They were not jewels, nor weapons, nor mere relics of a vanished age. They were hearts. Hearts of beasts so ancient that their names were etched into the stars themselves.

The Twelve Talismans of the Zodiac.

When the heavens first split open and poured fire upon the newborn earth, twelve beasts stepped forth from the chaos, each bearing a fragment of the world’s first light. To bind their power and shield creation from ruin, the gods locked their essence into twelve talismans—stones carved from starlight, each one alive with the breath of its beast.....