When Cathie finally arrived at the Sylvan Ring, a sense of disappointment hung in the air, thick and palpable amongst the girls gathered.
"You're our leader!" Malaliel couldn't hold back, her voice sharp with a hint of betrayal. "Why did you let Sheriff Friedbert Shepherd treat us this way? We are the NEA Order, aren't we? If the Captain were here, he would never have allowed it! You forgot your promise to me!" Having unburdened her heart, Malaliel spread her wings and flew towards the depths of the Sylvan Ring.
"Wait, Malaliel!" Cathie called, raising a hand. She turned to another girl. "Azrael, can you follow her? It's not safe for her to be alone." Azrael, with a silent nod, evoked her white wings and shot into the sky.
Hawo, without wings, began running as fast as her legs could carry her, shouting, "Hey, you two! You forgot someone!"
Then Cathie looked back at Isda. "You need to help too!"
"And what are you planning to do, Cathie?" Isda asked, a hint of accusation in her tone.
"I'll try to connect with WNEA," Cathie explained, her voice steady. "The only way to break the connection with all these waypoints is if they have the code, and the only person with the code is the Captain. So, I need WNEA to rewrite the code before we lose what remains of the waypoints in the city.
But Cathie, as I remember,she offered to change the code, and you were against it."
"Madan is still the Captain. I'm just acting in her place, you know that, Isda," Cathie countered.
"And what about your promise to Malaliel? I'm second-in-command; I need to know!" Isda pressed.
After a moment of awkward silence, Isda scoffed. "If you're not going to tell me, I'll follow Malaliel! If you don't mind walking." She evoked her wings, then, with a mischievous grin, made a small detour to gently pull Cathie's brown hair over her face as she ascended. "You angels and your wings, always kicking up dirt for us ground-dwellers to clean!"
Cathie sighed, placing a hand on her necklace and closing her eyes. "Come on, WNEA," she whispered, focusing on the link between them. A shimmering white domain unfolded in her mind, revealing the ethereal form of WNEA, her white hair and eyes glowing with a pure, white soul. "Oh, my NEA!"
"Cathie, what happened? I couldn't connect with you," WNEA's voice echoed in her mind.
the waypoints are out of control.
I know but I need to end my obligation here then I'll join you soon after . Control all waypoints. I will change the code when I get to you. WNEA out."
Hawo and Isda caught up to Malaliel and Azrael, finding them both in shock. "Hey, Hawo, you're human!" Malaliel exclaimed, pointing at a group of old men and women standing in a graveyard, each moving in a strange way; they are all naked . "What do you think these humans are doing?"
The graveyard stretched before her, a sea of crooked stones and whispering fog. And there they stood—rows of old men and women , their skeletal fingers working beneath tattered shrouds, their hollow eyes fixed on the earth beneath them.
Hawo's stomach turned to ice. This was an act of raw, desperate lust. A broken, pathetic communion with the dead. Their moans were not of grief, but of a pleasure guttural chorus of the damned trying to claw back warmth from the cold soil. The air reeked of sweat and grave-mold, and the wet,and smells of blood rhythmic sounds made her want to retch.
One of them turned, his milky eyes locking onto hers, his lips peeling back in a grotesque grin. Hawo's breath caught in her throat. She screamed, turning and running in the opposite direction.
The group of angels, equally horrified, ran after her.
Soon after, Cathie heard the girls screaming. "Something bad must have happened!" she thought, running towards the sound. She found Hawo, crying and distraught. "Hawo, what happened? Why are you crying? What monster did you face to make all of you scream like this?"
Malaliel then explained everything to Cathie, her voice still laced with disgust.
"This isn't normal. It's probably the work of HEN. They can control mortals using their dark desires and feelings," Cathie theorized, a grim look on her face.
"Okay, but that doesn't answer my question!" Malaliel insisted, her eyes wide with lingering horror as she put a hand on Cathie's shoulder. "What were those old men doing? His hand moved up, down, up, down..."
Cathie hesitated, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. "It's... not proper for me to say, but it's called masturbating. It's a way to get satisfaction."her innocent eyes wide. "You've never had urges or desires for the opposite sex?"
But we never have..." Malaliel hand dropped, disappointment etched on her face.
"Angels don't have instincts like other mortals," Cathie explained patiently.
"So how do angels procreate? You have male and female forms," Hawo questioned.
"Actually, it's just a form we take," Isda clarified. "When good mortals die, who we call heroes, their souls go to Celestia. There, they're reborn as angels. I was female in my previous life so I got a female form ."
"Maybe you experienced it in that life, but you just don't remember it?" Hawo suggested.
"No," Azrael shook her head. "Because before mortals become angels, even if the soul was pure, it still needs a bath to cleanse it of any filth it carried from its mortal life."
"Alright, everyone, let's focus on our mission!" Cathie declared, her voice firm, pulling them back to the urgency of the moment. "These people's lives are in danger. They can't control their actions. We need to destroy HEN to save them."
"Finding HEN is the hard part," she continued, extending a hand to Isda. "Can you carry me to the nearest waypoint? Malaliel, stay with Hawo. She needs some time to recover. Azrael, let's go!" And with that, Cathie and Azrael took to the skies, leaving the others behind.
Malaliel crossed her arms over her chest, a disgruntled look on her face. "Why am I stuck babysitting?"