Maybe that was the reason why Vynx was created the way he was. As a weapon with the sole purpose of hunting creatures of the night, Vynx was a man-made monster in his own right. Capable of matching the speed of vampires and the brutality of werewolves, it was clear to any who saw him in battle that the lackadaisical hunter was no ordinary person. He had long surpassed his predecessor when it came to physical prowess, outliving the original Hunter now by many years over. Vynx had lost count of his age since he turned 28—the age he was deemed worthy of receiving the Alchemy Commission's greatest achievement: a sigil imbued with the power of life.

At first, he wondered why the Commission hadn't inscribed the sigil on him sooner. It would have saved him a lot of near-death experiences and scars in his early years. When he asked his creator, the only response he received was a severe lecture about the importance of his blessing. How it was one of a kind, never to be replicated, the pinnacle of alchemical progress, yada yada. Vynx didn't bother to ask about the means of how his creator managed to inscribe him with a magic circle that mended all his wounds, but even he knew that it couldn't have come without sacrifice. 

It was always awkward trying to explain his situation to someone new, so he liked to avoid the topic altogether. That was easy back when he used to travel alone, but now he had a vampiress at his side who he couldn't exactly hide his superhuman healing from. Not to mention that the huge brand on his back was clearly more than just an intricate tattoo. Sophia had seen him regenerate from getting stabbed more than a few times, and after the multiple vampire bites he easily shrugged off, she was beginning to get more than a little suspicious. 

They had spent the night at an abandoned church in the woods, a classic den for a vampire hideout. After dealing with the local bloodsucking inhabitants, Vynx turned their bodies into a bonfire and took a seat in one of the rotting pews. He wondered if the god once worshipped here would mind, but at the same time, he was technically doing them a favour by taking out the vampires squatting on the property. Vynx doubted that anyone visited the crumbling church anymore, but he wanted to avoid drawing the ire of some old god anyways. As far as he knew, he still wasn't immune to curses. 

"Want to rest here until morning? I can make the walk back to town while you sleep in my pocket again," Vynx offered. He didn't mind staying up late to spend time with Sophia, knowing the only opportunity she could walk freely in her real form was when they were far from human civilization. He felt guilty for always cooping her up in an inn room, even if there was no way around it without raising questions. Although the eerie atmosphere of the decaying chapel was hardly homely, they were both used to camping out in the wilderness at this point. Vynx was able to stay awake for days if he needed to, but it was still reassuring to have someone else stay up on watch with him. 

Sophia stared into the fire with a stoic gaze. The flesh of vampires burned quickly, reducing the formerly perfect bodies into nothing but bones and ash. She had once heard the Vampire Lord tell her that vampirism was a gift of immortal life—yet after seeing Vynx felling both the Lord and his entourage of underlings all in a single night, she knew that in the end, none of them could escape death. She had been close to putting an end to her own life that fateful night; however, Vynx had stopped her before she could see the sunrise. Perhaps one day she would see the dawn again… but that would be at the end of their journey. 

"You're awfully quiet tonight." Vynx sighed when Sophia seemingly ignored him. He had gotten used to seeing the vampiress lost in her thoughts; usually, it meant she had something on her mind.

"I apologize. I was simply thinking," Sophia replied, pulling her attention back to the hunter when he addressed her. "Yes, I'd like to stay here until morning," she said and came to sit by him on the pew. The decaying wood groaned but managed to hold out under their weight. "There's something I wish to ask you about." Sophia turned to him, fixing her eyes on the hunter's face.

Oh boy, here it comes. Vynx mustered an attentive smile and leaned his upper arms back on the top of the pew. "Sure, hit me." 

"You're immune to vampire and werewolf bites. You move in a way no human can. You can even survive fatal injuries and deadly poisons. I have also never seen you get sick for a single day," she listed, stating each point with analytical precision that reminded Vynx of the nurse who handled his medical exams back at the Commission. "Is there anything you can't do?" Sophia questioned him. 

"Well, I can't cast fireballs or fly, if you're wondering," he said, shaking his head in dismay. "If I could, travel would be a lot faster. In that department, I envy your ability to turn into a bat whenever you want."

"Fair enough, but is there anything else I should know about those uncanny abilities of yours?" Sophia quizzed.

"Uhhhh…" Vynx stared back at her like an idiot. "No, I think you covered everything," he admitted, rubbing his chin as he tried to think of anything she left out. "I guess I can't really age anymore, but I wasn't always this ruggedly handsome, you know." He gave her a playful wink to lighten the mood, but he could tell that Sophia wasn't going to let him off the hook with just that. 

"So you were young once," she noted. That was news to her, despite how obvious it might sound to anyone else. 

"Yep. Used to crawl on all fours and piss in my bed like any other baby." Vynx shrugged. "Alfred hated it, but I mean, it wasn't my fault they kept all my bladder functions working normally." He cracked a smile at one of his earliest core memories of getting scolded by his creator. 

Sophia had a hard time imagining Vynx as a child. Despite his appearance and boyish behaviour at times, there was an air of experience around him that betrayed his youthful visage. She could only imagine the body count of vampires and beasts that Vynx had accrued over his career. He never showed fear, nor was he ever fazed in the face of death. To visualize him as a once helpless infant like any other made her smile. "So then, what exactly are you?"

"Well, I'm glad you finally asked, my dear Sophia. Under the Commission's definition, I'm what the alchemists would classify as a homunculus." Vynx was straight to the point. There was no use in lying to Sophia, and he was sure she already had her guesses. "Before you start asking me about the details, sorry, I'm not too savvy on the whole thing either. I know I was "born" somehow, but I was in that underground lab from the moment I could open my eyes." He shrugged. "For the first few years, I didn't even have a name. The alchemists just referred to me by number until Alfred finally gave me the name "Vynx." 

He recounted the nights he spent in a steel room with nothing but a medical cot for a bed and a shelf of monster compendiums to keep him entertained. He recalled the Commission's lab, run by the kingdom's brightest minds, and his old man, who was the founder of the entire thing. He remembered the captured beasts and chimeras unleashed in his training area, and the way the alchemists recorded his kills like it was all a test to be evaluated. Vynx laughed at each memory, sharing them over the campfire made of wood and vampire remains.

The more she listened to him, the more Sophia's smile fell. She was shocked that he could speak so nonchalantly about growing up in a secret lab and the cruel experiments done on him. The pieces were all coming together, yet the full picture only raised more questions in her mind. If she had not seen his abilities for herself, she would have thought he was making it all up. Yet it was the first time Vynx was being so open with her, so Sophia knew the hunter was trusting her with his past. As she scrutinized his face, she noticed a hint of loneliness in his eyes. 

Vynx caught Sophia falling silent again and cut his story short. He decided that it was better not to tell her about the first time he was let free into the city as a teenager and how he gravitated to peeking at a burlesque show. From what Alfred mentioned, he inherited a lot of his "adult" interests from the original Hunter. "So, uh… are you hungry at all?" Vynx asked, hoping to change the subject while Sophia was distracted. "I still have some cow's blood in my extra pouch if you want a snack."

"I'm alright, thank you." Sophia shook her head. She placed her hand over his and sighed gently. "I'm sorry if my questions brought up any unpleasant memories. I was merely curious since you hardly tell me about yourself." Her eyes lowered towards the large scar across his chest. There were many injuries that should have killed Vynx but didn't. She never stopped to consider how it all affected him beyond the physical wounds, now long faded thanks to the sigil on his back. 

"You don't have to apologize. It's kinda nice to talk about it in the open like this," Vynx confided. "You're the first person outside the Commission who I've spoken to about… all that." He paused and bit the inside of his cheek. "There is, uh… one other thing I forgot to mention, actually." Vynx shuffled awkwardly in his seat, hoping this wouldn't make her think of him differently. 

"If there's anything else you'd like to tell me, I'm here to listen." The vampiress squeezed his hand. The least she could do was offer her support, especially when he was being so forthcoming with her.