I have witnessed the death of empires. Some expired swiftly, some more slowly. But a new enigma arises. Chance and destiny are my fellow sojourners. They walk behind me and before me, changing places before I realize it. Free will or fate? This is the inquiry. The warrior unknown, the enigmatic and the elusive, becomes known. I move discretely in the shadows of history. I have become a shadow. I walk on the sand, but leave no footprints behind. I see dead kings half-buried in the sand. The remnants of empires appear as the wind scatters the sand everywhere. I march on toward a destination without name. The great historian follows me wherever I go. I have become him. He remains half-known and half-unknown to me, my half-known and half-knowing world.