[Forests of Abonaba]
Magnus leaned on a tree heaving heavy breaths.
In his gloved hands he clutched a silvery metallic rifle coated in intricate glowing wiring that illuminated his blood splattered helmet and night vision goggles, all around him was a dense winding jungle that was barely illuminated by the skies flickering stars and its two moons.
Leaning down to the ground Magnus gave a rattled sigh of relief.
He hadn't been pursued, hopefully they were too preoccupied to realise he had taken anything... hopefully.
Looking around until he was sure there was nothing in the trees he began to rummage through his combat suits various pockets and pouches until he pulled out a strange circular object made of gemstone that glowed with a dull reddish light.
He stared at the stone with a mixture of despise and helplessness, it was a valuable item, one that countless would and have died for and would be dying for at this very moment.
Yet despite this...
He did not desire this gem, neither in its value nor its potential.
He patted the insignia on his blood splattered combat suit as if trying to gather courage.
If there must be death for such a stupid reason, he would make his comrades deaths count.
Shoving the gem back into one of his suits pouches he continued deeper into the fog choked forest.
[Temple of Light]
The temple stood strong, it was a monolithic religion that had been established on the distant planet Abonaba, here they were far from the Federations cruel grasp.
Here they lived peacefully, the forest provided for them all they could desire, It was a quiet life away from the grind of steel and the thick stench of civilisation.
For Katheen that was all she could want, a life away from the ignorant 'civilisation' that the Federation claimed it was, just her and the people she could talk to and relate to in their own little but quiet world worshiping the angels of the sky.
How foolish those so called civilised people were not knowing God truely existed, and it was kind, sending down those creatures who called themselves Angels to bless the believers with miraculous strength and vitality.
In fact she herself was close to being blessed being known as one of the 3 current devotees close to being chosen.
Indeed God was kind, then why... why was this happening?
Before her eyes the wonderful temples she had spent so many years living in, chatting with her fellow devotees and praying to the Angels above.
They were burning.
She watched in soundless horror at she saw one of the statues they erected for God crashing down onto the screaming and escaping devotees below, setting their flesh ablaze causing them to undoubtedly suffer an agonising end.
Around her the buildings, the churches, the various houses she had helped build and some she had even lived in were burning.
The arsonists were hundreds of soldiers dressed in dead black flame proof combat attire, they each carried on their backs a massive canister of compressed hydrogen connected to a nozzle that blasted a seemingly endless torrent of flames towards the holy buildings she and her fellow members made together.
Federation Soldiers, though the strange insignia they wore was one she had not seen before.
BOOM
A loud explosion erupted from the main church, the place where all the holiest of devotees resided.
For a heart wrenching second Katheen thought the federation scum had planted explosives in the main church only to feel a rush of relief so profound she fell to her knees as she realised it was the Blessed coming to battle with the invading force.
The Blessed rushed towards their invaders with inhuman intensity ripping into the lines of flame spewing soldiers.
As their name suggested the Blessed were people chosen by the Angels for their devotion and faith in God.
To be Blessed was an honour and a boon, it not only had had the symbolic meaning of being as close to God as a human could be, it also granted the Blessed superior strength and speed.
In the massacre turned battlefield she could see the Blessed ripping through the Federation Invaders as if they were made of thin fabric.
Noticing the break in their lines the Invaders showed no sign of worry or surprise.
As they noticed, one by one they stopped torching their surroundings and pulled a silvery metallic rifle covered in wire like protrusions, they began to fire strange crystalline spheres from the rifles that when hitting the Blessed sprouted into small crystal structures.
Seeing this Katheen snapped out of her shock and ran towards a large stone structure, the armoury.
Inside she saw many of the surviving devotees shivering in fear and panic, she recognised many, she was heartbroken she did not see more familiar figures.
Walking to a relatively high position she spoke to the fearful crowd.
"My Sisters and Brothers, today our temple faces great threat, as you have all seen, the Federation scum has come to our peaceful planet to destroy all we have ever held dear, even at this very moment our Blessed fight the Tyrants"
As she spoke those words she walked to a nearby tapestry and before everyones eyes pripped it to the floor to reveal a golden spider statue with two eyes, one which held a massive emerald green gem, the other was an empty socket that seemed to have once held something.
Seeing the second socket was empty Katheen reeled internally from shock, however she turned towards the watching eyes with a confident face and plucked the emerald gem from the spiders eye.
"My fellow believers, this is our Temples trump card, our unbreakable defence, this can call down Gods Angels!"
CRACK
She shattered the gem against the wall and squinted her eyes as it released a blinding verdant glow.
"The Angels will arrive to fend of the Federation scum in mere minutes, for now... Grab a weapon my Sisters and Brothers, Let us go assist our Blessed!"
Hearing this the Devotees let our a rumbling shout and charged out of the armoury each welding a random weapon they picked off the walls or floor.
As for Katheen she raised her scimitar and with an experienced twirl of her weapon charged out to meet the invading force.