Apollo is eighteen, gifted, and wants you to know he's the best. He'll tell you himself.

The Prince of Ixia

Apollo is Ixian, from North Ixia. Ixia is one of the Outer Planes, connected to Earth by an Astral Gate. His father, Mikhail, rules North Ixia with the authority of both a governor and a general, and Apollo is his only child and heir apparent. People call him the Prince of Ixia.

He was raised to value loyalty, honor and Ixian culture, and started sword training so young that he learned his Riposte at five years old.

Sent to New York

North Ixia is in conflict. As the fighting grew, Apollo was sent to New York for his own safety. He attends Blackmore Academy, a school for the children of wealthy families, where he captains the fencing team, skips parties and dances to train, and plans to represent Ixia at the Olympics.

He doesn't think of New York as home. It's temporary, and he expects his father to call him home one day. Abrams once asked him about it.

The ritual and the sword

Apollo says he's in the ritual to honor his family's name and test his skills, not for his father's sake. What he'd actually wish for, nobody knows.

  • His family sigil is the Disengaging Sigil, which his father taught him to cast.
  • His sword is the family's ancestral blade, inherited from his father.
  • His ultimate has an Ixian name, Itani Lo Sahn, which means "I have no equal."

Brothers and classmates

Apollo believes Ixians are above humans, though he doesn't hate humans. He calls other Ixians in New York brother.

  • Abrams is one, and pushes back on it.
  • Infernus is another, but he was born in New York, has never been to Ixia and doesn't speak Ixian, which Apollo finds hard to accept.
  • Graves is his classmate and lab partner at Blackmore. She calls him the Golden Boy. He thinks she's a decent partner but disapproves of her skipping class, and she has mixed feelings about him too.
  • The Doorman: Apollo stayed at the Baroness Hotel and liked him enough to tip him.
  • Mirage and Warden he respects for their conviction and honor.
  • Billy respects Apollo despite hating the kind of rich kid he is, because Apollo fights his own battles.

The short version

A prince a long way from home, eighteen, gifted and very sure of it, fighting in someone else's city to prove he's worthy of the sword on his hip.