Despite everything Lilith had always enjoyed winter. It did not last very long on the Boiling Isles, Lilith could only experience summer as a spectator, never as a participant. In spite of the fact that she had free reign to go wherever she liked.

At the moment, the sun's rays shone through the large window of the Emperor's castle lighting up the room. Clad in light blue and white, Lilith sat at her desk, surrounded by various papers, letters from suitors (she always felt bad when she rejected them).

Lilith looked up from her work and eyed the window. She got up, went over to it, and opened it. Sounds of birds chirping and people out in the main town area floated through the window. A wave of warm air washed over Lilith.

That's better, Lilith thought. She went back to her seat and resumed her writing tasks.

As she wrote, she heard a voice.

"Lilith?" For the next few minutes, the sounds of Lilith's pen could be heard scribbling about, giving her signature for documents and short-but-polite rejections to letters from her would-be suitors. She was just about to sign her name when a knock came on the door.

"Lilith?"

The voice Lilith recognized it immediately.

"What, Jay"

The Emperor's coven member walked in, "I have news."

"Can it wait?"

"It's urgent."

Lilith gave a small sigh. "What's the news."

"Something terrible has happened at that farm, you know the one near Darkwater" he replied.

"I'm afraid I don't have the time. Why don't you just tell me the problem?"

"It is better that I show you. Please, I am not trying anything funny. It is something you ought to see for yourself."

Lilith thought for a moment. It was a nice day out, and this was a way for her to enjoy the weather without feeling like she was shirking her duties. And she could always finish her paperwork later.

"Very well." Lilith said

A little later Lilith, Jay and Evie were at the farm. Jay then started to walk towards the cornfield. He beckoned to the others.

"This way."

The two of them followed Jay through the numerous, still-growing stalks of corn until they came to a large, circular clearing. Evie looked down at the ground, and saw that the stalks in the area had been flattened, yet each one was still perfectly intact; they had not been broken at all. Jay noticed the look of curiosity on Evie's face.

"Strange, isn't it? This is just one area, I've been finding other clearings just like this one. This is the biggest circle, but there's smaller ones nearby. C'mon."

The three of them walked further, leaving the main clearing and moving through a small path of more flattened stalks. At the end, it led out into another clearing, not quite as large as the first.

Lilith surveyed the clearing, then looked back at the small path they had just come from.

"Give me a moment."

With a wave of her hand, a her staff materialized. Lilith stepped onto it and began to manipulate it upwards. It carried her up, up, until she was about a hundred feet above the ground. From her elevated position, Lilith was able to look down on the entire field and see the clearings from the air. There was seven circles in total. The largest circle was in the center of the cornfield, with six smaller ones around it. Two were on top, two were on the bottom, and two more were on either side of the center circle, on the left and right. Each small circle was connected to the large one via a path of flattened stalks, like the one they had just walked through. Whoever had made these patterns must have had knowledge of geometry; each small circle was the exact same size, and the paths on the top and bottom of the large circle formed an exact 33-degree angle.

Lilith made her carpet float back down, gently lowering herself to the ground. Once it had finished its descent. She turned to the others.

"This is all very odd, but why did you feel it necessary to show me this? This sort of issue is more appropriate for my agriculture minister."

"That is not all that's happened, There is...something I found."

In the space of a single night, all of the cows had been slaughtered. Each one was missing their entire set of internal organs; brain, heart, lungs, liver, everything. Even their eyes and tongues were gone. Every cow had also been completely drained of blood. However, other than that there wasn't a single scratch anywhere on the carcasses. Someone, or something, had somehow managed to remove all of that without making a single cut. It wasn't until after Jay sliced open a cow's chest that they could even see it was missing its innards. At least the missing organs made it easier for the carcasses to be disposed of, there was less to burn to ashes and bury.

Lilith's opened her eyes wide and looked at the sky. It was starting to get cloudy, and what had been a bright summer day was now shadowy and ominous.