"Much worse," Shen Yuan says shakily as he crosses the room to stand next to Viktor. Under better circumstances he'd love to pause and take in more the experiments surrounding them -- more of that science fiction he was so interested in -- and even now he throws the laser a longing look as he crosses the room. "I've been having them every night -- multiple times a day, too. I'm lucky I didn't start hallucinating on the way here," he adds with a nervous little laugh, hoping he didn't just jinx himself.

"And the after effects...well, you can see for yourself," he says, holding up his bandaged hands a little. "I'm ready to try the ritual now, if you are. If you really think it'll work."