The Silence of Chomolungma　　　　チョモランマの静寂

【Episode 20】エピソード20

From this day on, Vandal's awakening began.
この日から、ヴァンダルの覚醒が始まった。

More actively than ever before, he devoted himself to his training, surprising even Pixy.
以前にもまして、積極的にトレーニングに励み、ピクシーですら驚きを隠せなかった。

As Raiz felt his mental synchronization with Vandal growing stronger, he suddenly found himself remembering the days he had spent in Tibet.
ライズはヴァンダルとの心の同期が強まっていることを実感しながら、ふとチベット時代のことを思い出していた。

〈 Flashback 〉
〈 回想シーン 〉

Following the time Professor had instructed him to come, Raiz headed to the bamboo grove behind the temple where he used to play with Vandal and the others.
ライズは教授に言われた時間に、昔ヴァンダルたちと遊んでいた寺院の竹藪へ向かった。

It was the very same bamboo grove behind the laboratory where Dock and the others had taken shelter and made their hideout.
それこそが、ドックやヴァンダルたちが避難し、隠れ家とした研究所裏の竹藪だった。

After a while, the bamboo grove began to rustle, and a portal to another dimension suddenly opened.
しばらくすると、竹藪がざわつき始め、異次元への入り口がポッカリと開いた。

Cautiously, Raiz reached his hand into it.
ライズは恐る恐る、その空間に手を伸ばした。

The instant he did, his body was lifted as if being pulled inside, his consciousness began to fade, and he lost consciousness.
その途端、吸い込まれるように体が浮き、意識が遠ざかり、そのまま気を失っていた。

When he came to, he found himself beneath a huge tree, with a brilliant blue sky and a vast plateau stretching out before him.
気がつくと、真っ青な空と広大な高原が広がる一本の大木の下にいた。

After walking across the plateau for a while, he eventually reached a small town where old stone houses stood close together.
高原を進み、しばらくすると石造りの古い家々が肩を寄せ合う小さな街に辿り着いた。

There, he saw a scene he had never seen in his homeland, Pandora, a place filled with conflict and desire.
そこには、争いや渇望に満ちた故郷「パンドリア」では決して見ることのなかった光景が広がっていた。

The people's clothes were faded, and they owned very little.
人々の服は色あせ、持ち物はわずかだった。

And yet, strangely enough, not a single person looked starved for "desire."
だが、不思議と「欲」に飢えたような顔をした者は一人もいない。

Children laughed innocently over nothing more than a pebble by the roadside.
道端の石ころ一つで無邪気に笑う子供たち。

An old man smiled as though he had everything in the world simply by basking in the sunlight.
太陽の光を浴びているだけで、まるで世界のすべてを手に入れたかのような微笑みを浮かべる老人。

Even when they saw Raiz's animal-like human form, none of them showed the slightest sign of surprise.
ライズの動物のような人間の姿を見ても、驚きを感じるような様子さえ一切なかった。

Rather than searching for what was "missing," their hearts were fulfilled simply by being where they were, with what they had.
「足りないもの」を探すのではなく、「今ここにあること」だけで心が満たされている。

For Raiz, who had sought power to make up for his own immaturity and had become obsessed with strength, the calmness of these people was a shock, as if he had been shown a kind of strength he had never known before.
自分の未熟さを埋めるための力を求め、強さに執着していたライズにとって、その人々の穏やかさは、これまで知らなかった別の強さを見せつけられたような衝撃だった。

High above that peaceful town, at the top of a sheer cliff, stood the temple he had been seeking.
その幸せな街の頭上、垂直に切り立った崖の頂に、目指す寺院はあった。

Leaving the bustle of the town behind, Raiz stepped onto an endless stone staircase that seemed to lead all the way to the sky.
街の賑やかさを背に、ライズは空へと続くような果てしない石段に足をかける。

With every step upward, the voices of the world below grew more distant, replaced by the sound of the cold, clear wind striking his ears.
一段登るごとに、下界の話し声は遠ざかり、代わりに冷たく澄んだ風の音が耳を打つようになる。

The air grew so thin that it stung deep inside his lungs.
肺の奥がツンとするほど薄くなっていく空気。

Looking up, he saw the bright red walls of the temple, seemingly fused with the cliff, shining like fire against the blue sky.
見上げれば、崖と一体化したような真っ赤な寺院の壁が、青空を背景に燃えるように輝いている。

When he finally reached the entrance of the temple and looked back, the town he had just left appeared as a tiny glow between the clouds.
ついにたどり着いた寺院の入り口で振り返ると、さっきまでいた街は雲の隙間に小さく光っていた。

Far above it, Chomolungma, said to be the highest peak in this region, towered motionless like a king wearing a silver crown.
さらにその遥か上空には、この地で最高峰と言われているチョモランマが、銀色の冠をかぶった王様のように、動かぬ姿でそびえ立っていた。

As the altitude increased, the air grew colder and the oxygen thinner.
標高が上がるにつれ、空気はさらに冷たくなり、酸素も薄くなっていく。

A high-pitched ringing echoed deep inside his ears.
耳の奥では、キーンという高い音が鳴り響いていた。

The moment he passed through the temple gate, he felt as though his very "senses" had suddenly taken on thousands of years of silence.
寺院の門をくぐった瞬間、彼は自分の「感覚」が数千年の静寂を一気に引き受けたような錯覚に陥った。

The monks walking through the courtyard were so quiet that it seemed as though they were erasing each other's presence.
中庭を歩く僧侶たちは、まるでお互いの存在を消し合っているかのように静かだ。

There were no voices, nor even the sound of their robes brushing against one another.
話し声はおろか、衣が擦れる音すらしない。

Raiz felt that even the sound of his own footsteps was an act of rudeness, like throwing a rock into a still lake, and he instinctively slowed his pace.
ライズは自分の足音が、まるで静かな湖面に岩を投げ込むような無作法に感じられ、思わず歩みを緩めた。

"From this point on, even the sound of your heartbeat will be considered noise."
「……ここから先は、心臓の鼓動すら騒音になる」

Guided by the monk accompanying him, Raiz reached the deepest part of the temple and pushed open the heavy door of the main hall.
案内役の僧に促され、ライズは寺院の最深部、本堂の重い扉を押し開けた。

It was a quiet place, without a sound.
そこは、音ひとつない静かな空間だった。

Thousands of oil lamps filled the walls from floor to ceiling.
壁一面を埋め尽くす数千の灯明（とうみょう）。

Each flame stood perfectly straight and sharp like a needle, as though refusing to be disturbed by even the slightest movement of air.
その一つひとつの炎は、空気の揺らぎさえ拒絶するように、針のように鋭く、真っ直ぐに直立している。

"...The flames have stopped?"
「……火が、止まっている？」

Raiz held his breath in astonishment.
ライズは息を呑んだ。

Under normal circumstances, even the slightest breath or air current would make a flame flicker.
通常の炎なら、わずかな呼吸や対流でゆらゆらと揺れるはずだ。

Yet the thousands of flames here did not waver in the slightest, as though time itself had frozen and each flame were piercing the air at a single fixed point.
しかし、ここにある数千の炎は、まるで時間が凍りついたかのように、一点のブレもなく空間を刺している。

The monks seated in the hall seemed to be holding the entire place still through their powerful core strength and ki.
この広間に座る修行僧たちが、その強靭な「体幹」と「気」によって、空間そのものを固定しているように見えた。

It was as if their minds had completely suppressed every physical "movement."
彼らの精神が、物理的な「揺れ」を完全に封じ込めている。

"Raiz, go to the center and sit down without disturbing the flame."
「ライズ、あの中央へ。そして、火を揺らさずに座りなさい」

The guide's voice echoed sharply against the walls of silence.
案内役の声が、静寂の壁に跳ね返って鋭く響いた。

Raiz stepped into that perfect stillness.
ライズは、その完璧な空間に足を踏み出した。

One step.
一歩。

He could feel his heartbeat, thump, shaking the stillness around him.
自分の心拍が、ドクンと空間を震わせるのがわかる。

That tiny vibration caused the flame of the nearest lamp to tremble faintly, as though in pain.
その振動だけで、一番近くの灯明の炎が、苦しげに微かに揺れた。

"(...What have I done? Just by moving, I am disturbing the harmony of this world...)"
「（……なんてことだ。オレが動くだけで、この世界の調和が壊れていく……）」

For the first time, Raiz felt completely powerless, as if his very existence itself were nothing more than “noise.”
己の存在そのものが「雑音」であるという、かつてない無力感。

Raiz forcibly suppressed his racing heartbeat and slowly sank his breathing into "nothing," stripping away every trace of his presence.
ライズは、高鳴る鼓動を無理やりにでも押さえつけ、自身の気配のすべてを削ぎ落とすように、ゆっくりと、自身の呼吸を「無」へと沈めていった。

To be continued... つづく….

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