You supposed you had seen it coming in a way. The festival of Min had been a nice distraction, a break or possibly a reward to mark your advancement in training but now it was back to hard work and lots of it.
Your outings increased and while fighting was a rare occurrence on them it gave you an opportunity to get to know the other high priests. Shada and Karim were the two priests who most often ventured out of the palace besides Seto. Isis and Akhenaden mainly stayed within the palace and Mahado went out now and then. Both Shada and Karim took their roles very seriously and seemed to have no problem accepting you as trainee war advisor into the court of the Pharaoh. The first time you were out of the palace grounds since the raid with Seto was with Karim, he had taught you the basics of riding a horse which you were more than grateful for and with some practice your confidence grew. He struct you as something of an older brother type figure in the court and seemed to look out for those around him including you when he could. Horse riding was something you would have to learn if you were going to be in battle and being able to ride on your own gave you a sense of freedom in a way, to know you wouldn't need to rely on a man for transport. It would naturally be a while before you tore off across the desert or fought on horseback, but simple trotting was comfortable to you with some practice. You found it strange not having biting comments or warnings hissed at you considering the majority of your time and training was spent with Seto. Did you miss him...? You quickly shook that notion off, missing being insulted? You'd have to be delusional. Despite his short praise after the raid it quickly returned to normal. Much to your dismay your new training had been less than inspiring.
Supposedly just being able to see Kas was a sign that you were somewhat of a natural in the area given that civilians typically were unable to see anything.
For the introduction to your training you were back at the priest in white and blues side. After showing up at your door he escorted you to the shrine of Wedju, a short distance from the palace but still within its confines. It gave more of a sense to just how expansive the palace and its grounds were, like a small bustling village of it's own built from the finest limestone. The shrine towered up into the sky almost matching the palace in height. The interior was held up by pillars and fires burned to illuminate what the shrine held. You looked around in awe at the slabs which lined the walls in every direction, reaching from the floor to the ceiling.
"Don't just stand there, come on" Seto snapped.
You quickly snapped your head back to him seeing he had already began to climb stairs in the centre of the room. Following him up until the stairs levelled out onto a platform giving a better view of all the slabs around you he began to explain.
"Each slab you see is a ka captured from a criminal after judgement has been passed" he elaborated "the strength of a person's ba will determine the strength of their ka" he moved to show you the contraption on his arm he had used before.
"This is a diadhank, with this select few are able to call forth any of the kas you see here" he began "it can also be used to call forth your own ka but as your own ka is directly linked to your ba do so with caution" he warned.
"So it's summoned... like magic?" You asked wrapping your head around, or trying to, how this all worked.
"I suppose you could put it like that, this gauge shows your ba level" he flicked the wings of the diadhank out and the gauge was lit, full.
"Battle and calling forth kas will deplete this, it's crucial you don't let the gauge run out" he said.
"What happens if it does?" You asked.
"Well that's simple, you'll die" he said like it was a passing comment and not something critical.
"Don't look so worried, your ba can be recovered through rest, just don't get caught in a situation you can't get out of" he said, again completely downplaying the severity.
Oh of course, that would be so simple on the battlefield, you thought bitterly.
"Now that you understand a little more on how kas work, it's time to start your training" he said.
With that you departed from the shrine and made the short trip back to the training grounds. He presented you with your own diadhank and you put it on, it easily clicked into place even if it was a bit heavy for your liking, you supposed you'd just get used to it in time and given the ability it granted it was invaluable. It seemed simple enough, flick the wings out and call the name of a ka right?
You watched as Seto did exactly that, like it was effortless, it probably was to him, standing in front of you he adopted a fighting stance flicked out his arm and shouted the name of a ka. In a flash of brilliant light a large creature that resembled an ox with armour appeared in the training grounds grunting at you threateningly. It leered at well over 8ft tall and you found yourself taking a step back reflexively.
"Your turn" he smirked "your own ka will probably be the easiest to call forth since you have more of a connection with it than a ka from the shrine, we'll focus on summoning it first and get an idea of it's power" he explained.
Nodding at his explanation you felt you could manage that, possibly, standing with your feet spread you flicked out the wings of the diadhank... Your ka, Tefnuit, should come when called right? After all the dragon in golden armour had come to your aid and showed itself in the throne room. A little uncertain, head reeling at the information you were trying to process, you knew you had to react and called it's name and waited, waited for the flash of light, the appearance but nothing happened you were left looking around not sure where you went wrong.
"What was that?" A clipped tone reached your ears.
"You'll never be able to summon a ka if you can't even sound confident when summoning it! You have to actually believe it will show up, that it will aid you, kas are a reflection of the soul personified respect that" he snapped and told you to try again.
Closing your eyes you nodded balling your fists then releasing a sigh, that clearly hadn't worked, you had to clear your uncertainties, focus on believing, trusting the dragon would come to you once more. You wanted to succeed, you needed to, to prove yourself. You tried again... Nothing, and again, nothing. With each attempt you grew more frustrated, your calls became less 'confident' and more downright shouting. Seto shook his head and sighed.
"Calm down, frustration will get you nowhere" he said.
You were about to snap back at him but you sighed in defeat letting out an aggravated sound. He was right, but why was this so difficult, you'd done well in magic, in fighting why was simply summoning a ka a task, which was so seemingly effortless for the other priests, so impossible for you?
"The first time you brought the dragon out you were in danger" he spoke.
"What exactly are you getting at?" You asked and with little time to react he'd commanded the ox to charge you raising its axe above its head ready to swing it down on you with nothing to fend off its blow.
If that dragon was going to come out now would be a pretty damn good time, you threw your hands up maybe the diadhank could offer some kind of protection? In a last ditch attempt you pleaded calling the dragon's name one last time. That's when one of the wings lit up and a bright flash revealed the dragon in all it's glory which instantly lunged for the ox clashing with it. Taking an unsteady step back you felt... Anger. It washed over you as you focused in on the fight in front of you, your dragon seemed to have no issues putting the ox down slamming it into the ground.
"Finish it" you commanded, and it did.
The ox faded from the area and left only Tefnuit to stand in the sandpit snarling at Priest Seto who gripped his chest seemingly in pain and took a few steps back. You blinked the anger dissipating as you moved forward a hand reaching out.
"Are you alright?" You called about to go over but he raised a hand to stop you.
"Finally we got somewhere, as you can see even summoning kas from Wedju will still deplete your ba gauge if defeated" he held up his diadhank to show that the previously fully lit gauge was now only around 3/4s full.
A pang of guilt shot through you but you told yourself that you'd actively tried to kick him into the dirt countless times before in training, now was no different monsters were just involved and you'd won the fight.
"Still battle ox is no pushover when it comes to kas, that's quite the dragon you have there" he commented seemingly impressed, "alright, call it back and try to summon it again, without being in danger this time" he said.
"Stand down" you spoke softly to the dragon and as in the throne room is disappeared, you looked down to your diadhank to see a symbol of it disappear from one of the wings.
"Yes, continuing this without the threat of imminent decapitation would be preferred" you responded dryly and readied yourself to try once more.
"It worked didn't it?" He smirked "remember how you felt when you successfully summoned your ka, use that feeling to guide you" he offered in advice.
So terrified? You thought bitterly but calmed yourself and stilled your thoughts, there had been another feeling besides the fear but you tried to replicate the feeling of being in danger to help aid your cause in calling Tefnuit out once more. Taking a breath, you focused then called the dragon forth. You knew now it would come, that it was real, not just a construct of your mind made to help you through the toughest times.
It would come, it had to, you were determined to get through all this training, to make something of yourself at last. The light shone proving you had been successful and once again the dragon was by your side. You let out a laugh of disbelief and turned from it to Seto to grin at him and he just nodded in return. You'd done it, you'd summoned the damn thing by yourself.
"Well done, you can call it off that will do for today" he said.
"Huh? That's it?" You asked motioning with your hand as Tefnuit disappeared again.
"Look at your ba gauge" he said.
You blinked and looked down seeing it had depleted and your head snapped back up to him immediately confused. You hadn't lost the battle so why had your gauge depleted? You were down to about 3/4s now like he had been after losing a ka.
"Just summoning kas requires strength, when you aren't used to summoning them it's best to start slowly, I don't want you collapsing on me" he said.
You supposed that made sense, when you went to leave you had to steady yourself a sudden weakness washing over you and he moved forward ready to catch you an arm in front of you. You placed a hand on his forearm and steadied yourself before nodding.
"I'm alright" you promised and righted yourself as he gave you an unconvinced look.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you" you said as you both exited the training grounds.
"What's that?" He sighed ready for you to quiz him on something inconsequential again as you often did jump whatever questions you had on him.
"I'm to be a war advisor, so that means I'll be in charge of more than just me, all this training is great but it doesn't help me in strategizing how an army should be set up" you explained.
The portion of your training that dealt with battle strategy had been non existent and now that your training was progressing it was something you often thought about but didn't know where to start. He nodded and crossed his arms thinking for a moment.
"All right follow me" he said at last.
You did just that and eventually came to a room that resembled a library, he pulled scrolls out and handed them to you, dumping document upon document along some books and you blinked struggling to hold it all beginning to regret even asking.
"When I was in training these are the materials High Priest Akhenaden recommended to begin with" he said.
"So he taught you?" You asked.
"Everything I know, he's a great man, when you get through these ask him what to move onto" he said.
The tone of pure admiration struck you as odd coming from Seto, clearly he held the priest in very high regard, you mulled the thought over, you didn't have a lot of experience with priest Akhenaden other than some simple greetings when you really went out of your way to introduce yourself, you didn't have an opinion one way or the other.
You guessed if Seto was praising him he was definitely someone to look out for, or maybe look up to? You sighed and brought everything he had given you to a table and spread out the various materials skimming over them lightly.
"Anything you would recommend I begin with or just read them in any order I see fit?" You asked.
He moved to your side surveying the table, he reached out after a moment and tapped on a book.
"If you want a starting point that's as good as any, after that there's no real order you need to go through them, they all talk about the basics and you can build from there" he explained.
"Alright" you moved to sit and took the book he had pointed out gathering some sheets of papyri to take any notes on what you found.
He watched as you set up to study for the next few hours and crossed his arms moving to leave before turning back.
"Don't over do it, we'll continue your ka training tomorrow" he warned.
You looked up and smiled rolling your eyes.
"I can hardly wait, in fact I'm missing you and your violent beasts already" you responded sarcastically.
Instead of making some kind of displeased face he just smirked and walked off. Maybe after all your time together the ice priest was beginning to warm to your presence, being one of your main mentors he didn't have much of a choice but get used to you being around. Still you smiled to yourself, if you were going to trust anyone here Seto would probably be the first, regardless of if your possible attraction to the man played any role in it.
You made good progress through the materials, as it was the basics it was quite clear and easy to follow. You were sure as you progressed it wouldn't be so simple but you made notes getting through around half of what he'd given you before you had some down time, food and then took the priests advice on resting for the day ahead of you tomorrow.
Over the coming months all of your training came to a head, fighting wasn't a worry, your skills in magic had come on leaps and bounds and even summoning kas was now second nature due to the practice you had put in. Other than your own ka, Tefnuit, you favoured a few you could summon with ease, Gebeb another dragon which resembled your ka and had the same millennium plated armour, Kaiser sea horse a monster which like is name resembled a soldier from some deep sea home and dark witch one of the only female resembling kas you had summoned.
Keeping a note on strategizing you often went to Seto or Akhenaden asking for advice or clarification on why a battle had played out as it did. Between them both they arranged makeshift battle scenarios to test your reasoning and see how much you had learned from your studies. Your time outside the palace and experiences also helped aid you in decisions and make arguments for why you would set up a battle in such a way.
With all the positive progress it came time to face the final hurdle before you would officially assume the role of war advisor. The previous advisor, Phut would test you and if you passed she would step down and you would have the Pharaoh's army in your care. While ultimately battle decisions lay with the Pharaoh the input of a war advisor was crucial and often taken into serious account.
The anxiety this put on you... only time would tell if you really could step up and become the phrophesised advisor they wanted you to be.