The Old Centaur

Alexander ran after Annabeth as she headed towards a big old house. They went inside where he saw the same horse-man, except he somehow managed to squeeze his lower body into a wheelchair.

"Have a seat so we can discuss matters comfortably." The old man said.

He had shaggy brown hair and beard. His eyes were the same color, except they had such depth which can only be obtained through a long tiresome life, but Alexander did not think the other campers noticed this.

It would be strange if such young men and women noticed such a detail after all.

Alexander sat on the couch near a coffee table. They just sat there for awhile staring at each other… well the horse-man was staring at a blindfold, but he could sense that the white-haired man could see as if he didn't wear one.

Annabeth was also studying the strange white-haired man that carried a new camper and a satyr to the top of Half-Blood Hill. He couldn't be a monster as there were no monsters with his characteristics in the legends. He couldn't be a demi-god because the barrier didn't allow him to pass. And he is not a normal mortal with The Sight because he didn't panic at having arrows and other sharp, deadly objects pointed at him.

He also could move around with ease, even though he has a blindfold on.

The man was a mystery she could not understand, and as a daughter of Athena, she wanted to understand everything.

"Why do you wear a blindfold?" She finally couldn't contain her curiosity and taking advantage of the silent staring contest between two beings who have lived longer than her grandparents, she asked.

Alexander and Chiron shifted their heads in surprise, as if they had forgotten she was here. They could practically see the tick marks appearing on her head as she realized the duo had forgotten about her.

"Did you ever hear the saying 'The eyes are windows to the soul'?" Alexander asked and she nodded.

"In a way, you could say that my soul is a little too bright for my own good, so my eyes are…special."

"How are your eyes special? Do yours have the similar effect as Medusa?"

"Medusa?"

"Annabeth, can I trouble you to look after Percy Jackson for me?" Chiron interrupted before the blonde's curiosity got out of control.

"Hmph!" Annabeth just huffed and left, closing the door behind her.

"I apologize about her. As a daughter of the goddess of wisdom, she has a natural curiosity to anything she does not understand."

"Don't mind it. The childish curiosity in her eyes is not something I see often. But enough of that for now. Let's move on to more pressing matters."

"Ah, yes. Am I correct to assume that you are Alexander the Immortal mage?" Chiron got to the point he wanted to confirm before they can start talking about what he's doing at camp.

"Ah, so you've heard from Artemis, I assume?"

It wasn't rocket-science. Artemis is the only one he met in his short one and a half day visit to this planet. There is literally no other being in this solar system that could have possibly given him that information.

"Well, it was from both her and Zoe Nightshade, her second in command. Lady Artemis only told me about an eccentric mage probably going to cause some trouble here and there while Zoe gave me a letter to give you." Chiron said as he pulled a envelope from under his blanket that covered his fake legs.

Alexander took opened the envelope and pulled out a folded paper. As he read, his lips and brows kept twitching.

"These are…pfft…some pretty impressive…vocabulary…haha!" Alexander couldn't hold it in and laughed out loud for a moment before placing the letter back in the envelope and putting it in his robe.

"May I ask what was in it?" Chiron was curious as to what could make such a powerful being, that made even Artemis feel the need to warn him about, laugh out loud.

"If you filter out all the cursing, she is basically trying to enforce the fact that she is not my disciple and to come back to there camp and remove the ring I stuck to her finger."

"You placed…an irremovable ring on one of the hunters belonging to a virgin goddess?" Chiron asked, baffled at the idea of a man, powerful or not, forcing a ring on one of the hunters of Artemis.

"Never mind that. Is there anything else you wanted to say or should I start asking?" Alexander asked.

Alexander was new to this world, so he had absolutely no knowledge about it's inhabitants other than what he gathered from the duo he shamelessly followed on their vacation. He doesn't even know their language. Then again, the translation rune formation he is using to communicate eliminates the need to know that.

What he really need to gather information on are the gods and goddesses and the other semi-immortals of this planet. Not to know who not to piss off, mind you, but to find out who is the most fun to annoy.

When Chiron said he didn't have anything more to ask, he answered Alexander's question as best as he could for a few hours.

Alexander learned that he is in the territory of the Greek Pantheon. He learned about the Twelve Olympians and about some of the minor gods here and there. Chiron also told Alexander about the records the mortals hold on the gods and emphasized that there are certain myths that are completely false.

One example of those is the myth about a son of Helios burning the people of Africa and giving them a darker skin-color.

Alexander himself doesn't believe in any ancient record ever recorded by mortals. They tend to misunderstand most things gods do due to blind faith or trying to control the general populace.

The only reason he believes what Chiron says is because Chiron has no need to lie to him and he can tell he is a lot older than any one in this camp.

"One more thing. The force field around the camp, why did it feel like it was powered by the life-force of a demi-god?" Alexander asked what was bothering him the most.

As old as he is, Alexander has seen many sacrificial rituals that destroy or protect and the cost of a life at best or a living battery at worst. He didn't feel any malicious aura from the old centaur, so he couldn't understand how he allowed something like this.

"…so you noticed. A few years ago, a group of demi-gods and a satyr were escaping from a horde of cyclops. One of them used herself as a decoy and got severely injured in the process. Her godly parent turned her into that giant pine tree and used it to form and enforce the barrier surrounding camp." The old centaur said with a sad, far-off look in his eyes.

After Alexander heard this, he knew that something was up. He knew how most gods think, especially those formed from faith. They usually didn't, or more like couldn't interfere with the mortal world easily, so the girl was probably a unique figure.

And she was still alive.

It's not clear, but he somehow feel like Percy will somehow save the girl on a quest like the heroes of the past Chiron told him about. He has the strongest bloodline of anyone in the camp, so he is obviously involved in something bigger than he thinks.

Uniqueness in a time of unrest between god usually births trouble that either saves the world or ends it. In fact, Alexander wouldn't feel surprised if there is a prophecy or something about Percy somewhere.

But he absolutely hates prophecies so he won't ask about them.

He could be wrong and Percy won't be able to save the girl and if that is the case, then he would do it himself. For now, he will wait and enjoy the show.