Follower or Leader was a visual representation of one of Bayek's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan in 2017 through the Portable Animus HR-8.[1]
Description[]
Following in his father's footsteps is no mean feat for Setna. Especially when the boy poet lives by the adage that the stylus is mightier than the sword.
Dialogue[]
Near the Valley of the Scorpions in Heb Sed, Bayek came across a young man standing near the edge of a cliff.
- Setna: Only my oblivion will please him! Can I ever be a man in his great eyes?
Bayek approached the young man.
- Setna: How can I hope to best those beasts? Father can command all he wants, but I'm no warrior.
- Bayek: Your father has you hunting scorpions, boy?
- Setna: Boy? Another come to patronize me. Forgive me, I am tired of trying to make him understand. Him and his damned trails. I do not want to walk his path, neb. (lord).
- Bayek: Bayek. You wish to choose for yourself. Tell me of this ceremony you risk your life for.
- Setna: He thinks it will make me a man, accept my responsibilities. Recover the symbols, strength, protection, power. Folklore and fallacies.
Bayek speaking with Setna.
- Bayek: But you don't want to defy him. Even if that means oblivion. Perhaps I could be your champion.
- Setna: And what would that make me? A coward? A failure...
- Bayek: Smart. Such trials are not the only thing that makes a man. I would teach my son this.
- Setna: By Ra's light you are right, Bayek. I will wait for you north of here.
Not even Serqet's protection could save me from their venomous embrace.
Bayek descended the cliff to the valley where the scorpions were located. After killing one of them, he approached and took a sample of blood from its body.
- Golden Scorpion Blood
The symbol of strength needed by Setna for the trials set by his father.
- Bayek: A scorpion's blood. A vigorous symbol of strength.
He made his way back to Setna.
- Bayek: Setna will want to know he does not have to face Serqet's child.
Bayek fighting the scorpion.
He returned to Setna, giving the blood to him.
- Setna: You did it? You got the blood? Was it terrifying? Pitted against a fearsome foe, not knowing if you would live or die?
- Bayek: You have a way with words.
- Setna: Do you think? My dearest wish is to be a scribe.
- Bayek: Does your father know this?
- Setna: The mighty warrior? It would shame him to have a writer for an heir?
- Bayek: He will want his legacy to be a good son. What is our next trial?
- Setna: The symbol of protection. We must steal an ankh from the Caverns of the Valiant. Can it be desecration, in the realm of the dead?
- Bayek: I will return to you when I have it.
- Setna: For the final trial... Come find me at the end to the caverns.
Stealing a symbol of life from the hands of the dead. Irony thy name is father.
Bayek retrieving an Ankh.
Bayek made his way to the Caverns of the Valiant, a heavily guarded location. After defeating the warriors of Anubis who protected the place, he recovered the ankh in a chamber.
- Ankh
A symbol of long life and protection. The second of the trophies demanded by Setna's father.
- Bayek: An ancient token of life and protection.
Bayek read an inscription.
Dedication from Ramesses
- This tomb is dedicated to those soldiers of the Ptah division who fought so valiantly at Kadesh. As one, they followed Ramesses the Great and drove the Hittites into the river at Kadesh. Long may their glory last!
Bayek departed the tomb.
- Bayek: Setna's father means to show him a tenet of manhood. Protect those in your care.
He returned to Setna near the entrance to the cavern.
- Setna: Such a small thing, was it very hard to get? Did the spirits of the fallen scream and shriek? Wrap their icy fingers around your throat?
Bayek laughed.
- Bayek: You have a vivid imagination.
- Setna: It is both a blessing and a curse.
- Bayek: What happens when the trials are done?
- Setna: I will confront my father. Do you think he will hear me?
- Bayek: Stand strong and proud. He will hear you.
- Setna: The last trial is to take the Pharaoh's postiche from the great sand sea. It will be spewed forth from the desert.
- Bayek: The symbol of power is the beard?
- Setna: A boy is a boy no longer with hair on his chin. I will meet you at the Sanctum of Har-si-ese.
I would like to grow a beard, do you think it will be red as my hair?
Bayek fighting for the postiche.
Bayek headed near the Battlefield of Kadesh, where he spotted a number of warrior of Anubis. He eliminated them.
- Bayek: Can the Jackal's guardian have the postiche?
He recovered the postiche from one of the bodies.
- Pharaoh's Postiche
The ceremonial beard worn by Pharaohs. A potent symbol of might and sovereignty.
- Bayek: They say a man's strength lies in his beard, and yet I let Aya shave mine off.
With the postiche in hand, Bayek made his way to the sanctum.
- Bayek: What will Setna's father do with such a trinket?
Bayek and Setna at the Sanctum of Har-si-ese.
Bayek reunited with Setna at the sanctum, handing over the third item.
- Setna: Great Ramesses, keeper of harmony and balance. My father, your trials are completed, your will done. But I will not follow you.
Setna turned the items over in his hand, spilling them to the ground.
- Setna: My path is my own to walk.
An apparition of Ramesses II on his throne appeared. The pharaoh stood up and approached Setna, speaking to him with Bayek's voice.
- Bayek: Then go with Ra, my son.
Setna faded away as the apparation took on Bayek's appearance.
- Bayek: You are not the lion leading an army of sheep, Bayek. But their destinies are forged in the flames you lit. Let that bring you peace.
Bayek facing his own apparition.
Following his adventure Bayek found several scrolls in the sanctum and commented on them.
The Eagle Soaring
- The boy gazed out across the valley accepting his oblivion. How could he hope to stand against the great beasts? They would feast upon his soft flesh! But as he cried, all hope lost, a dark-eyed warrior came. He laid his strong hand upon the boy’s shoulder, imbued him with hope. "Let me be your champion," he spake, "let me be your sword."
- Bayek: Ha! The story of our quest, he has cast me as the conquering hero. I almost blush.
Father
- I offer my heart to you, that you may shape it, form it like wet clay. It is in your hands, a simple thing, a simple hope—my freedom. Your greatness and light is unfathomable, how can I look upon it and see myself in its blinding rays? Should I step out from beneath them? So that I can gaze upon my own endless horizon?
- Bayek: Would Khemu have followed my footsteps? Or carved his own path?
The Instruction of Amen-em-apt
- Do not follow another's furrow,
Plow your fields and you will find what you need,
You will receive bread from your own threshing-floor.
Cheat not with your pen.
The finger of the scribe is the beak of the ibis Thoth.
- Bayek: The Instruction of Amenemope, a father's advice to his son on living a pious life.
Outcome[]
Bayek helped Setna with his trials in order to pursue his path with his father's approval.