Chapter 1
A note from Dr Watson.
To the readers in the future,
In the envelope you now hold is a detailed record of a case that hides perhaps one of the most powerful secrets that fell upon my ears.
As the biographer of Sherlock Holmes, I have been granted the privilege of chronicling many cases solved by my dearest friend. Yet, this can only be published after the demise of our generation. By the time this reaches your hand, the secrets existing herein will neither shatter the fragile peace between two great empires nor ruin the two lives of those whom I name as my closest friends. The public believes that they possess full knowledge of the life of Sherlock Holmes. They know his triumphs in London, and the reputation of his unmatched brilliance. They all know the greatest detective of our time. They do not know the origin of his brilliance, or of the darkest emperor that ruled London from the shadows. I commit these records to paper for people of a distant century, trusting that posterity may come to appreciate the full measure of all that the brothers Holmes survived and overcame. This record follows the accounts of young Sherlock Holmes; you may publish this, narrating the story as you prefer, whilst leaving the exact order and the truthful events unchanged.
John H. Watson
Late of the Army Medical Department
