So what changed? Trauma of some kind? And what is this business with Auxesia? Are the the two related? Tail ends of the same secret war that's being waged by forces unknown? If he sounded cynical, it's because he was. The idea that there was something beyond the human plain of existence wasn't something he believed, furthermore the secrecy of what was happening gave the whole situation an air of....make believe almost. Still, Caliban was real enough and so whatever he fought, or at least whatever hurt him must also be real.