Quest parea che contra me venesse
con la test'alta e con rabbiosa fame,
si che para che l'aere ne temesse

It seemed as though he was coming towards me,
his head high with a raging hunger,
so much so that even the air seemed to tremble in fear of it.

- Inferno, Canto I, lines 46-49

At this point, a guide appears - Virgil, the Roman poet and one of Dante's heroes. Somehow despair turns into a flicker of courage.

"I created the Leone Medallion as a personal reminder to be strong in a moment of self-doubt. I recovered and restored an old Venetian coin with wax, and wore it as a secret message to myself." - Rosh Mahtani