Vigilance: Kingdom

Note this is all set prior to the formation of the Sides and within the first year of the post-apoc scenario

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It had been a few months now and in the city Jeremy had seen more and more people who had gained power like his. Every once in a while he saw people he almost recognized and others that he knew he had terrorized in the early days when only he had power, now though his damned skin gave him away as the man who had left many for dead as he ate his fill. Now some of the more powerful filled their minds with vengeance and hunted the bandits and killers of the early chaos. Even with his ability to drain others Jeremy became prey as he could only affect a few people at once and any of the powerful beings could defeat him long before he could affect them.

Despite this Jeremy still needed to eat and keep himself safe so he travelled between the alleyways, entering buildings from the rear to dig through cupboards and shelves for anything the others missed and bolting at the sight or sound of anyone else. The pickings were slim to say the least but it was all he could do to keep himself safe.

Over time the situation became harder and harder as larger groups formed and made territories for themselves within the city driving out or recruiting whatever lone survivors they found. Things changed quickly after that as the groups went to war over supplies as the water began rising and the city slowly became cut off from the rest of the country.

With the water came monsters, animals from the ocean who were mutated by the virus into monstrous predators. At first they only forced survivors out of the docks but as the water rised more and more areas were claimed by the wild including the roads and  much of the downtown area. The trapped survivors who had made their homes in the area assuming at first that the animals were just that changed from men to prey as only the powerful groups were able to protect themselves and thrive off their newfound food sources. But the water didn't stop rising and soon the skyscrapers became havens from the encroaching water.

Stuck in one of these buildings was Jeremy who had been unkowingly trapped by the exodus of survivors when he still refused to leave his hiding places out of continuing fear. Soon though he was forced higher and higher into the building as the water rised and the predators gathered. Still Jeremy survived since predators weren't the only thing to be found as he used his power to catch whatever scavengers found their way into his tower.

Left in a prison of his own mind Jeremy had slowly fallen apart, losing all sympathy and everything else that made him human and only left survival, by whatever means.

Soon after a rescue party of sorts had began travelling between the cities that remained trying to find and save anyone that had been trapped to bring them back to the society that had formed at the shore when the water stopped rising, mostly they were there to loot but that fact would stay with them, to their surprise they found a few men including the man who once called himself Jeremy. The Survivors were brought back and a feast was held to celebrate the new members of their small community. Each was cleaned up and given a place to stay until they could recuperate and become a productive member of the community.

This could've been the end of Jeremy's story if not for a member of the town recognizing him. A giant of a man who had developed near invulnerable skin and a control over electricity decided to bully the man who had a few months ago stolen his food and bedroll as he was leaving his apartment. This would've just been a show of power and assertion of dominance had it been anyone else that he wanted to show off to but Jeremy hadn't slept in days and was still antsy over his constant near death experiences from the monsters of the sea. Jeremy ate the lightning and drowned the man in the waters and threw his body to the beasts that waited off the shore.

The next day everyone began to wonder what had happened to one of their protectors and soon the more powerful newcomers were all questioned except the weak Jeremy who had for once slept soundly and could have never beaten the powerful warrior. Eventually the body was found as the beasts couldn't pierce the dead mans skin and it was known someone had overpowered him and the physically strongest of the newcomers was found guilty and executed as an example by the holy strength of the villages leader.

Soon though Jeremy found himself and began attempting to build a life for himself but his fears, this time of someone discovering the truth of his deed, drove away everyone who tried to befriend him. Jeremy became somewhat peaceful but his fear stayed with him even if everyone who knew his past was gone.

Eventually a local warlord decided that the village was a good target for raiding and drove his band of followers to it and with their powers they killed the weak men, enslaved the strong, and captured the women until they ran into Jeremy. Seeing him as another weakling one of the warriors decided to make a show of it and beat the small man bloody, Jeremy ripped everything from than man's body in a fit of rage and indignation doubling his body in size. The surprised bandits went to avenge their fallen comrade and met only death as the man they mocked ripped through them.

Instead of thanking him the surviving villagers ran from the monster they had harbored and eventually spread the tale of what the man appeared to be. The man who had once called himself Jeremy abandoned that name and returned to his tower where the monsters like him kept life simple as survival of the fittest.