"I'm back... You don't seem too surprised, Teacher Chiron."
Under the afternoon sunlight, after leaving the realm of the gods and bidding farewell to the goddess of the sea, Promise returned to the centaur sage Chiron.
At that moment, the golden-haired, blue-eyed Chiron was sitting beneath an ancient tree at the cave on Mount Pelion.
His clear blue eyes looked at the boy, who dismounted from Pegasus as he stood up and ruffled Promise's hair with a smile. "I heard that today's daylight lasted a little longer, to make up for some mischievous child's desire to keep the night going longer..."
"Huh, Teacher, you already know?" Promise looked up and blinked at Chiron.
Upon thinking about it carefully, he realized it wasn't all that surprising.
After all, this teacher of his wasn't a mere human but a god, just like Zeus and Hera, sharing the same divine bloodline.
"I know a little, but not too much..."
Chiron responded, looking at Promise with some curiosity, but he didn't press for details.
After all, these were the embarrassing affairs of the Olympian gods, involving the god king Zeus himself.
It was best to know as little as possible, even if his curiosity was itching.
"As for you coming to find me, the goddess of fate had already come to see me before the Argo set sail."
"Goddess Clotho came to see you... Did she reveal your fate to you?" Promise asked, and when he saw Chiron nod, he understood completely.
"In that case, it's simple. Teacher Chiron, let's go! First, let's give Senior Brother Heracles a good beating... Ah, no, wait. I can't return to the ship just yet.
Never mind, let's go straight to Goddess Hestia for help, hunt the Hydra, and see if we can rescue Prometheus in the process."
Chiron's fate, in fact, was somewhat intertwined with Prometheus.
And Prometheus had already told Promise, even before Zeus was imprisoned, that his rescue would come once everything had settled.
The whole situation played out like this:
In the legends of Greek mythology, the hero Heracles, during his Twelve Labors, happened upon a group of rogue centaurs.
Seeing their evil deeds, he took action to punish them.
However, he hadn't realized that Chiron happened to be nearby.
Due to the distance, Heracles didn't clearly see Chiron's face.
Meanwhile, Chiron, upon spotting his student, waved happily to greet him.
But Heracles mistook this friendly gesture for a taunt from one of the rogue centaurs.
Feeling insulted, Heracles drew his bow and loosed an arrow, one that had been dipped in the deadly poisonous blood of the Hydra.
The arrow struck Chiron right in the throat!
Though Chiron didn't die, because he was a god, but the agony caused by the Hydra's poisonous blood was, in many ways, a suffering worse than death.
Consumed by pain, Chiron began to long for release.
Heracles later learned from Zeus that the way to free Prometheus from his punishment on Mount Caucasus was to find a god who would willingly take his place.
Chiron, offering his life in exchange, became that god.
Originally, Chiron should have been punished, but his identity was special after all, and Zeus could not really punish him.
In the end, Prometheus was freed from his torment, and Chiron gave up his eternal life, allowing both to find peace.
Zeus then placed Chiron in the sky, transforming him into the constellation Sagittarius, the Archer Centaur.
"...So, I don't actually resist this fate," Chiron said with a light smile as he spoke with Promise under the ancient tree at the cave on Mount Pelion. "In fact, being able to offer my life to free such a revered god from suffering is something I consider an honor. There's really no need for you to risk your life to change this."
Promise remained silent for a moment, knowing that Chiron spoke the truth.
His teacher was of such noble character that all his students respected him deeply.
Knowing that sacrificing his life could bring back Prometheus and stop the god from being punished, Chiron would most likely have made the same choice as fate would have him have made, even if he had not been poisoned by the nine-headed Hydra.
Thus, this fate didn't necessarily need to be changed.
But...
"But after you became mortal, Teacher Chiron, you regretted it, didn't you?"
Promise spoke to Chiron, who was momentarily taken aback by his words: "Although you indeed don't care whether or not you're a god, after you became human, you regretted it.
And you've always longed to regain that divine status."
In the future, there would be a Holy Grail War, and Chiron responded to its call.
His wish was to regain the divinity he had exchanged to save Prometheus.
"Because you feel that, even though your father and mother never truly loved you, you still shouldn't abandon the proof of your blood ties with them."
It's worth mentioning that Chiron was the child of the previous god king's affair.
His mother, upon realizing she had given birth to a centaur, was so filled with pain and regret that she turned into a linden tree.
"And it's precisely because I know that future you would regret it, Teacher Chiron, that I decided to change your original fate."
Chiron remained silent for a moment.
He didn't doubt Promise's words, but he sighed with a hint of sadness as he responded, "So, in the future, I will actually regret the choices I made... I'm sorry you had to witness such an unseemly side of your teacher."
"Not at all. After all, once you gave up your divinity, you became human, didn't you?"
Promise smiled at Chiron and said, "And humans are very complicated and ever-changing creatures... just like me, Teacher."
"The current me is not afraid of death at all, and I even look forward to the moment of my end. But at the same time, this version of me is not the same as the future me.
When we meet again in the future, Teacher, you might find that your student has become very timid, not even worthy of being called a hero anymore."
As Promise said these words, a flash of complexity and confusion appeared on his face.
For he had indeed thought of this.
The reason he wasn't afraid of death and was so determined to become a hero in this world was because of that Heroic Spirit class card.
Because he knew that one day, he would return.
But when he does return... will he still be the same Promise of this era?
Will he still have the courage to challenge all difficulties and change fate?
And at that time, when he sees his friends again, and even those goddesses who love him so dearly, will they be disappointed in the person he's become?
Promise had never considered such questions before, until the goddess of fate told him about his approaching end.
When he realized that his departure was truly coming, and that all his efforts would soon bear fruit, these thoughts couldn't help but emerge in his mind and he couldn't get rid of them no matter how hard he tried.
"Hmm... That version of Promise sounds like someone to look forward to!" Chiron responded without hesitation, after hearing Promise's worries.
When the boy looked at him in surprise, he reached out and ruffled his hair again, and said with a smile, "You silly child, do you have any idea how much worry you've caused me and everyone else with your single-minded pursuit of death? Even though the goddess of fate knows you will show her the most beautiful future, she still has to watch your death, again and again.
She witnesses those painful futures, hoping to find even the slightest bit of help for you."
"So, if one day you really do become timid and hesitate to move forward, I'm sure that neither I, nor your friends, nor the goddesses who watch over you will be disappointed..."
"Even the goddess of wisdom will certainly be very happy!"
Promise was silent for a while, then pouted and said, "I might believe that about the other goddesses, but Athena... I really can't imagine that."
"I'm sure that by then, she'll definitely find me super annoying!"
Promise said this with such certainty that Chiron couldn't help but be at a loss for words.
His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but after thinking about it, he gave up.
Prometheus had said that when Promise fulfilled his vow with Athena and reached his final end, it would be the perfect "revenge" against her.
This was because, in the eyes of the wise, what Athena really wanted to do had actually been exposed long ago...especially after this betrayal against the King of Gods Zeus.
Everyone tacitly agreed not to say anything, because they all knew that this was a gift and surprise that Athena had carefully prepared for the boy.
So even Hermes would not die like this.
The vow was unchangeable and destined to be fulfilled.
Therefore, Athena would indeed personally guide Promise to the edge of death, completing his grand finale.
But in the eyes of the gods, death never equated to the end.
Just like how Heracles completed all his tasks in the mortal world and, upon dying, became the mighty hero-god Hercules of Greek mythology.
So, in reality, Athena had long been preparing everything for Promise.
Yes, the gods doted on this boy so much. How could the most revered Queen of Heaven really let him go?
This was the real reason why the gods had never opposed Athena's vow.
They had been preparing for a long time to welcome Promise as one of their own.
And now, the only potential obstacle, the mighty god-king Zeus, was no longer in the picture.
Because whether or not it was seen as a farce, Promise had indeed saved Zeus.
And this, without question, was an undeniable accomplishment!
So, when Promise completed the paintings of the twelve Olympian gods, when he reached the end of the Golden Fleece adventure, and when he defeated Typhon, the father of all monsters, becoming a god in that moment, it's likely that an unprecedented chaotic battle would erupt among the gods of Olympus.
They would madly compete for the right to claim Promise.
Even the ancient goddess of night herself might be quite interested in this!
Unfortunately, the truth is always in the hands of a few.
The goddess of fate, Clotho,kept Promise's destiny inside a crystal ball, which she always held in her hands... Though at first, Clotho simply didn't want Promise to disrupt the fate of the world.
But now, it had indeed isolated everything, even blinding the eyes of the goddess of wisdom.
And this... is the fate that even the gods cannot control.
...