The One True God
Another cloudless day; the face of Ra dominated the sky with his fierce yellow fire while the golden serpent of The Great Mother undulated between the trees. Seemingly, riding upon her back was a thin band of blue sky playing hide and seek among the dunes.
It was a great day to be alive. And this was a very special day out of all the great days to be alive that I had amassed in my seventeen years of life; I was standing on the steps of the Temple with my admissions paper in my hand. The wax seal was melting a little and running, so I rolled the paper up to keep the seal from the face of Ra in hopes that this would serve to preserve it better.
Behind me were the three great arched doors of the Temple.
To think that some people believed that candidates actually had to choose a door or answer three questions to be admitted. Even now the doors were wide open, admitting a view of the open-air courtyard inside. The face of Ra beamed through the open air courtyard, reflecting off of the bald heads of the registrars who sat at a long table, giving their seals of admission or letters of rejection to the lines of candidates.
It was no mystery, really; if you came from a well to do family, you would probably make the grade and if you had an uncle in the government, like me, so much the better. All the candidates that were here had hopes of securing some kind of government position such as a scribe or an architect.
For me, it was much simpler; I wanted power. Sure, to be a High Priest, but I wanted the knowledge and power behind this.
I sat down on the steps and let the heat from the stones cook my buns. Below, the Necropolis was bustling; the street was filled with people and carts, merchants hawked their goods from stalls and slaves took the purchased food or jewelry to their mistresses who waited in shaded chariots.
It was glorious, simply glorious.
“Hello, I couldn't help but notice that you have a Seal of Admission. I am Aye, and I have the Seal as well,” a voice from out of the blue suddenly said. I squinted up into the sun to see a slender shadow standing over me. I shaded my eyes with my hand and got a more detailed view of a young man about my age standing there holding out his admission paper in his hand like a beggar's placard.
“Congratulations to us,'' he smiled, “we've made the cut. We'd have to really screw-up royally to not be set for life now.”
His features were androgynous, ranging to the pretty side. His lips were full and he reminded me of a fish breathing water when he spoke. As I sized up the situation, the possibility didn't escape me that he might be hitting on me.
On the other hand, it was kind of a rash conclusion to jump to; he might just be trying to be sociable. If he was hitting on me, he wasn't being too obnoxious about it.
There was something very harmless about him that drew your sympathy but I knew he was probably a lot more resourceful than he looked; probably knew some ancient form of empty hand combat. He could probably figure the rising and falling of The Great Mother by the cycles of the moon already. He was probably a good ally to have.
I made a snap decision to be friendly.
“Better watch that your seal doesn't melt,” I said. “I am Sayah.”
I gave him the Open Hand Salute and he returned it with another smile.
“I wonder who we'll be assigned to, you know, for teachers. Of course I know we probably won't get Masters straight off. I heard that neophytes get disciples,” he said.
“That's fine with me,” I said, “I just hope whoever it is isn't too stiff.”
Aye snickered through his nose at that.
'Too stiff,'” he said, “that's a rather amusing pun.”
“It might not be amusing,” I said.
“You have a point-ah! Another pun. Oh! There's an uncle of mine! Be right back!”
He flew off, leaving me to ponder on what a curious character I had just met. I reflected that it probably didn't matter much as we probably wouldn't be seeing too much of each other anyway. I started to wonder, for the first time, just what our studies would be like. I wondered if we would be taught individually or placed in groups.
It made sense that we would probably be in groups for the basics. Then, as we worked our way up the Grades, we would likely be apprenticed to a particular Master.
A shadow fell over me again but this time it was much larger. I looked up and all I could see was a black silhouette of a hooded individual bending in close to me.
“You are Sayah,” the voice said. It wasn't a question.
“That's right,” I said back.
“I am Tetmus, your teacher.” He held a hand out into the light and there was a gold ring on his finger with the unmistakable Seal of the Order on it.
It was most impressive. I got butterflies looking at it and my heart started to race
“Follow me,” he ordered, “we will make a start.”
I didn't know what to do. It seemed very out of order. I was expecting a lot more pointless paperwork and an 'official' notice of assignment. I looked around at the long desk behind the doors. Things were wrapping up and the registrars were collecting their paperwork.
Tetmus had stepped down the stairs a bit but he was turned towards me, his face still shrouded in the shadow of his robes. He held out an arm and beckoned.
“Come along! What are you waiting for? Don't you know how to follow directions?”
That did it. That put the fear of expulsion in me. My father had told me over and over, 'be sure to follow directions, they won't waste time with anybody who can't follow directions.'
'Oh well,' I thought, 'I guess they aren't as inefficient as I thought.'
“Yes sir. Coming,” I said, getting sprightly to my feet and following him as he began to walk quite briskly down the avenue away from the temple.
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