tumbled over and over into the chasm.
随着剑身脱离，阿特洛波斯的残躯翻滚着坠入深渊。
Her screams faded into the distance.
她的尖啸渐远。
Kratos ignored her and turned to face Ares.
奎托斯未予理会，转身面对阿瑞斯。
A surge of knowing blasted through him.
一种熟悉的认知涌遍全身。
He had faced Ares like this before.
他曾如此面对阿瑞斯。
He had fought Ares with his sword and won.
他曾持此剑与阿瑞斯战斗并获胜。
The battle had been …
那场战斗曾是……
Kratos stood staring at the mirror in the Temple of the Fates, Atropos pounding against the far side.
奎托斯立于命运女神神殿的镜前，瞪着镜对面猛击镜面的阿特洛波斯。
She had been trapped, and Kratos no longer held the blade that had spanned the chasm.
她已被困住，而奎托斯手中不再持有横跨深渊之剑。
Atropos clawed and smashed repeatedly against the other side of the mirror but could not get through.
阿特洛波斯反复抓挠猛击镜面，却无法穿过。
Kratos half turned to Lahkesis, who said, “I am through playing games with you, Kratos.
奎托斯半转向拉克西丝，她说道：“我厌倦了与你游戏，奎托斯。
This power was never meant for a mortal like you.”
此力量绝非为你这等凡人准备。”
Lahkesis raised her staff.
拉克西丝举起权杖。
It had been eye searing before.
它先前已令人目眩。
Now it seared Kratos’ very soul.
此刻它灼烧着奎托斯的灵魂。
He squared off to face Lahkesis.
他摆好架势面对拉克西丝。
Green lightning raced from Lahkesis’ staff to each of three mirrors in the room.
绿色闪电从拉克西丝的权杖射向室内的三面镜子。
Kratos rushed forward, swords swinging.
奎托斯前冲，双刃挥砍。
He drove Lahkesis back and circled—and beyond her he saw Atropos halfway through a mirror.
他逼退拉克西丝并绕行——在她身后，他看见阿特洛波斯正穿过一面镜子，半身已入。
Her talons clawed the air, seeking his flesh.
她的利爪抓向空中，搜寻他的血肉。
The upper portion of her body writhed as if she were in excruciating pain because of the half entry back into this world, this time.
她上半身扭动，仿佛因这次半身挤回此界而承受剧痛。
Kratos pulled out his war hammer and rushed to the mirror where Atropos struggled.
奎托斯抽出战锤，冲向阿特洛波斯挣扎的那面镜子。
Mighty blows of that heavy maul cracked the looking glass and drove Atropos back to the far side.
重锤猛击裂了镜面，将阿特洛波斯逼回彼端。
Barely had he succeeded in smashing this mirror when Lahkesis renewed her attacks.
他刚击碎此镜，拉克西丝便再度攻来。
Kratos used his hammer on her, stunning her, but saw that Atropos tried to creep through another of the remaining mirrors.
奎托斯以锤击她，使其晕眩，但见阿特洛波斯试图爬过另一面剩余的镜子。

第四十七章（4）
Kratos used the Amulet of the Fates to slow time.
奎托斯使用命运护身符减缓时间。
He ran to the second mirror, where Atropos seemed stuck halfway through, and swung his hammer, smashing the glass to shards.
他跑向第二面镜子，阿特洛波斯似乎卡在半途，他挥锤将玻璃砸成碎片。
Atropos vanished once more, leaving only one mirror passage.
阿特洛波斯再次消失，仅余一面镜子通道。
Seeing the second mirror destroyed, Lahkesis redoubled her efforts to kill him.
见第二面镜子被毁，拉克西丝加倍努力要杀死他。
Her staff flared constantly now, forming marching columns of death that sought to encircle Kratos.
她的权杖此刻持续闪耀，形成步步紧逼的死亡之柱，企图包围奎托斯。
He avoided them, backing toward the untouched mirror, thinking to smash it, too.
他避开它们，退向未受触碰的镜子，意图也将其击碎。
Lahkesis rushed forward, oblivious to the way she left herself open to attack.
拉克西丝前冲，未察觉自己门户大开。
Kratos wrested the staff from her, swung it around, and knocked the Sister of Fate skidding across the floor.
奎托斯夺过她的权杖，抡起它，将命运女神打得滑过地面。
He reared back to impale her with her own weapon.
他后仰，欲以她自己的武器刺穿她。
When he focused on Lahkesis, Atropos came through the remaining mirror and grabbed him from behind, lifting him off the floor and shaking him like a hunting dog would its kill.
当他专注于拉克西丝时，阿特洛波斯穿过剩余的镜子，从背后抓住他，将他提离地面，如猎犬摇晃猎物般摇晃他。
He lost his grip on Lahkesis’ staff.
他松脱了拉克西丝的权杖。
It went spinning away from him, to be caught up by the Sister.
权杖旋转着飞离他，被女神接住。
“I measure fate with these, and your fate is at an end!”
“我以此丈量命运，而你的命运已至终点！”
Kratos grunted in pain as Atropos’ talons cut into his body and left bloody tracks on his bone-white skin, across the red tattoos, deep to the muscles beneath.
阿特洛波斯的利爪切入他身体，在他骨白色的皮肤上、越过红色纹身，留下深至肌肉的血痕，奎托斯痛哼。
He twisted and jerked about in a vain attempt to break her grip.
他扭动猛挣，徒劳地试图挣脱她的抓握。
She was too powerful.
她过于强大。
From across the room Lahkesis let out a cry of glee.
房间另一端，拉克西丝发出欣喜的呼喊。
She lowered her staff and shot through the air straight for Kratos.
她放低权杖，直射向奎托斯。
Held by Atropos, he could not avoid Lahkesis’ staff—and death.
被阿特洛波斯抓住，他无法躲避拉克西丝的权杖——与死亡。
At the last possible instant he used the Amulet of the Fates, drawing power from resolve and hatred deep within, froze time for a heartbeat, levered himself free of Atropos’ steely fingers, and released the spell.
在最后一瞬，他使用命运护身符，从内心深处汲取决心与仇恨的力量，将时间冻结一瞬，撬开阿特洛波斯钢铁般的手指脱身，随后解除法术。
Lahkesis plunged onward, aiming her deadly staff for the spot where Kratos had been.
拉克西丝继续前冲，致命的权杖刺向奎托斯原先所在之处。
She skewered her own sister.
她刺穿了自己的姐妹。
Atropos let out a heartrending cry and fell backward into the mirror.
阿特洛波斯发出心碎惨叫，向后跌入镜中。
In the instant that Lahkesis stood stunned at what she had done, Kratos struck.
拉克西丝因自己所为而惊呆的瞬间，奎托斯出手了。
He grabbed her by the throat, then stabbed her in the forehead with his sword.
他扼住其喉，随后以剑刺入其前额。
She slumped in his grip as he shoved her through the mirror to join her sister.
她在他的抓握中瘫软，被他推入镜中与姐妹团聚。
When both of the Sisters of Fate flailed about on the far side of the plane of the mirror, he took his war hammer and began smashing the glass.
当两位命运女神在镜面彼端挣扎时，他拿起战锤开始砸玻璃。
Blow after mighty blow landed on the final mirror.
一记记重击落在最后的镜子上。
Both Sisters rushed forward, but the mirror had cracked and they could not get through.
两位女神前冲，但镜子已裂，她们无法穿过。
Kratos continued to pummel the mirror until it shattered, revealing a corridor behind.
奎托斯持续猛击镜子直至其破碎，露出后方走廊。
Panting with exertion, he lowered the war hammer to the floor and stared.
他喘息着放下战锤，凝视前方。
Resolve hardened within his breast.
决心在他胸中坚定。
He was close.
他接近了。
He climbed through the open frame, glass crunching under his sandals as he went to find the remaining Sister of Fate.
他爬过空镜框，玻璃在凉鞋下碎裂作响，他前去寻找最后一位命运女神。

第四十八章（1）
“YOU MUST NOT come to my loom, Kratos. You will destroy everything.”
“你绝不被允许靠近我的织机，奎托斯。你会毁灭一切。”
The words rumbled in his head.
话语在他脑中轰鸣。
Kratos roared in defiance, swung his hammer against a part of the stone wall in front of him, and smashed it with a single blow.
奎托斯发出反抗的怒吼，挥锤猛击面前石墙的一部分，一击将其粉碎。
He knew with complete certainty that this way led to Clotho, the final Sister of Fate.
他完全确信，此路通往克洛索，最后一位命运女神。
The ramp spiraled down, empty of all impediment to passage, but Kratos advanced warily.
斜坡螺旋向下，畅通无阻，但奎托斯前行的很谨慎。
He spun when he heard a hissing sound behind him.
他听到身后嘶嘶声，猛地转身。
A curtain of energy sizzled and then a Gorgon’s head took form and sailed outward.
一道能量帷幕发出滋滋声，随后一个戈尔贡之首成形并向外飞出。
He drew his swords, ready to fight, but the Gorgon’s head stretched to within a few feet and then returned to the plane of the energy curtain.
他拔剑准备战斗，但戈尔贡之首延伸至几英尺内便缩回能量帷幕平面。
He knew that, had the Gorgon touched him, he would have died.
他知道，若被戈尔贡触碰到，他必死无疑。
"Retreat, Kratos, and I will let you live out your pathetic life."
"退去吧，奎托斯，我容你苟延残喘。"
Clotho's words rumbled and roared in his ears.
克洛索的话语在他耳边轰鸣咆哮。
"You know what I seek, Sister," Kratos said.
"你知我所求为何，姐妹，"奎托斯说。
"There must be a change in the course of fate.
"命运的轨迹必须改变。
I will kill Zeus!"
我必杀宙斯！"
"Your way, then, will be forever blocked by all the others who think to change their own destiny.
"那么，你的道路将被所有妄想改变自身命运之徒永远阻塞。
Fallen heroes, risen blackguards, all will bar your path, Kratos.
堕落的英雄，崛起的恶棍，皆将阻拦你的去路，奎托斯。
Their reward for your death will be a reworking of their own fates!"
你的死亡将给予他们奖赏——重写的自身命运！"
Kratos returned to his course and immediately found his way blocked by Cursed Legionnaires with their curved blades waving menacingly.
奎托斯回归原路，立刻发现前路被诅咒军团士兵挡住，他们挥舞着弯刃，凶相毕露。
He recognized them by their insignia and knew of their betrayal to Zeus, pledging their allegiance to the Persians' false gods in return for their lives after defeat at the isle of Propontis.
他通过其徽记认出了他们，并知其曾背叛宙斯，在普罗庞提斯岛战败后为保命而向波斯伪神效忠。
Those legionnaires who had bent a knee to the Persian god Zahhak had been defeated in a subsequent battle with the Greeks and had discovered that Zeus' rage knew no bounds.
那些曾向波斯神祇查哈克屈膝的军团士兵，在后继与希腊人的战斗中败北，并发现宙斯的怒火无边无际。
（楼主：我不确定这一时期的设定中，其它神系与奥林匹斯诸神的关系。
从前文赫耳墨斯将自己流放到埃及沙漠、雅典娜称赫耳墨斯的流放地为“凡人的世界”来看，埃及那边应该是没有本土神祇的，埃及也在奥林匹斯的掌控下。2012年发售的《战神：升天》也佐证着这一点，德尔菲塔前被蝎尾狮烧焦的朝圣者就是来自埃及。鉴于该小说著于2015年，作者应当是采用了这一设定。
后来在《战神：堕落之神》God of War: Fallen God漫画中，曾有埃及智慧之神托特出场。但此时时间已经来到2020年，早在2018年新战神发售后，神系就已得到扩展。后来的追加设定更是确认奥林匹斯的天空与冥界都是无限大的，每一个神话体系并行不悖的存在于“神话宇宙”中，都拥有其自己的创世传说，且都与“现实宇宙”息息相关。其概念类似于DC的“超时间流”，因此，漫画中的托特可以解释为奎托斯以某种方式来到了神话宇宙中的埃及时间流。
然而这里又承认了查哈克的存在，说明阿拉伯那一片有他们的本土神。这或许是为了呼应2009年发售的《战神：奥林匹斯之链》中的波斯军队，可这样一来就导致奥林匹斯众神的定位模糊了起来。按旧设，众神都在地球的土地上，不能解释为什么埃及没有本土神；按新设，众神都在神话宇宙的不同时间流中，不能解释为什么奥林匹斯统治的世界里有查哈克。）
The Cursed Legionnaires marched endlessly, fighting, dying, being resurrected to continue their eternal battle—and their eternal defeats.
诅咒军团士兵无止境地行进、战斗、死亡、复活，以继续其永恒的战斗——及其永恒的败绩。
He ignored Clotho's threat and delivered his attack.
他无视克洛索的威胁，发起攻击。
Four quick slices brought down the legionnaire before him, and an adept thrust skewered another.
四记迅疾劈砍放倒面前士兵，一记娴熟刺击贯穿另一人。
The third legionnaire backed away, but it wasn't from fear.
第三名士兵后退，但并非出于恐惧。
Kratos saw the Juggernaut advancing in support of the Cursed Legionnaire.
奎托斯看见伽格努特正前进支援诅咒军团士兵。
The creature towered three times Kratos' own height and was heavily armored, its head encased in a black metal helm.
这怪物的身高足有三个奎托斯那么高，重甲覆身，头部罩在黑金属盔中。
A huge, hairy hand gripped the shaft of a morning star, the spiked ball at the end of the chain ablaze.
一只毛茸茸的巨手紧握流星锤柄，链端带刺的铁球熊熊燃烧。
One touch of that formidable burning sphere would crush Kratos like a bug, then scorch his corpse to cinders.
那骇人火球只需一触，便能将奎托斯如虫豸般碾碎，继而将其尸骸焚为灰烬。
He rushed the lumbering monster and used his war hammer to smash a leg.
他冲向那笨拙的怪物，以战锤砸向其腿。
The Juggernaut canted to one side, off balance.
伽格努特歪向一侧，失去平衡。
As it shifted, it swung the spiked ball.
它跌倒时，挥动了刺球。
The chain whistled, and Kratos barely avoided the touch of a spike dripping fire.
锁链呼啸，奎托斯险险避开滴火的尖刺。
Somersaulting away, Kratos regained his fighting stance, but so had the Juggernaut.
奎托斯后翻远离，重新进入战斗姿态，但伽格努特也一样。
The giant let out a bull-throated war cry and charged—too slow, too clumsy in a fight with the Ghost of Sparta.
这巨怪发出公牛般的战吼并冲锋——对斯巴达亡魂而言太慢太笨拙。
Kratos finished it with a second blow from the maul.
奎托斯以第二记重锤终结了它。
This gave the legionnaire the opening to attack.
这给了军团士兵攻击的空隙。
Kratos winced as the tip of the curved blade scored his belly.
弯刃尖端划破他腹部，奎托斯痛得抽搐。
In return he beheaded the legionnaire.
作为回报，他斩下了士兵的首级。
As the head hit the ramp and rolled downward, the Gorgon's head leaped out in a vain attempt to devour Kratos in its seething maw.
头颅撞上斜坡向下滚动时，戈尔贡之首跃出，妄图以其沸腾巨口吞噬奎托斯。
He ignored it.
他未予理会。
Retreat was not possible.
后退已无可能。
A short distance ahead he heard the beguiling notes of a Siren singing.
前方不远处，他听到塞壬诱人的歌唱。
His legs turned weak as he advanced.
他前进时双腿发软。
The sinuous beast blocked his way.
那妖娆的野兽挡住了他的路。
Seeing him, she sang louder, with even more promise.
看见他，她唱得更响，许诺更多。
He need only stop and remain here with her forever.
他只需停下，永远在此陪伴她。
They would be happy together.
他们将共享欢愉。
More!
不止！
Bliss such as he had never known would be his as they shared—
他将享有从未体验过的极乐，当他们共享——

第四十八章（2）
—death.
——死亡。
Kratos tapped into the hatred he felt for Zeus to momentarily thwart the effects of the Siren's song.
奎托斯汲取对宙斯的憎恨，暂时抵御了塞壬之歌的效力。
He dashed forward, caught the Siren in a powerful grip around her waist, and squeezed as hard as he could.
他猛冲向前，以强有力的一把抓住塞壬的腰，尽全力挤压。
Mingled with the rising pitch of the song came the snapping of a backbone.
歌声音调瞬间升高，夹杂着脊柱断裂声。
He jerked a little harder even after the Siren ceased her hypnotic song, then cast her aside.
在塞壬停止其催眠歌声后，他更猛地一扭，随后将她甩开。
The downward spiral grew steeper and took him to a Satyr and a Minotaur.
向下的螺旋愈发陡峭，将他带至一萨堤尔与一米诺陶洛斯面前。
The hoofed creatures looked at each other and laughed.
这两只蹄类生物相视而笑。
The Satyr died instantly.
萨堤尔瞬间毙命。
The Minotaur's reactions were a bit quicker.
米诺陶洛斯的反应稍快些。
It lowered its head and tried to hook Kratos on a horn.
它低头试图以角钩住奎托斯。
The Blades of Athena cut off that horn.
雅典娜之刃斩断了那支角。
The Minotaur bellowed at the loss, stumbled back, and grabbed a flaming spear with a haft as thick as Kratos' body.
米诺陶洛斯因失角而怒吼，踉跄后退，抓起一柄粗如奎托斯躯干的火焰长矛。
It stabbed out with it, but Kratos felt the pressure of time weighing him down.
它持矛刺出，但奎托斯感到时间紧迫的压力。
The cuts he had received on his belly trickled small rivers of blood, but the true pain came in knowing he was so close to finding the path back in time to kill Zeus.
他腹部的伤口淌下细血流，但真正的痛楚在于知悉自己离找到返回过去诛杀宙斯之路如此之近。
He would not be denied.
他绝不容受阻。
Blades spinning a curtain of fire and steel in front of him, Kratos advanced on the one-horned Minotaur.
双刃在身前旋出火焰与钢铁的帷幕，奎托斯逼向独角的米诺陶洛斯。
The creature fell back, its flaming spear set in the middle of the ramp.
那生物后退，其火焰长矛横在斜坡中央。
Kratos saw his opportunity and took it instantly.
奎托斯看见机会，立刻抓住。
Both blades flashed away and grappled on the Minotaur's shoulders.
双刃闪出，以抓钩扣住米诺陶洛斯双肩。
Grunting, Kratos pulled the Minotaur toward him—and onto the creature's own fiery spear.
奎托斯低吼着将米诺陶洛斯拉向自己——撞上它自己的火焰长矛。
Impaled, the Minotaur struggled.
被刺穿的米诺陶洛斯挣扎着。
Kratos shoved the Minotaur back, jumped onto its chest, and used a double-handed stab to dispatch it to the lowest level of Hades' domain.
奎托斯将米诺陶洛斯推回，跃上其胸，以双手握持的刺击将其送入哈迪斯领域的最底层。
Pushing ahead through cobwebs and enduring a musty smell that turned to a sickly sweet stench reminding him of decaying flesh, Kratos slowed and finally faced a huge door inset with a metallic leering face and claws reaching down to hold shut a locking bar.
奎托斯推开蛛网前行，忍受着由霉味转为令人作呕的甜腐气、让他想起腐烂尸体的恶臭，他放慢脚步，最终面对一扇巨门，其上嵌着一张金属的狞笑面孔，利爪向下扣住门闩。
Kratos swung his hammer twice.
奎托斯挥锤两次。
Each blow knocked opened the claw latches.
每次击打都震开了爪扣。
He grabbed the locking bar and jerked hard, sliding it away so he could grip the bottom of the door and fling it up and open.
他抓住门闩猛拉，将其滑开，随后抓住门底向上掀开。
The fetid odor hit him like a physical blow.
恶臭如物理重击般扑面而来。
He stopped when he heard Gaia's voice in his ear.
他听见盖亚在耳畔低语，停下脚步。
"I am the earth, but Clotho is creation.
"我即大地自身，但克洛索是创造本身。
She is the Loom of Life.
她是生命的织机。
To defeat her is to defeat the genesis of all."
击败她即是击败万物之源。"
Kratos advanced slowly, coming to a bridge guarded by two swiftly swinging pendula with razor-sharp edges.
奎托斯缓缓前进，来到一座桥前，桥由两具急速摆动、刃口锋利的摆锤守卫。
He judged the speed of each pendulum, the length of the arc, and then walked without stopping, the blades cutting close to both chest and back.
他判断每个摆锤的速度与弧长，随后毫不停顿地走过，利刃擦胸掠背而过。
He stepped past the second pendulum.
他迈过第二个摆锤。
"To disrupt the Loom of Life," Gaia continued, "is to endow mankind with the ultimate freedom.
"扰乱生命织机，"盖亚继续道，"即是赋予人类终极自由。
No longer will humanity be bound by the chains of destiny."
人类将不再受命运枷锁束缚。"
He rounded a large central column.
他绕行一根巨大的中央柱体。
Kratos' eyes widened when he saw this column was flesh.
奎托斯见这柱体竟是血肉之躯，睁大了眼睛。
He looked upward and saw flaccid teats and scrawny arms with skeletal fingers drooping down.
他向上望去，看见松弛的乳房和枯瘦的手臂，骨指垂落。
"First you must gain control of the loom and find your thread," Gaia said.
"首先你必须掌控织机，找到你的命运之线，"盖亚说。
"Find your thread, Kratos, and determine your fate."
"找到你的命线，奎托斯，决定你的命运。"
He stepped back as a bony hand flopped down in front of him.
一只骨手啪地落在他面前，他后退一步。
Looking upward into the lofty chamber, he thought the cobwebs had taken over.
仰望高耸的厅室，他原以为是蛛网遍布。
Then he saw the different-colored strands, the way they quivered, the size growing or shrinking, and he knew he witnessed the fates of countless humans and gods.
随后他看见各色丝线，其颤动方式，其粗细增减，方知自己正目睹无数人类与神祇的命运。
And Titans.
以及泰坦。
Somewhere in the midst of all those threads stretched his own destiny.
在万千丝线中的某处，延伸着他自己的命运。
Finding it might be difficult, but taking control of it might be impossible.
找到它或许困难，但掌控它或许不可能。
Kratos had no idea how to change his own destiny.
奎托斯不知如何改变自身命运。

第四十八章（3）
He hurried around the side of the immense mountain of putrid flesh and found a dangling chain.
他匆忙绕行那巨大的腐肉之山，发现一条悬垂的锁链。
Hand over hand, Kratos made his way up to a higher level.
奎托斯手足并用，爬升至更高层。
He passed a level where more teats grotesquely flopped onto a walkway around her.
他经过一层，更多乳房怪异地垂落环绕她的走道上。
Kratos jumped off at the highest level and ducked under the threads that spun from the very body of the Sister of Fate.
奎托斯在最高层跳下，弯腰钻过自命运女神本体纺出的丝线。
Faint, distant, he heard humming followed by the words, "Cut and mend.
微弱遥远处，他听见哼唱，随后是话语："剪断与缝补。
Cut and mend.
剪断与缝补。
Cut and mend.
剪断与缝补。
You live because we allow it."
你活着只因我们允许。"
A bright green thread above Kratos' head was severed, then spliced with a double strand extruded from Clotho's flabby, gray-fleshed body, the strand swimming forth like a spider's web from a spinneret.
奎托斯头顶一根亮绿色丝线被切断，随后与从克洛索松弛灰白肉体中挤出的双股线接合，那线如蛛丝般从吐丝器游出。
Kratos dropped from the chain and walked around the circular platform that served as a scaffolding for Clotho.
奎托斯从锁链跃下，绕行作为克洛索脚手架的圆形平台。
One of the spindly arms flailed about and the long, bony fingers slapped down in front of him.
一条细长手臂挥动，长长的骨指拍落在他面前。
Revolted, Kratos swung his war hammer and smashed two fingers.
奎托斯心生厌恶，挥动战锤砸碎两根手指。
"I am the Loom of Life.
"我即是生命织机。
Eternal."
永恒常在。"
Kratos sneered.
奎托斯嗤之以鼻。
He would see about that.
他倒要看看。
He smashed the other fingers on the hand, forcing the arm to lift the damaged hand away.
他砸碎手上其余手指，迫使手臂抬起受损的手。
Clotho took no notice of this minor damage, so Kratos knew he would have to do better.
克洛索未在意这轻微损伤，奎托斯心知必须更下重手。
But he had to find his thread among the thousands of others crisscrossing the chamber above.
但他必须在上方厅室中纵横交错的万千丝线里找到自己的那根。
Each strand traced back to a spinneret on Clotho's body.
每根丝线都回溯至克洛索身体上的一个吐丝器。
Kratos moved an apparatus on the edge of the circular platform and was rewarded with more furious beating from Clotho's other arms.
奎托斯移动圆形平台边缘的一台装置，招致克洛索其他手臂更疯狂的拍打。
"The thread of life runs until its end.
"生命之线奔流直至其终点。
You cannot change what the Fates have deemed."
你无法改变命运所裁定之事。"
"I will find it!" Kratos shouted.
"我会找到它！"奎托斯喊道。
"I have already changed what the Fates have deemed.
"我已改变了命运所裁定之事。
I will find it!"
我会找到它！"
Clotho stirred, bringing her arms about.
克洛索躁动，挥动双臂。
Kratos saw past the bulging body for the first time.
奎托斯首次看清那臃肿身躯之后。
Clotho's head was tiny and pointed, set amid the folds of fat of her grotesquely sloping shoulders.
克洛索的头颅小而尖，嵌在她怪异斜肩的脂肪褶皱中。
Her piglike eyes fixed on Kratos.
她猪一般的眼睛锁定奎托斯。
She turned in the confines of the scaffolding and swatted at him as if he were nothing more than a bug.
她在脚手架限制下转身，向他拍去，视他如同虫豸。
He smashed at her fingers with his hammer, but inflicted no serious damage.
他以锤砸其手指，但未造成严重伤害。
Which of the threads and cables and ropes and lines stretched across the chamber was his fate?
厅中延伸的万千丝线、缆绳、粗索、细线，哪一根是他的命运？
"Do you sense it?" Clotho taunted.
"你感觉到了吗？"克洛索嘲弄道。
"Do you sense your thread coming to an end?"
"你可感觉到你的命运之线即将终结？"
Kratos moved more of the equipment around the outer ring, not sure what it did other than irritate Clotho.
奎托斯移动外圈的更多设备，不确定其用途，只知激怒了克洛索。
Chains led upward into the distance, woven between the threads of fate, but serving no discernible purpose he could determine.
锁链向上延伸至远处，编织在命运丝线之间，但他无法辨明其用途。
"If you disrupt the loom, the world will spin into chaos, and so the wisdom of the ages has made me impervious to any who dare try."
"若你扰乱织机，世界将陷入混沌，故而亘古智慧已使我无惧任何胆敢尝试者。"
After Kratos had hammered a few more times, Clotho said, "You cannot change your fate; your skills as a warrior are useless here."
奎托斯又锤击数次后，克洛索说："你无法改变命运；你战士的技艺在此无用。"
Kratos smashed a groping hand.
奎托斯砸碎一只摸索的手。
The arm flopped over, revealing proto-suckers along the underarm as if Clotho were partly a squid or octopus.
手臂瘫软垂下，露出腋下初生的吸盘，仿佛克洛索部分是乌贼或章鱼。
Revolted at the sight of the mottled gray flesh, Kratos swung his hammer again, but the damage he did was minimal.
见那斑驳灰肉，奎托斯心生厌恶，再次挥锤，但造成的损伤微乎其微。
He scaled another chain, this time taking him above Clotho so he could see what the equipment did.
他攀上另一条锁链，此次升至克洛索上方，得以看清设备用途。
He recognized it immediately as the pivot mechanism that suspended the pendula he had avoided entering the Loom Chamber.
他立刻认出这是悬挂那些他进入纺织间时避开的摆锤的枢轴机构。
The huge piece of steel at the end of the chain gleamed like a razor, its edge exactly the weapon Kratos sought.
链末巨大的钢块如剃刀般闪亮，其刃正是奎托斯寻求的武器。
Kratos jumped back down to the platform in front of Clotho, who lashed out at him.
奎托斯跳回克洛索面前的平台，她向他猛击。
Using the Amulet of the Fates, Kratos slowed time.
奎托斯使用命运护身符减缓时间。
Clotho was not entirely frozen, but Kratos still moved faster as the spell turned the chamber into a green sea filled with viscous fluid, the fluid of time itself.
克洛索并未完全冻结，但咒语将厅室变为充满粘稠流体——时间本身之流——的绿色海洋，奎托斯移动仍更快。
He grabbed the windlass and cranked the pendulum up until it swung just above the platform in front of Clotho.
他抓住绞盘，摇动摆锤升起，直至其悬于克洛索面前平台正上方摆动。
Clotho cried out, "Your attempts are preposterous.
克洛索喊道："你的企图荒谬可笑。
From me all life flows."
一切生命皆自我流出。"
He shifted the steel pendulum about, positioned and drew it back, then aimed it directly for a spot between Clotho's naked, drooping breasts.
他移动钢制摆锤，定位并后拉，随后径直瞄准克洛索裸露下垂双乳之间。
"You must stop, Kratos.
"你必须停下，奎托斯。
Creation itself is in the balance!"
创世本身危在旦夕！"
He used the Amulet of the Fates once more to precisely position the deadly pendulum.
他再次使用命运护身符精确调整致命摆锤的位置。
As the green flow winked back to normal, Kratos let the steel weight swing free.
当绿色流影闪回常态，奎托斯放任钢重物自由摆动。
Clotho's spindly arm reached out and easily stopped the pendulum from striking her.
克洛索的细长手臂伸出，轻易阻止了摆锤击中自己。

第四十八章（4）
Kratos attacked.
奎托斯攻击。
His swords flashed and left bloody trails in the gross gray flesh, but Clotho paid no heed to her wounds.
他的剑光闪动，在粗劣灰肉上留下血痕，但克洛索未在意伤口。
Seeing this, Kratos tried a different tack.
见此，奎托斯尝试不同策略。
Seeing that he could not draw the pendulum back far enough where he was, he jumped and stood behind Clotho's pin-sized head.
见自己无法将摆锤拉得足够远，他跃起站到克洛索针尖大小的头颅后方。
He used his blades as grapples on the pendulum and drew it toward him—and Clotho—as hard as he could.
他以双刃为抓钩扣住摆锤，尽全力将其拉向自己——以及克洛索。
"No, no, you know not what you do!"
"不，不，你不知你在做什么！"
The muscles on his shoulders bunched as he yanked.
他猛拉时肩头肌肉绷紧。
Clotho caught the pendulum and held it away, but she was unable to move from the scaffolding supporting her ponderous bulk.
克洛索抓住摆锤并将其挡开，但她无法从支撑其笨重躯体的脚手架中移动。
As she weakened, Kratos' purpose grew stronger.
随着她力衰，奎托斯的决心愈坚。
When the Sister of Fate could no longer hold the heavy pendulum away, Kratos used the last of his strength to pull even more.
当命运女神再无力挡开沉重摆锤时，奎托斯用尽最后力气更猛力拉扯。
The sharpened steel edge drove into Clotho's face.
锋锐钢刃切入克洛索的脸。
Blood spurted as the Sister of Fate collapsed forward.
命运女神向前瘫倒，鲜血喷涌。
"I will find the proper thread, Clotho."
"我会找到正确的命运之线，克洛索。"
He released the Blades of Athena from the pendulum, which remained embedded in Clotho's head.
他从仍嵌在克洛索头中的摆锤上松开雅典娜之刃。
"The reign of the Sisters is over."
"姐妹们的统治结束了。"
Kratos kicked at the Sister's tiny head.
奎托斯踢向女神微小的头颅。
"Feel your thread coming to an end!"
"感受你的命运之线走向终结吧！"
Taking no time to reflect on the fact that he had done the impossible and killed the Sisters of Fate, beings so powerful that even the Titans and gods of Olympus were subject to them, he jumped down and looked at the huge spools all wound with threads of fate that circled the platform.
他无暇反思自己已达成不可能之举、弑杀了命运女神——那些连泰坦与奥林匹斯众神都受其支配的强大存在——便跳下平台，看向环绕平台、绕满命运丝线的巨大线轴。
Thousands—millions!—of threads were wound.
成千上万——数百万！——的丝线缠绕其上。
Which was his?
哪一根是他的？
Stepping away, he looked above Clotho and saw a large platform where another of the huge mirrors flickered with promise.
他退开，望向克洛索上方，看见一个巨大平台，另一面巨镜在那里闪烁着希望之光。
He had destroyed both Lahkesis and Atropos by imprisoning them on the other side of such a mirror, then destroying it.
他曾将拉克西丝与阿特洛波斯囚禁在此类镜子的彼端并摧毁镜子，从而消灭了她们。
Kratos found an elevator to the platform and stood before a mirror ten times his height.
奎托斯找到通往平台的升降机，站在一面十倍于其身高的巨镜前。
Threads of fate ran in all directions, forcing him to step over them.
命运丝线向四面八方延伸，迫他迈步跨越。
"The power of the Fates resides within these great mirrors," Gaia said.
"命运女神之力存于这些巨镜之中，"盖亚说。
"Find your thread and you will be able to control the mirror.
"找到你的命运之线，你便能掌控此镜。
Use it as a gateway to return to the time when Zeus betrayed you."
用它作为返回宙斯背叛你之时空的通道。"
Kratos examined one thread after another.
奎托斯逐一检视丝线。
The tangled skein proved too complex for him to identify any single strand of fate as his own.
纷乱的线团过于复杂，他无法辨认出任何一根属于自己的命运之线。
Furious, Kratos drew his swords and began hacking away.
奎托斯暴怒，拔剑开始乱砍。
Even the slenderest of threads proved impervious to the Blades of Athena.
即使最细的丝线也能抵御雅典娜之刃。
The Rage of the Titans powered his next cut.
泰坦之怒加持他的下一次劈砍。
Nothing happened but a tiny vibration along one minuscule thread.
除了一根微小丝线的轻微颤动，别无发生。
He started to use brute force to continue what might be an exhausting attempt, then stopped.
他开始以蛮力继续这或许徒劳的尝试，随后停下。
He remembered how the Warrior of Destiny had fallen and how he, Kratos, had retrieved the Warrior's weapon.
他记起宿命战士如何倒下，以及他奎托斯如何取回战士的武器。
The Warrior had been sent by the Fates.
那战士乃命运女神所派遣。
His weapon had to belong to their arsenal.
其武器必属她们武库。
Kratos drew forth the Spear of Destiny and held it high over his head.
奎托斯抽出命运之矛，高举过头。
Before it had shone with an inner blue-white light.
此前它闪耀着内在的蓝白光。
No longer.
而今不再。
Every color and hue he had ever imagined flared within the crystalline spear now.
他曾想象过的所有色彩与色调此刻在水晶矛内闪耀。
Gripping its shaft, he swung it around and drew its spearhead against an arm-thick cable of woven fates.
他握紧矛杆，挥动它，以矛头划过一条手臂粗细、编织命运的缆绳。
The threads severed cleanly, easily.
丝线利落、轻易地断裂。
The ends whipped about like things alive.
断端如活物般抽动。
Kratos heard cries that rose, filled the entire Loom Chamber.
奎托斯听见哭声升起，充斥整个命运纺织间。
He could not tell if they were of joy or fear, sorrow or release.
他无法分辨那是喜悦还是恐惧，悲伤还是解脱。
No longer were these souls bound to a destiny the Sisters of Fate had decreed.
这些灵魂不再受命运女神所裁定命运的束缚。
He began cutting the threads, using the Spear of Destiny.
他开始用命运之矛切割丝线。
With every thread he cut, the crystal spear glowed brighter and more colorful.
每切断一根线，水晶矛便更明亮、更多彩。
Wantonly slashing now, every thread he found was cut.
他肆意挥砍，所见每根丝线皆被切断。
The sounds from those attached to the far end of the threads rose in his ears, like a wave breaking against a gentle shore.
附着于丝线远端的声响在他耳中高涨，如浪涛拍击平缓海岸。
The faster he chopped, the louder the sound, until a full-blown storm might be smashing against an unseen rocky point.
他砍得越快，声响越大，直至如完整风暴猛击无形的岩角。
When he cut one bundle of threads, he felt suddenly weak and a sound like those he heard escaped his lips.
当他切断一束丝线时，他突感虚弱，一声类似他所闻的声响从他唇间逸出。
Kratos grabbed at one thread of the purest ebony and held it.
奎托斯抓住一根最纯粹的乌木色丝线，紧握它。
His heart threatened to explode.
他的心脏几欲爆裂。
This was his destiny.
这便是他的命运。
He held it in his own hands.
他将其握于己手。
With a snap as if he lashed out with a whip, he sent the black thread that was his now severed fate into the mirror.
随着如挥鞭般的脆响，他将那代表自己已断命运的黑色丝线送入镜中。
Kratos cried out as it felt as if he were being ripped apart, every muscle, every bone, every nerve destroyed.
奎托斯嘶声惨叫，仿佛正被撕裂，每块肌肉、每根骨头、每条神经皆遭摧毁。

第四十九章（1）
"EVEN NOW, AS YOU DRAW your last breath, you continue to defy me? No matter."
"即便此刻，在你咽下最后一息时，你仍要与我作对？没关系了。"
Kratos took a stumbling step forward, sucked in a deep breath, and forgot the sharp pain that still permeated his body.
奎托斯踉跄前踏一步，深吸一口气，忘却了仍弥漫全身的剧痛。
Not ten paces away Zeus leaned on the hilt of the Blade of Olympus—stuck through Kratos' body and pinning him to the stone paving.
不出十步之外，宙斯正倚在奥林匹斯之剑的剑柄上——那剑贯穿了奎托斯的身体，将他钉在石铺地面上。
Kratos reached down and touched his chest and mentally corrected what he saw.
奎托斯伸手触碰自己胸膛，并在心中修正所见。
Zeus had skewered Kratos' earlier self but now he had returned.
宙斯刺穿的是早些时候的奎托斯，而此刻他已归来。
He had defeated the Sisters of Fate, and now he could kill Zeus.
他已击败命运女神，现在他能杀死宙斯了。
Running fast, he lowered his shoulder, dipped down, and then lifted when he got between Zeus and his own fallen body.
他快速奔跑，沉肩俯身，冲至宙斯与自己倒下的身躯之间时猛然上挺。
Zeus went flying back, staggered by the impact, and fell to the uneven pacing stones of the Rhodesian terrace.
宙斯被撞得踉跄倒飞出去，摔在罗德岛露台不平整的铺路石上。
Kratos grabbed the Blade of Olympus and pulled it from his chest—from the earlier Kratos' chest.
奎托斯抓住奥林匹斯之剑，将其从胸膛中拔出——从早些时候那个奎托斯的胸膛。
He had never dwelled on what it would be like to die in combat, but this lay even further beyond his imagination.
他从未细想战死会是何等光景，但眼前景象更是超乎他的想象。
Seeing himself dead on the inlaid stone floor fueled his anger at Zeus.
看见自己陈尸于镶嵌石地，加剧了他对宙斯的怒火。
He spun on the King of the Gods, the potent sword leveled, point aimed at Zeus' belly.
他转向众神之王，平举那柄威力无穷的剑，剑尖直指宙斯腹部。
"What? How can this be?" Zeus got to his feet, his long white hair caught by the winds generated by the burning city.
"什么？这怎么可能？"宙斯站起身，他长长的白发被城市燃烧产生的气流吹动。
Kratos shuddered as power surged through him.
力量涌遍全身，奎托斯为之战栗。
He had drained his godly powers into this blade and once again could tap into its reservoir of energy.
他曾将自身神力注入此剑，如今再次得以汲取其中蕴藏的能量。
He experienced the return of the powers of his godhead, if not the godhead itself.
他感受到了神格力量的回归，即便并非神格本身。
He remained a mortal but one with prodigious might.
他仍是凡人，却拥有着伟力。
"The Sisters are dead," Kratos said, advancing on Zeus.
"那三姐妹已经死了，"奎托斯说道，向宙斯逼近。
"Dead? Impossible! They control destiny.
"死了？不可能！她们掌控着天命。
They—" Zeus rocked back, face skyward as he vented his ire with a roar that shook the foundations of the world.
她们——"宙斯向后一仰，面朝天空，发出一声足以撼动世界根基的咆哮，宣泄他的愤怒。
"They favored us Olympians over the Titans and allowed me to punish Cronos for his transgressions."
"她们偏爱我们奥林匹斯神胜过泰坦，并允许我惩罚克洛诺斯的罪行。"
Storms danced in the mighty god's beard, dark clouds swirling about turbulently.
风暴在这位强大神祇的胡须中舞动，乌云汹涌翻卷。
He turned to the Ghost of Sparta, searching for evidence of a lie.
他转向斯巴达的亡魂，搜寻谎言的证据。
Then he smiled at Kratos with a touch of appreciation.
随后他带着一丝赏识对奎托斯笑了笑。
The smile turned into a sneer.
笑容转为嗤笑。
"I underestimated you."
"我低估了你。"
Zeus held out his hands, palms up.
宙斯伸出双手，掌心向上。
His thunderbolts began forming in each hand.
他双手开始凝聚雷霆。
"A mistake I do not intend to repeat."
"但我不打算犯同样的错误。"
Before Kratos could swing the Blade of Olympus, Zeus rushed him.
未等奎托斯挥动奥林匹斯之剑，宙斯已向他冲来。
The lightning bolts seared at his body, and then Zeus' arms encircled his waist.
闪电灼烧着他的身体，接着宙斯的手臂环住了他的腰。
The thunderbolts exploded and carried both Zeus and Kratos high in the air.
雷霆爆裂，将宙斯与奎托斯一同带至高空。
Kratos fought in the god's arms, attempting to bring up the sword to deliver to Zeus what he had already given the fallen Kratos.
奎托斯在神祇的臂膀中挣扎，试图举剑给予宙斯他曾赋予倒下那个奎托斯的命运。
They shot farther into the sky, through storm clouds.
他们进一步射向天空，穿过暴风云层。
Lightning surrounded them as they fought in midair; rain pelted them.
他们在半空搏斗，闪电环绕；雨水拍打着他们。
Zeus tried to pull the Blade of Olympus from Kratos' grip, but the Ghost of Sparta had endured too much to release it so quickly, so easily.
宙斯试图从奎托斯手中夺过奥林匹斯之剑，但斯巴达的亡魂历经太多磨难，岂会如此迅速、轻易地放手。
It was his weapon of choice to kill Zeus.
这是他选择用来诛杀宙斯的武器。