Amun's folk got too pretentious because of their past. That's why they lost to that refuge.
People still ask how a society with such great potential could crumble down before people who had their ideas craved to stomp the weaker and praise the stronger.
Refuge Amun was protected by Ascendants who were used to fight against the most powerful Dreads of the continent. Saphyr's Wastelands were a place that forged real warriors, after all. That harsh weather, the constant attacks, the natural disasters... everything was a trial that could only build the will and resilience of a person to its extremes.
So, how was it possible? How could some strangers simply catch them like that?
The thing was that they had more knowledge. That's what made the difference on that confront. Anyone could just think of Refuge Amun as an unbeatable one because of their warrior Ascendants, but they were, in truth, a naive folk. They were used to the harshness of their homeland but were far away from the other folks when talking about being clever.
Those strangers did not need to deal just with Dreads and natural disasters during their lives. They were forced to discover the most rotted side of humanity and learn how to live with it. From an early age, they knew that nobody could be trusted. Nobody.
That was an apocalypse. Humans would do whatever they needed to do in order to survive, be it awaken a hidden power within their hearts, fly, break mountains, create things out of nowhere... or then pull the rug under the feet of their own comrades.
Since the start, Amun's folk needed to cooperate to keep alive and their location was too isolated for them to interact with other people. But now they were in a situation where they had openings to take advantage of their neighbors.
They lasted too long to finally discover this point about that world and needed to bear the consequences of it.
At that same time when Paul was going to school, those strangers gathered some Ascendants in the center of the plaza, showing them to the public and displaying their power and cruelty.
Of course, their power wasn't even comparable to that of the Ascendants. If they really engaged in battle, they would all die.
However, they were in a hostage situation and, while those times in the Wastelands brought to that folk the capability to overcome their fears and limitations, also as hammering them like blades until they got polished enough, it also gave them their major weakness: They couldn't let a comrade die.
For a folk who needed to stop a lot of times during their journey to reproduce, the life of anyone was way too precious, even if you didn't have any emotional attachment with them. Give birth and raise a child in such conditions was very hard after all.
Upon seeing that bunch of Ascendants being made hostage, they couldn't do anything but obey those strangers.
Like this, they got slaughtered.
For two long years, Refuge Amun was under the command of another refuge that had a huge connection with the black market.
They treated that folk as if they were pigs. Every single penny that the refuge earned was confiscated due to the high taxes that they stipulated.
People barely had the essential to survive, and there was no money left to invest in the progress of their refuge, which led it to get dirtier and degenerated. In just one year, those streets and all the constructions aged the same as if in a decade.
In the blink of an eye, Amun's folk was going through harsh times again. It seemed like a curse. As if someone who hated them decided from the very beginning that they should all die and suffer.
Every two months, those Ascendants would come to their refuge to take more slaves with them. They always preferred the kids with less than thirteen years, because they could still have the chance to Ascend and become very profitable for them.
It didn't last long until Refuge Amun didn't have more children, so they took their men. And, when there were no men anymore, they took the women, ending with the story of the only survivors to get out of Saphyr's wastelands.
Naturally, Paul was among the children who got slaved.
At that time, Rick was passing by the refuge that was taking those children and he saw something on Paul that the other kids didn't have.
What it was, Paul didn't know until nowadays, but Rick wasn't the type of guy to get controlled by his emotions instead of reasoning logically, so there was something behind his appeal to get Paul with him.
Rick's group had Hector, Clay, and Kevin already.
When he got slaved by Rick, Paul had thirteen years. It had been two years that he turned into his slave in that day when he was telling Dean about his past.
...
Dean got thoughtful once he heard about Paul's past. It seemed to be three times as harsh as his. He found the fact that the boy didn't suicide yet incredible.
'Don't take me wrong. I don't like suicide and all. I wouldn't give up on life even if I was in Paul's shoes, but, knowing his personality and analyzing the normal slaves out there, it is a way of action that most of them choose to go through.'
Nonetheless, despite his silly thoughts, Dean really admired the boy for staying alive until that point.
"Hey, Paul..." Dean called him out again, which got the boy a bit awkward.
"W-what is it now? I thought that I answered all your questions."
"I didn't say that there was a limit for how much I could ask you."
"But I am saying that I don't want to answer anything anymore. My past is harsh enough to deal with."
Not caring about Paul's disapproval, he decided to ask anyway. After all, he was sure that Paul would get prompted to answer this question right away.
"What will you do now? What do you aim for?"