Paul couldn't brag about his past life just like Dean. He didn't have a good place to live such as Refuge Sarah. He didn't have good parents, not because the ones he had were particularly bad, but he never came to know them.
Since he was a kid, he was taken care of by the people of his folk. They knew Paul's parents to some extent, although everyone said that his mother never showed up too much, and his father wasn't someone that others would talk with.
He was born among wanderers, in a place of Spahyr which he didn't remember the name anymore. It was in the faraway deserts of the south.
The south in the Old Saphyr was the coldest region. Even in the summer, it was usual to not have overly high temperatures. Its winter was harsh for the folk who lived there. Also, there was just a small portion of Saphyr's folk there.
However, after the Crimson Apocalypse, its weather changed suddenly. Due to the lack of technology and overall knowledge about any pattern that "Chaos" had when interacting with nature, they couldn't explain why it happened.
Anyway, the fact was that Saphyr's southern region was now as hot as a desert. It didn't have any kind of living being except Dreads that adapted to that harsh climate. Those wastelands hardly would be used by humans, but some of them didn't have any choice.
Once inside Saphyr's Wastelands, it was difficult to get out for two reasons: someone rarely would have the energy to do so and the lack of resources would make anybody die from thirsty or malnutrition in a couple of weeks.
Horses died in that place in just some days. The sun seemed to be harsher there when it appeared at noon. Ray storms were quite common, also as tornados.
They said that it actually rained there, but the water vaporized before it touched the ground. Nobody could deny or agree with that since no one came from there to tell the truth.
However, Paul knew very well that, in Saphyr's Wastelands, it indeed rained. The raindrops didn't vaporize before touching the ground. But if you got exposed, it would melt your skin until your bones.
Acid rain, that is. Not one just to give light burns on the skin. A potent and dreadful acid that could potentially disfigure someone.
He could remember well about Saphyr's rain because of the time he needed to spent wandering with his folk there.
When you live in Saphyr's Wastelands, it's better to be a wanderer than settle down in a refuge.
His folk learned it after several times getting attacked by the most monstrous Dreads that they could ever see in their lives.
How they ended up there, no one knew. However, several centuries passed, and they remained inside the refuge that was built like a maze in the base of a mountain. It didn't last too long for them to get out of there after seeing so many people dying while trying to remain there for longer.
After this, several generations went by. People were born in the middle of their traveling.
Saphyr was a really big country. One couldn't cross it in a short span of time. Adding to it, without a map or any sense of direction, those wanderers couldn't get anywhere.
For a lot of times, they needed to settle down in caves again. It became sort of a tradition to stop wandering when they were running out of people, so they would stay in caves for longer and reproduce for dozens of years before starting to walk again.
They were so isolated that they thought they were the last humans of Saphyr. In their minds, if all their folk died, then humanity would be completely gone.
In the Wastelands of Saphyr, Dreads were everywhere, so they often needed to settle down and make the same process again of reproduce, raise their children, then wander again.
This way, their journey lasted several centuries.
The last generation to finally get out of the Wastelands was the 9th and 10th generation post-apocalypse of that folk. There were just a few people of the 9th, but they were on the verge of dying. After all, the life expectancy for that folk was less than fifty years.
Paul was among that generation. He could witness the day when they finally crossed the river separating Saphyr's south region and midwest region.
Once in the midwest region, they thought that they finally could find peace for some time. After all, they were in a place with fewer Dreads when compared with the Wastelands. Also, their knowledge about "Willpower" increased a lot during those generations, so they could protect themselves quite well.
With that, they could raise their own society.
They named that new refuge "Amun", an old god of their legends. That god was part of a tale that they told to the kids before going to sleep, nothing like worship or something. However, that god was a symbol for them, which represented fertility and the sun.
Paul was the aureus generation of Amun's folk. He lived some days in the harsh environment of the Wastelands, but it was just for a short period of time. Suffering ended quickly to him.
Amun was a prosperous refuge. They ended their seclusion and began to interact with other refuges right after they discovered that there were more survivors from the Crimson Apocalypse. They made sure to strengthen the bonds with their neighbors and be friendly.
That folk passed a long time in the Wastelands, needing to deal with the cruelest Dreads and being eaten generation after generation. Their struggles made them think that the Dreads were the real enemies of humanity.
While they weren't wrong by thinking that the Dreads were their nêmesis, they were doing a huge mistake when thinking that they were the ONLY ones.
This mistake was what wiped out the small refuge called Amun and made its folk pass for another period filled with pain and agony.