The Leagues (Sanctuary)

The first thing I saw was four men armed to the teeth, all with a baseball bat and a pistol, of course, each gun had a silencer.

"How can we help you, gentlemen?" I asked, trying to be polite.

"Could we come inside first? we don't want any unwanted attention." The group's apparent leader, a black-haired brown-eyed individual with olive skin and a small beard, replied.

"Right, come in quickly." I hurried them as quickly as I could, it would indeed be quite harmful if we got attacked again in such a short time.

The group then came inside and we all sat in the living room around a table.

"Let's introduce each other first, my name is Adam and you are?"

"Samuel."

"So why are you here Samuel?" I asked them.

"Right, we are here to recruit you into our group."

"Wel-" I began to say, "Now now, before you say yes or no," He cut me off "Let me explain the benefits of joining us, and how our state even works."

'So they consider themselves independent.'

"Go ahead." I didn't know much about the other survivors in the city but we would eventually have to join them or make our own group since I needed more influence in the world if we wanted to survive.

"Well, the most obvious thing out of the way first, Strenght in numbers."

"We have 3000 people in our bases and have plenty of weapons and supplies, as you can see." He gestures to his pistol.

"Next there is the fact that not everyone will be as nice as us."

"Humans are unreasonable while also being reasonable, some morons think that the rapture has happened and this is a divine punishment from god, they sacrifice people to 'Quell his rage'." He elaborated.

"How do you know you might not be next? Their group is even bigger than ours, and they don't accept outsiders so your only hope is to hide, run or fight, but hiding won't protect you forever, and where could you run? people like them are probably everywhere."

"How many of them are there?" I asked.

"Around 5000, but we aren't sure."

'The population of the city before the RIFT invasion was 120000, so both of their groups are surprisingly big considering only a week has passed.'

"How did both of your groups get so big so fast?" I questioned.

"Well the 'Blessed ones' as they call themselves, we simply don't know."

"We formed up out of necessity, a lot of us fled from the blessed ones, and lost family to them, then the word spread and more people showed up, and surrounding smaller groups joined us." He answered.

"How many people died so far?"

"You mean sacrificed?" he asked for clarification, I nod, "We suspect 500 to 900, we have reasons to believe that they sacrifice around a hundred people every day."

"Jesus fucking Christ..." Dave said, horrified by the number.

"That's why we fight, not only for revenge but also, to protect what we love, or what's left of it anyways... " Samuel said determined, trailing off towards the end.

"If you join us you will have a safe space to sleep, have food, and drinking water won't become a problem for you in the future, please consider it, we need all the help we can get."

"And how does your state work?"

"Righ! Let me quickly explain our system."

"The League is actually a bunch of settlements, each with its own leader of which there are 13 these leaders form a council that makes the important decisions and all of them live in the sanctuary, our biggest outpost which is approximately 10 kilometers away from here."

"The council has 3 supremes, these people have the final say in everything and are rotated every month."

"There are no elections?" Jack points out.

"There are not, at least not planned ones."

"Why not?" Jack questions

"because we don't have the time or resources for them, anyone can challenge their local councilor for their position, and then a quick vote will be held among the populace and I mean quick, the second you issue a challenge everyone will be informed and will cast their vote and leave."

"We will discuss for a bit and give you an answer."

"Take as much time as you need," Sam said with a smile.

We went into the kitchen.

"I think we should join, not only because it's for justice but also to increase our own chance of survival." Dave started off.

"I agree but I'm still suspicious, These organizations start off good but it's only a question of time until corruption spreads." Jack said cautiously.

"Well, worst case scenario we will run away."

"You think they will let us leave and spread the word?" Jack said incredulously.

"That Samuel guy is either the best liar on this planet or at least the people are genuine, we could expose the corruption if we can't run." Dave explained.

"Make a coup...?" I question" "Yes but that is just the worst-case scenario, we could just challenge the leaders as he said."

...

There was silence as all of us considered our options.

"We should also inform the girls." I said "Yeah! I completely forgot about them." Jack laughed.

We informed the girls and all of us voted to go with Samuel and his group.

"Oh yeah, one last thing, DO NOT tell them about my power." They all nodded

I only told them that it was an ability that I got after the apocalypse started similar to Dave and Jacks super strength and etc.

After coming back we saw Samuel talking with his men.

After seeing us he shushed them and turned his attention to us.

"So what have you decided?" He asked.

"We will come with you, but only if we are all allowed to live together." This is a condition we came up with to keep us together, even if they wanted to it would be difficult to keep us isolated when we live together.

"Of course! many people who joined made the same request you did." Samuel said, elated.

"Now pack up your things we have to leave soon so we make it in before dark."

I look outside and the sun is in the middle of the sky, plenty of time left to pack up.

We spent the next 30 minutes gathering all of our stuff and making sure we left nothing useful behind, like food.

"Alright everyone follow me." Samuel ordered.

"Aye Aye captain." one of the strangers jokingly commented, earning a chuckle from Samuel and everyone else.

While we were traveling I decided to check my status.

RIFT RESISTANCE ((PASSIVE)) (7)

DREAMER (4) ((PASSIVE))

You want, you desire, and unlike everyone else, you are willing to get what you want.

REALITY BENDER (23)

(you can change reality in a 2.3 m radius around you for 2.3 seconds (will increase by 0.1 at every level))

THE SANE LVL UP (LVL8)

(increases stats by 0.1 every level up)

CLOAK (PASSIVE)

Hides your powers from other people and detectors

INTIMIDATION (PASSIVE) ((CONNECTED TO CHARM))

Makes you more intimidating

CHARM (PASSIVE) ((CONNECTED DO INTIMIDATION))

Makes you more convincing

MONSTER SLAYER ((PASSIVE)) (3)

Gives you a buff against monsters/mutants/abominations

KNIFE/DAGGER EXPERT ((PASSIVE))

Makes you more skilled in combat with a knife/dagger swinging slashing and throwing included.

VETERAN ((PASSIVE))

You recover faster, It's harder to knock you out, and you feel less pain in combat.

AVERAGE HUMAN:

STRENGTH: 5

AGILITY: 5

ENDURANCE: 7

WILLPOWER: 5

HOST'S STATS:

STRENGTH: 5.3

It represents how strong you are and how much weight you can lift.

AGILITY: 5.4

It represents how fast you can run.

ENDURANCE: 7.7

It represents how long you can run.

(and do other things... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )

WILLPOWER: 8.7

It represents how much you can take before you snap.

It represents how much you can do with your powers.

Nothing much has changed since not that much time has passed.

As Samuel guided us through the city he seemed quite knowledgeable in the landscape, guiding us through the most dangerous areas.

'He probably went out a lot before the RIFT invasion and after it.' I reasoned with myself.

As the sun was setting we were 3 quarters of the way there we got jumped by some monsters.

however... this was on another level.

3 Humans, or what's left of them anyways, ran up to us and tried to kill Samuel, who easily dispatched them.

'System was that what you meant with the RIFT sickness?'

"YES, HOST."

"Thank god we made it out of there" I muttered under my breath

Nothing else of interest happened and we safely made it to the sanctuary.

It's a mall, a big one, and it has 3 floors + the roof and ground floor.

A makeshift wall protected it from the outside world, clearly still being worked on.

Guards patrolled the area making sure the construction isn't stopped or interrupted by any unwanted guests, human or otherwise.

"Welcome to the Sanctuary! A bastion of hope in a hopeless world!"