The Celestial Sky cracked with thunder.
Stars blinked out, swallowed by spiraling clouds of divine energy as the sacred halls of Tiantang…Heaven's Throne Court…shook under the weight of gods who had forgotten their purpose.
Twelve figures stood in a circle of fire and lightning, their divine forms towering, radiant, and burning with power too ancient to be named. Each of them bore a mark…Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig…the Zodiac Guardians, the sacred protectors of fate and time.
And now, they stood at war.
"He is too old!" roared Zhenlong, the Dragon Guardian, his voice like a volcano erupting across galaxies. His flaming mane flared behind him, coiling in the shape of a great eastern serpent. "The Heavenly Emperor has sat too long on a crumbling throne. It is time for one of us to rule."
"And that one is you?" asked Baixue, the Rabbit Guardian, her tone soft but cutting. Her pale robes shimmered like moonlight on snow, but her eyes burned with quiet defiance. "We were chosen to protect the world, not rule it."
"She speaks truth." Langya, the Tiger, slammed his clawed fist against the marble floor of the Celestial Chamber. "We were not born to be kings. We were born to bleed for the balance. Or have you forgotten the promise we made at the Dawn Gate?"
"That promise was made by fools!" Zhenlong snarled. "And now the world weakens while he dozes on a golden throne!"
A ripple of murmurs surged across the circle. Some nodded in agreement. Others looked away.
Above them, the golden spires of Heaven darkened. Thunder crackled through the marble pillars as if the Heavens themselves wept at the arrogance of their children.
Then came the voice.
A voice so ancient, it cracked time.
"Enough."
The air bent. Light dimmed.
And from the top of the Grand Throne descended the Heavenly Emperor, Shengxiao.
His robes trailed the cosmos behind him. His crown shimmered with dying stars. His face was both young and old, as if the weight of millennia balanced upon his brow.
"I gave you power to serve," he said, his voice calm, but lethal. "And now you squabble like mortals with fire in your throats and poison in your hearts."
Zhenlong did not kneel.
None of them did.
"Your reign is over," the Dragon said coldly. "If you will not step down… we will make you."
For a moment, silence ruled.
Then the Emperor raised his hand.
A pulse of power erupted…so fierce, so pure, that the Guardians staggered back, choking on divine pressure.
"Then you shall have what you crave," Shengxiao whispered.
And he did the unthinkable.
He stripped them.
One by one, their auras shattered. Their weapons crumbled. Their spirits tore from their bodies…not destroyed, but bound.
Twelve brilliant lights, screaming like stars being torn apart, gathered at the Emperor's palm.
He looked down at them, at the prideful children he had once called his champions.
"Your punishment will be this…"
"You will be sealed into a mortal body."
Gasps echoed across the heavens.
"A human?" the Monkey spat.
"A child."
The Emperor's voice rang louder than thunder.
"Each of your souls will be bound to a single tail. Your powers, your memories, your gifts…all buried until you learn your lesson. Only through him will you walk the world again. And should you corrupt him, betray him, or break him…"
His gaze turned sharp as a blade.
"...you will vanish into eternal void."
The Dragon roared in fury.
The Snake hissed curses.
The Dog howled.
The Goat wept.
And the twelve lights spiraled into the void..flung like shooting stars across space and time.
Below, in the mortal world…
A woman screamed as she gave birth under a dying moon.
The child that emerged had horns like obsidian, and twelve glowing tails…each one burning with a different color, a different god, a different fate.
He cried. The skies wept. The world held its breath.
And Heaven closed its gates.
The war was over.
The reckoning had just begun.
The scream of the mother echoed through the wooden hut.
The midwife's hands trembled, soaked in blood and trembling qi. The air was thick, heavy, unnatural. The candle flames bowed low, flickering violently though no wind passed.
Outside, the sky bled red.
Inside, the child was born.
And silence…horrible, suffocating silence…consumed the room.
The newborn didn't cry at first.
His mother, Lin Yanyu, lay back against the bloodied sheets, exhausted but smiling faintly, desperate to hear her baby's voice.
"Is it a boy?" she whispered.
The midwife didn't answer.
Her eyes were wide. Frozen. She stared at what she held in shaking arms…not a child, but something else. Something she couldn't even name.
Then… the baby opened his mouth.
He cried.
And the walls cracked.
The lanterns shattered. The windows blew out. Animals screamed outside in their stalls. Thunder exploded in the distance without clouds.
The midwife dropped to her knees, shielding herself, her mouth opening to form a single, trembling word:
"Monster…"
The father, Lin Jiesheng, barged into the room, pushing the door open with wide, frantic eyes.
He saw his wife, saw the broken lanterns, the shaking midwife…then looked down.
And what he saw stole the breath from his soul.
The baby… was no baby.
He had horns…dark and sharp, curling backward from his temple like those of a divine beast. His skin was faintly glowing, veins like gold branches beneath the surface. But worst were the tails. Twelve of them. Long, spectral fox tails that shimmered in the air around the child like a halo of spirits.
Each tail moved independently. Each glowed a different color. Each whispered something in a language no mortal should ever hear.
A scream built in Jiesheng's throat…but he couldn't release it.
He stepped back slowly, eyes glassing over in horror.
"W-What is this…?" he croaked.
The baby turned its head slightly toward him…eyes open now.
Golden. Piercing. Timeless.
Eyes that had seen the fall of stars.
"Take it away!" the midwife shrieked suddenly, throwing herself backward. "This is a child of omen! This is… this is Heaven's wrath!"
"You said the stars were wrong this morning!" another woman shouted from outside the room, eyes peeking through the shattered doorway. "That the winds carried death!"
"It's cursed," someone whispered. "It's cursed!"
"Kill it."
That voice froze everything.
Lin Yanyu, the mother, sat up with a start. Her eyes filled with fear. "No… no, he's my son…"
Her husband's hand shot out and gripped her wrist.
Hard.
His face was pale. Sweat slicked his skin.
"No. He's not."
By nightfall, the whispers had turned to screams.
The entire village gathered outside the hut. Torches burned. Children were hidden behind mothers. Elders recited cleansing chants.
They demanded blood. They demanded purification. They demanded the thing be removed before the gods punished them all.
And so…
Wrapped in nothing but bloodied silk, the newborn child was taken by his father under the cover of night.
He walked toward the river that ran past their farmland, its waters black and wild under the thunderous sky. Lightning lit the edge of the mountain in the distance.
He didn't look at the baby's face. He didn't dare.
He stood on the bank. And the wind grew still.
Then he whispered, "Forgive me."
And let go.
The child floated downstream…silent, eyes still glowing faintly, tails moving like smoke behind him.
The moment his body touched the river water, a pulse of divine energy surged through the earth.
All across the mountains, beasts stirred from caves. Spirits blinked awake. Ancient seals flickered. And two old souls…hidden deep in the folds of time…opened their eyes for the first time in decades.
A man and a woman.
Masters. Guardians. Keepers of fate.
They looked toward the mountains. Toward the river.
Toward the child.
"It's begun," whispered Huo Mei, her breath catching.
"The gods have chosen their vessel," said Liang Wu, already rising to prepare.
And far above, in the now-empty throne of Heaven…
Twelve stars fell silently through the night sky.
Each one destined to find its way back to him.