Carefully unfastening her armour Mayumi lowered herself down into the cool spring water, letting her body float on the surface as she relaxed her muscles and let her mind wander. The Stone was quieter now she'd discharged most of its stored power, but the background hum of it slowly leeching energy from the woodland around her still buzzed in the back of her mind, a constant presence and reminder of the fate yet to come.

For a moment Mayumi wondered if it was just the buzzing which drove the Stone bearers mad, the constant, unending noise which echoed in her head day and night. For now it was calm though, just an irritant in her otherwise serene state. Opening her eyes she looked up into the heavens and began to count the stars.