I have been reincarnated countless times.
Each time, I would forget the last one, along with all of the others, but this time, I did not, which was still strange for me.
In my lives, I was a warrior, a king, a mercenary, a mage, a god.
It did not matter how many times I reincarnated, I got strong each and every time. Little by little, after every battle, I got just a little stronger, a little smarter, and a little more deadly until I reached the peak.
Now, in this world, divinity was just a tool just like my body. I was too used to mana, too used to complex equations running through my brain, too used to predicting my opponent's next attacks, having battle plans running through my head one after another.
Now this, this pale imitation of what I have reached in many lifetimes was like child play to control.
Along with my skills in battle, I have learned to read people, many people who I learned to trust betrayed me for a bit of wealth, for protection, for power, each and every time, I was the one to cut them down.
So it was easy to spot the slight tension the immortal centaur was hiding.
And I wasn't about to ignore it.
It all started when the group of four survivors came to the camp, or more specifically, when Thalia came to the camp.
"What are you hiding Chiron?"
The Centaur looked over at me, blinking.
"What are you talking about, Leonidas?"
he should know me better by now, I have been growing up here since I was an infant. Besides, he sucked at changing the subject, even if he hadn't tried it yet.
"Don't take me for a fool, Chiron, I know you, you know me. Ever since Thalia arrived, you have been tense. The others don't see it, but I do."
He looked at me for a moment, observing my expression, and sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Follow me, Leonidas, and listen to what I have to say before interrupting, please."
I narrowed my eyes and followed him as he walked toward the big house. I hated the big house. Mainly because one of the Olympian gods was there, doing nothing to help the camp, as per usual.
When we reached our destination, I looked up at the building, sighed, and walked inside. We passed a few rooms before we finally found a fat man, who was wearing a Hawaiian button-up shirt, drinking a diet Coke, and reading a wine magazine.
My eye twitched, we were out there, defending the camp, and the gods were not even lifting a finger because of self-imposed rules and stupidity.
"Mr. D, I think it's time to inform the camp leader of the prophecy."
Chiron spoke, crossing his arms, and waited for a response. The man hummed, sipping from the can and flipping the page.
"Yeah, you do that."
The response was delivered with disinterest like we were talking about a weirdly shaped cloud. Chiron nodded, too used to this at this point while I just raised an eyebrow, ignoring the useless being in front of us and paying more attention to the important part of the conversation.
There was a prophecy. Most likely concerning Thalia and the camp. And I was just finding out about this now.
Sucking in a breath through my teeth, I went up the stairs that led to the attic and opened the door, walking in first. Chiron followed behind me, bending slightly to fit through the door properly.
The green mist appeared as soon as I entered the room and got my attention, bringing it to the source. I narrowed my eyes at the mummified corpse that was the Oracle, someone, or at this point, something, that gave out prophecies.
"The prophecy is hung on its neck."
My vision zeroed in on the container that was dangling from the corpse and before Chiron could walk forward, I took a step forward.
Ignoring the mist, I let my irritation flare outward and the mist dissipated.
"Speak-"
The voice was raspy like someone hadn't drunk water for a very long time while having a cold.
I had no patience left to go through with the dramatics.
"Silence."
I didn't raise my voice, it remained at a controlled volume, not a decibel higher, but the corpse shut its jaw just like it was ordered to.
Grabbing the container, I opened it and looked at the paper, frowning after each line.
A half-blood of the eldest gods.
Shall reach sixteen against all odds.
And see the world in endless sleep.
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.
A single choice shall end his days.
Olympus to preserve or raze.
I scowled at the words. Sixteen? These people...
I breathed in, held it in a few seconds, and breathed out. Repeated the process a few more times, and finally, shot a glare at Chiron who was standing there, waiting patiently.
We stared at each other for a few seconds before I went over the lines again.
"A half-blood of the eldest gods", This would indicate that Thalia could be in the prophecy, but the line, "a single choice shall end his days" contradicted that.
The one who would be involved in the prophecy would have to be a male. So that excluded her. "See the world in endless sleep" Could mean a few things. "World" may be the perception of it, the kid who would be involved in this may not have traveled the world, so the "World in endless sleep" may mean the parts of it that the said kid knew.
Or if the gods got involved, the mortals would have to remain unaware, so, maybe a large area spell that would put the mortals to sleep permanently if we didn't win?
I looked back at Chiron again.
"This doesn't explain why you were so tense."
The centaur frowned.
"The prophecy speaks of the child of the eldest gods-"
I cut him off right there.
"First of all, the prophecy is about a male, not a female, second of all, if Olympus is under threat, why doesn't the camp know? Aren't we, like the only way for them to do their bidding? Third of all, if the camp was going to be threatened, the cabin leaders should have known, I should have known. Why aren't we trying to decipher this?"
Chiron, blinked, then caughed awkwardly.
"Are you going seanile in your age, old man?"