Archery. The bow and arrow have been utilized by humans for thousands of years. As tools of war, those proficient with the weapon dominated battlefields. As tools of hunting, the skilled provided for whole tribes and villages.

  For thousands upon thousands of years, archers were honored and respected. Ullr, Artemis, Hou Yi, Anat, Satet, Eros. Gods of archery were worshipped for milleniums.

  Apollo, god of the sun and light, god of music and poetry, god of plagues and prophecy. Together with his twin sister Artemis, they destroyed threats to Mount Olympus with sheer strength and skill. Born of Zeus and Leto, and armed with bows forged from the sun and moon, their arrows reaped lives from thousands of miles away.

  Long before the Olympian gods disappeared from Earth, Apollo had many lovers. Among them, Ana of Sparta was worldshakingly beautiful. However, her obsession with the art of archery turned away many a suitor. To win her heart, they would first have to beat her in a contest of skill. Ana's talent with the bow was unsurpassed. It was said that only the twin gods of archery would best her and she would stay unmarried the rest of her life.

  One day, Apollo looked down from the heavens and laid eyes on Ana of Sparta. He watched with interest as she defeated suitor after suitor and listened to the whisperings of the crowd. He jumped down from his solar throne and took on the guise of a mortal. Taking up Ana's game, his first arrow destroyed the target. His second arrow traveled around the entire world before landing in his quiver once again. His third arrow blacked out the sun. His fourth and last arrow brought sunlight back to the world.

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  To the sun god, taking away the sun and placing it back in the sky was as easy as breathing. After all, it was his task at the end and the beginning of every day.

  Ana, deceived by the sun god's antics, fell deeply in love with the man. More specifically, she fell in love with his archery skills. She didn't really care about the man at first.

  The descendants of Ana and Apollo created the Blacksun clan. A family of demigods originating from the Age of Mythology, obsession with the bow and arrow was deeply ingrained into their blood. Unknown to the vast majority of the world, they practiced their art to the point of perfection. While the earth adopted firearms with enthusiasm, the Blacksun stubbornly stuck to their heritage.

  Tens of thousands of years after the Olympians had departed for a higher realm, in the year of the dragon, a boy was born to a lowly couple of the Blacksun clan.

  As if sensing the second coming of Apollo, the clouds parted and the sun flared repeatedly. Songs were carried down by the winds of the heavens and prophets around the world kneeled, sensing his presence. Humanity's greatest poets felt a flash of inspiration and wrote masterpiece after masterpiece.

  The couple named their son after one of the greatest conquerors the world had ever seen. Thus the demigod Alexander made his arrival on Earth known to humanity.