Seated on its pedestal, the sea stone watched over the proceedings, its crystal waves swirling and shining in the sunlight. For years this had been tradition, unquestioned, nobody knew the reason, it was just the way things were done. But recently, things were changing, the stone was changing. Only gradually, but slowly and surely, it was altering, its calm blues and greens distorting, fading, yet growing brighter at the same time. In a few years, it would be completely red, the clear white crystals in the middle darkening to a stormy grey. Chaos was coming, yet nobody knew how to avert it.

The counsel sat around it, day in day out, sometimes talking, arguing, praying, but always about the stone, and its prediction. As far back as the records went, the phenomenon had never been witnessed before, and the elders had no idea of the action they should take.