"Damn, we're losing him!" Lucien shouts as black smoke rolls off of Desmond's body in waves. His back was splayed open like some red blossom, held by metal spikes placed by Lucien as he extracted the knives embedded into his flesh. Inoculating Desmond with the Black Ram's inoculation was a risky move, but a necessary one to keep him alive. Lucien looked over to his blade for a moment before shaking his head. He would make it through. He placed his gas mask over Desmond's face and turned up the fume release to maximum. This amount of Tribal herbs would kill any normal man, but the sheer power of the hallucinogens would be somewhat of a countermeasure against the Black Ram's maddening power. ~~~ The child is somehow absorbed into Desmond's chest, its cries still somehow reverberating within his body. Insanity scratched at Desmond's insides like an angry tiger, and had it not been for the creatures holding him in place he would've clawed his insides out himself. [i]Focus.[/i] A voice rang out amidst the darkness, past the cries and lullabies of insanity. A voice unseen, yet felt in Desmond's mind. [i]You do not control the Dark Aries or its younglings. Embrace the abyss. You are an extension of it, not its master. Men have interpreted dreams and the Gods have laughed. Accept that you are another part of the beast and your mind shall hold onto consciousness for longer.[/i] This voice was not Lucien's - not anyone Desmond has heard before. [i]Gaze into the pit and let the Ram take hold. Gods do not trouble themselves with the desires of man, but respect it nonetheless with acceptance.[/i]