Life had always been a strange mix of pain and patience for Chiron.
Born and abandoned, he'd faced more life-or-death situations than anyone could count. But thanks to his immortality, he survived, and in surviving, he learned—a lot. His early years were tough, no doubt about that, but as if to make up for it, the days that followed were calm. Peaceful, even.
His kind, the centaurs, weren't exactly known for their gentleness. Brutal in nature, most of them, but towards each other, they were different—almost... civil. Chiron had the occasional luxury of a good bottle of wine passed his way, though his students usually stole most of it. It didn't bother him, though. Life was good. Especially surrounded by students, so many different ones, all with the potential for greatness.
And those kids—oh, those kids were something else. All of them had the hearts of heroes, no matter how different their personalities were. He didn't chase after greatness himself, but watching his students thrive, watching them make names for themselves, filled him with joy. And when they fell in battle, his heart broke for them.
He knew the life of a hero wasn't an easy one. It was a one-way trip, destined to end in tragedy, but he loved them anyway. He poured everything he had into teaching them, hoping to keep them alive a little longer, even though it only pushed them further down the heroic path. The cruel twist? His immortality meant he was doomed to watch them all leave him, one by one. He could only pray they'd find a good end to their stories.
Then one day, everything changed.
A pale boy stood before him, brought by Poseidon's warhorse. Chiron expected another hero in the making, another soul drawn to the impossible challenge of glory. But this boy? He didn't want to be a hero. He wanted a simple, normal life.
Chiron didn't know what to do with that.
How do you train someone to be ordinary? And if you've come to him, well, "ordinary" was already off the table.
The boy wanted to learn self-defense, so Chiron taught him everything he knew about combat. The boy wanted survival skills, so Chiron passed on his hunting techniques and taught him how to identify herbs. Before he knew it, Chiron had taught the boy nearly everything he knew—everything except the fun stuff.
"Normal" wasn't going to happen. Not with all that knowledge.
He regretted it. This boy, Cyd, was probably the only student Chiron had ever truly taught wrong.
Cyd left. Like all the others, he set out on his own path, and despite all his worries, Chiron feared the worst. A boy who didn't want to be a hero... What if he died because Chiron hadn't prepared him enough? But those fears were misplaced. Cyd was different.
Not only did he survive—he thrived.
He joined Jason's crew, helped win the Golden Fleece, defeated a dragon, calmed Apollo's rage, outran Atalanta in a race, and even returned from the Underworld alive. He settled disputes between three goddesses and—most amazing of all—earned the blessings of the gods. He was a legend. Cyd became the hero everyone envied.
But was it the life Cyd had wanted?
Chiron heard the news. Cyd was heading to Tartarus to face Kronos himself. Chiron had never felt such chaos in his heart.
Cyd would die. It didn't matter that he was immortal or blessed by the gods. Chiron had pushed him towards the life he never wanted, and now Cyd was doomed to meet a tragic end.
Lost in turmoil, Chiron sought out his fellow centaurs to talk, but things went wrong. One of his students mistakenly injured him—an arrow to the soul, laced with poison so deadly that even with immortality, the pain was unbearable.
That's when Prometheus appeared, revealing the truth.
Zeus loved Cyd, but as king of the gods, he feared the nature of humanity. Time changes everything, and Zeus was worried. One day, far in the future, Cyd might overthrow him. So he'd given Cyd a trial designed to kill him.
Chiron couldn't let Cyd die. Not Cyd. He made a choice.
His immortality had become his curse. So he'd give it to Cyd instead. He knew Cyd would never accept it outright, so Chiron found a way to sneak it into him—without Cyd ever realizing. Even if he were poisoned, Cyd would bypass Hermes' blessings and live on.
It worked. Now, with two sources of immortality, Cyd would never die. One day, he would return.
But until then, Chiron had to hide this from Zeus. He had to endure the agony of Hydra's poison and the loss of his own immortality, all in secret.
Now, in the heat of battle, Chiron raised his bow, nine magical arrows ready to fly. He was at his limit, but this would have to be enough.
"This is your last shot, Centaur," Semiramis taunted, a smirk on her face. Hundreds of chains extended from her throne, forming a shield in front of her. "Make your choice. Those arrows can kill me, but the Hydra will still wipe out you and your master. Or you could stop the Hydra, but you'll all die from the poison cloud before you finish it. Or… shoot the door. Sacrifice yourself. Your choice, wise Centaur!"
"Damn it!" Astolfo shouted, struggling to keep the toxic mist at bay with his spear. "Forget about us, Archer! Kill her! If she dies, the Hydra goes with her!"
But the poison wasn't going anywhere.
Chiron narrowed his eyes. He made his choice.
With a flash, the nine arrows flew like nine streaks of light, shattering the Hydra's nine heads simultaneously with a thunderous boom.
"Congratulations," Semiramis laughed, "you've managed to do what even Heracles couldn't—kill the Hydra alone. But too bad—you've made the wrong choice. As long as I'm alive, I can summon another one."
"I never miss," Chiron whispered. His arms dropped, and his bow clattered to the ground.
"What?"
In the distant sky, the stars of the Archer constellation glowed, one after another—a single streak of light shot from the heavens, piercing the night without a sound.