Hou Yi
the archer who spared one sun
fireWhen ten suns rose at once and scorched the world, Hou Yi shot down nine and spared the one that warms us; to dream of him is to be asked what excess in your life must be brought down before anything green can grow again.
He was promised immortality and lost it twice — once to a thief, once to the moon; the greatest archer in heaven could not hit the one target that mattered.
His apprentice watched him draw the bow and learned everything except his mercy; skill without that last lesson is how the world burns.
On the hottest days the old people say the tenth sun is testing its courage, wondering whether nine brothers might come back.
Nine suns fell as golden crows into the sea, and the tenth he spared, for even an archer knows the world cannot live on glory alone.