The True Story of the Unknown Soldier

TARDI The e h t f o y r o t S e u r T r e i d l o S n w o n k Un

So once again, I found myself in the deepest shadows, where my anxious temperament had so often led me.

There was a throbbing pain in my head. Gaps in my memory were increasingly frequent and a nagging dizziness did nothing to improve my utter state of depression…

Every limb of my body ached.

I’d been wandering aimlessly for long hours when I recognized the Hammam Palace, where I’d spent a part of my youth.

The moment I passed through the heavy, red copper door, I had the unsettling impression of passing the point of no return.

But I thought only of slipping into a warm, scented bath…

Take a look at this guy, a private eye, a copper. He doesn’t seem like one, but that’s the kind of fellow who knows it’s raining just by looking at his shoes. An ace!

The Hammam Palace hadn’t changed.

Once more, I was certain I was heading toward my ruin, but this time I wouldn’t leave the premises without knowing what demons lurked within.

Thus, after so many years spent in gloom and despair, I found myself meandering through corridors of faux marble, amid obscene sculptures, in this shameful bordello.

In the end, I found an empty bathroom. Utterly filthy.

Despite appearances, many aspects of this establishment had always left something to be desired.

Negligence, aided by years of degradation, was making that fact more apparent.

I must find an open bath as soon as possible, or else…

I felt the intolerable pains in my head again…

The malodorous aromas that arose from my bath became suffocating, nauseating. I recognized their effects just before fainting…

Ah, there you are!

Get out of there right now! At the foot of the statue, you’ll find a boat. Take the channel that leads to the lake and go you-knowwhere…

CAW

Be careful!

Once again, I was their puppet. I acted as they desired. It seems that they had been particularly attentive to the staging this time…

I was at their mercy and I knew it.

The statue.

The boat.

I easily found the channel to the lake of which I had been told…