'You can leave the papers on my desk,' Somnus said, not taking his eyes off the window.

His messenger placed the stack of paper on Somnus's study desk, took a bow and headed back for the door. Before he left, however, he turned around once more and said, 'Your Highness, I have some information about your brother, if you are interested.'

Somnus did not reply. The messenger continued, with a tinge of hesitation in his voice. 'He has travelled to Altissia recently where he has cured at least sixty people. The people are very grateful and has sent gifts to the palace addressed to Prince Ardyn. Not just from Altissia but worldwide.'

'You aren't telling me anything new,' Somnus finally spoke up, gruffly.

'Pardon, Your Highness?' the messenger looked rather confused.

'Was there any piece of new information that you've just told me?' Somnus turned around to face the now shaking messenger. 'Ardyn healing the people, Ardyn heralded as "the Savior", "the Chosen King", "Angel", blah blah…Was there anything new about that?'

'I-I'm sorry, Your Highness,' the messenger cowered. 'I didn't mean to…'

'If you're ever going to mention Ardyn again, it'd better be to tell me when the hell he's going to return to Insomnia,' Somnus barked and dismissed the pale messenger with a wave of his hand.

…

'Father,' Somnus tiptoed in just as a team of doctors scurried out of the King's bedroom, leaving the father and son in privacy.

King Izunia coughed. 'My son… Has the kind doctor told you…?' he choked on his own words.

Somnus bit his lips and nodded succinctly.

'I have two wishes,' Izunia said. 'One is to see the world being rid of Starscourge. And the other, to see my two sons growing into fine rulers.'

Somnus felt a tear rolled down his cheek. 'Father…' he almost pleaded.

'Ardyn is well on his way to fulfilling my first wish for me,' Izunia continued. 'Although I will never see it. And you Somnus… you've grown to be someone I can be very proud of.'

Somnus walked up to his father's bedside and took the thin wrinkled hand in his own, without saying a word.

'These past ten years,' Izunia continued, 'you have ruled the country in my stead… With Ardyn out there, and with my sick and deteriorating body… I have placed a great burden upon you, my boy…'

'Father…' Somnus choked. 'Please don't…'

Izunia shook his head. 'I'm at my limits,' he said. 'I cannot wait for Ardyn to return, but the least I could do is to hold on until I've said my piece to you… I'm proud of you… my son. Help your brother complete his destiny… and walk tall…'

As he said his final words, the old King's eyes closed and his hand sunk into Somnus's palm. Somnus could no longer stop the tears from flooding out and his agonizing scream filled the air of Insomnia Palace.

…

'There you go,' the redheaded man let go of the middle-aged woman's hands. The woman's eyes sparkled at the sight of her hand, which seconds ago had been black and malicious, was now completely cured.

'Th-Thank you so much, Your Highness!' she gushed, unable to take her eyes off her now normal hands. 'T-This means so much…'

'It's my duty and my honor,' Ardyn replied. The woman gave a bow and ran to hug her ecstatic kids and the crowd cheered.

'That's it for today, I guess,' Ardyn said again as he calmed the cheering crowd. 'We'll continue again tomorrow.'

Ever so slowly, the crowd dispersed into the multitude of alleyways in Altissia, but not before a number of them rushed up to Ardyn, wanting to shake hands with him and telling him how grateful they were. With much difficulty, Ardyn removed himself from his remaining fan girls and staggered into the nearest alleyway.

'Ever the celebrity, huh?' a voice greeted him. Ardyn turned around to face a black-haired man, leaning against the wall of said alleyway.

'Somnus!' Ardyn exclaimed in excitement and pulled his brother in for a hug.

Somnus smiled as he patted his brother on his back. 'Good to see you, big bro.'

'This calls for a celebration!' Ardyn declared, letting go of his hug and slinging one arm over his brother's shoulders. 'We're going drinking tonight!'

His brother sighed, but nevertheless replied, 'I don't see why not.'

'Not that you have a choice,' Ardyn said. 'Altissia never sleeps, so we can party all night long. There's a floating restaurant nearby here that I'd recommend you too.'

'Lead the way,' Somnus replied in a resigned tone.

…

'And, and do you remember when we tricked Governess Ratchell and escaped to the city?' Ardyn

exclaimed, waving his glass of beer.

'How could I forget?' Somnus replied, sipping his own glass, 'Mother went nuts after that and grounded us for a whole month. No supper and no dessert too for a month. Can you believe that?'

'That was excruciating…' Ardyn admitted, chuckling. 'And Father went "serves you right" on us…'

Somnus's face immediately turned dark at the mention of their Father. He remained silent and gulped down his beer.

'Say… How's Father…?' Ardyn asked quietly, noticing the change in Somnus's face.

Somnus didn't look back at him. Instead he stared at the center of the table. 'He's… passed…' he whispered after a few seconds.

Ardyn gasped. 'How…?' he croaked.

'His time was up,' Somnus said with great difficulty, 'his strength depleted and his health failed him.'

'Did he say anything…?' Ardyn asked.

'He wanted you to save the world, basically,' Somnus replied. 'And wanted me to help.'

Ardyn gulped down his beer without saying a word. Clearly, it was hard for him to process.

'Which is why I'm here,' Somnus said. 'You need to return to Insomnia and ascend the throne. Izunia needs her King.'

Ardyn downed the final quarter of his beer and stared down on the table without a word for a quiet moment until he finally said, 'I understand… let's head back to Insomnia.'

…

'It's good to have you back, Ardyn,' Galen, the Oracle said as she stepped into the throne room with Gentiana following behind her.

'It's good to be back, Aunt Galen,' Ardyn replied. 'Good to see you, too.' He stood at the bottom of the steps in the magnificent throne room, accompanied by Somnus and about a dozen Crownsguard members.

Galen gave him a gentle smile. 'We'll catch up later,' she said, 'for now, business first. Regarding your ascension… the King needs to undergo a series of rituals before he is to ascend the throne.'

Somnus saw that Ardyn's face had turned serious as he listened to the Oracle's words carefully.

'First,' Galen said, 'you are to go to Steyliff Grove and win over the Old Kings' support. Ancient kings since the era of Solheim had been buried there and the place is rife with enchantments. You are to be accompanied by one person of your choice and a representative of the Oracle to watch over the ritual. Gentiana here will accompany you as a representative.'

'Then I ask that Somnus aid me in this quest,' Ardyn declared, turning to his brother. Somnus nodded.

'Very well,' Galen continued. 'Once you have completed this task, then you will receive the Crystal's blessing in a sacred ritual, whereby you will receive the Crystal's power. Once it's done, you may harness that power at the cost of your own strength. You and the Crystal will essentially "become one".'

'Understood,' Ardyn asserted.

'Then go,' Galen said, 'may the Crystal light your path.'

…

'So this is where the Old Kings are buried,' Ardyn mused as he, Somnus and Gentiana marched through the gates to Steyliff Grove in the dark of night. The path was flooded with water from the nearby Vesperpool. 'Odd design choice,' he remarked.

'The people of Solheim believed that water represents death, just as fire represents life,' Gentiana explained.

'Will you be all right…?' Somnus looked at Gentiana, concerned.

'Don't judge a book by its cover,' Gentiana calmly replied. 'I'm very much able to defend myself.'

'There're monsters lurking in here, right?' Ardyn asked.

'Daemons,' Gentiana corrected him. 'They like the dark and will spawn in such areas, including tombs of Kings.'

'Sucks to be our ancestors, huh?' Ardyn said as he swaggered ahead. 'To have daemon-infested tombs.'

'Starscourge did not exist back then,' Gentiana explained, deftly hopping over some rubble. 'No reason for them to worry about daem-'

'Watch out!' Somnus cried out as some Imps began descending from the ceiling.

'Let me take care of that,' Ardyn stepped forward. He raised his hands in front of him, aimed at the pesky little daemons and wisps of red light began emanating from the Imps' bodies and into Ardyn's hands. Then as suddenly as they came, the Imps burst in a flash of red light.

'How...?' Somnus asked whereas Gentiana frowned disapprovingly.

'Daemons are the same as Starscourge, essentially,' Ardyn said with a smug grin on his face. 'If I can cure the plague, I can get rid of daemons just as easily.'

Somnus and Gentiana, however, look unconvinced. They continued to stare at Ardyn in disbelief.

'Well, no time to lose,' Ardyn said, reminding them. 'Shall we?'

...

The trio descended into the main hall, brighter than the rest of the rooms thanks to the eerie ceiling of water high up above, for which even Gentiana could offer no explanation.

'Seems like the people of Solheim were even more sophisticated than we thought,' Somnus remarked as he stared up at the ceiling for the umpteenth time.

Ardyn, however, was distracted by the two rows of statues on either side of the hall. The statues were dressed in regal armors, fit for royalty and the ripples of water on the ceiling created distortions in the light source that made the statues seem alive.

'Are these... the kings...?' He asked as he touched the first statue.

At his touch, the statue formed cracks which spread as quick as lightning across the whole figure, and from beneath this cracks shone a bright red light. With a blinding flash of red, the statue was gone and in its place, the same armored figure but in the form of a red apparition.

The figure brandished his axe and swung it at Ardyn. Ardyn, taken by surprise barely managed to dodge it.

'Ye who seek to be King,' the figure's ghastly voice echoed through the whole building, 'prove yer worth.'

Ardyn summoned his sword and lunged forward at the armored figure only to be parried by the King's axe. Somnus and Gentiana too summoned their sword and katana respectively and rushed forward. The King threw Ardyn back and with one swing of his axe countered both Somnus's and Gentiana's blows.

Ardyn, however, was far from being thrown off the field. He threw his blade at the apparition and landed another series of slashes at the King, each slash faster than the one before. Taking this as his cue, Somnus plunged his own sword down the figure's side. With his movements halted by the pierce, Gentiana made a horizontal slash at his legs, followed right after by Ardyn smashing his head with his sword.

Another flash of light and all that was left of the Old King was a red apparition of the axe he was using. The axe flew up before swooping down straight towards Ardyn's chest. And before anyone could stop it, it vanished into Ardyn.

'What... was that?' Somnus asked.

Ardyn stared blankly at his hands. 'Looks like... I received his blessing...' he muttered.

'Heads up,' Gentiana warned. Somnus turned his gaze away from Ardyn just in time to see a second statue come to live.

'You've got to be kidding me!' He exclaimed, readying his sword.

...

The apparition swung his scythe again, which Somnus blocked at the last second. He was panting hard and so was his brother and Gentiana. This was the thirteenth apparition they encountered, back to back.

'How long... is this...?' Somnus grunted as he shoved the scythe away. Gentiana swooped in with her katana but another swing of the King's scythe threw her across the room. She rolled around and groaned in pain but was clearly having difficulties getting back up.

'Graaahhhh!' Somnus roared as he jabbed his sword forward at the armored figure's side.

Taking this as his cue, Ardyn aimed his sword at the apparition's head and charged forward, but the same trick that had worked on previous kings did not so much as faze this one. With another swing of his scythe, the King landed its blade into Ardyn's abdomen.

'Ardyn!' Somnus shouted as the figure flung Ardyn away before landing another blow with the scythe's hilt into Somnus's stomach. Somnus bent over in pain, but the King was only interested in Ardyn. He slowly walked over to a struggling Ardyn with his scythe readied.

Ardyn's whole body shook as he tried standing back up. He could see the red apparition drawing nearer and nearer out of the corner of his eyes. And once he is right in front of Ardyn, the raised his scythe.

The blade of the scythe fell fast upon Ardyn. But Ardyn turned around and stopped the blade with what appeared to be a vile, black tentacle protruding from his arm. Even despite the tears in his eyes, Somnus knew there was no mistaking it — it was the appendage of a daemon.

With untold powers, Ardyn flung the King backwards, smashing him hard against an opposite wall. He then walked over towards the King, calm with a slight swagger, reminiscent of his actions when they first entered Steyliff Grove. As though he was never caught up in a series of battles.

Ardyn stood in front of the King and without warning, multiple daemon appendages appeared out of his body and stabbed the apparition again and again, until the figure's light dissolved in the darkness. The scythe he left behind did the same thing as all the other weapons other kings left behind for Ardyn — flew straight into his chest.

'Ardyn...' Somnus groaned as he pulled himself to his feet.

As Ardyn turned around, he collapsed onto his knees. He was back to his old self, no daemon appendages, but tired, injured and worn out. 'Somnus... we... did we complete the task?' He asked.

Somnus kept his distance. 'Yeah... we did...' he answered hesitantly.

'Good,' Ardyn replied with a smile.

...

'There is nothing wrong with him, Somnus,' Galen said in an exasperated tone.

'I know what I saw!' Somnus replied indignantly.

'Gentiana saw nothing,' Galen said.

'Gentiana was knocked out!' Somnus retorted.

'You can't be sure of what you saw in that condition!' Galen said, 'I saw the three of you as you exit Steyliff Grove. You were in terrible condition. One might hallucinate, it's understandable. Besides, I've never heard of daemon appendages being hidden before. If they're infected, it'll show.'

Somnus sighed and stormed out of the room.

...

Somnus fixed his suit and shifted his weight from the right leg to the other. The Crystal room was stuffy and imposing. Furthermore, the lights had been turned off for the Ascension Ceremony and the only source of light was the bluish-purple glow of the huge Crystal.

He looked around to see the Oracle fussing over details with Gentiana as she tried to smooth out a few creases on the Oracle's ceremonial robe. He saw a dozen of his most important ministers chatting in a low voice and finally he also saw members of the Crownsguard and Kingsglaive standing guard in a professional manner.

Ardyn, the man of honor, has yet to enter the room.

Once this ritual is over, Ardyn will be King, Somnus thought. If he were to describe the situation it would be "bittersweet".

'Get ready,' Gentiana nudged him as she positioned herself beside him. Somnus fixed his standing position and straightened his back.

The door flung open to reveal Ardyn, clad in regal black robes adorned with gold. His hair had been smoothed back for the occasion and Somnus thought he had never seen his brother looking anymore kingly.

The Crystal stood in the middle of the large circular room with the Oracle positioned beside it, ready to initiate the Ceremony. And Ardyn marched up the between the two rows of people on either side, towards both Oracle and Crystal. When Ardyn finally reached the Oracle, she took his hand and raised her own towards the Crystal.

'Oh blessed Crystal, gift of the Gods,' Galen declared, 'I bring to you today the King of Light. May he receive your blessings so that he can save our star and lead our people away from the darkness.'

Galen then raised Ardyn's hand towards the Crystal.

'O Crystal! Grant me your blessings!' Ardyn shouted.

The blueish light from the Crystal momentarily faded but, within split-seconds, shone brighter than ever, blinding everyone. Somnus raised his arm to block out the light. And by some unknown force, much like a gust of wind, Ardyn was thrust to the other side of the room, towards the entrance from whence he came.

Somnus slowly lowered his hands. He saw Ardyn clambering up with much difficulty. But when Ardyn finally looked up, his face was pale and ghastly; his eyes black and irises yellow; and black miasma ran down his cheeks.

People began to scream and they quickly scurried away. The Kingsglaive and Crownsguards drew their weapons and stood between Ardyn and the others, but even they had looks of apprehension etched onto their faces. Somnus stood frozen in his spot, as did Gentiana and Galen.

Ardyn raised his hands and felt his face but he found that his hands too had became a reflection of his face — pale and ghastly, stained with miasma. Horrified, he let out a roar that sent a shockwave across the room.

The shockwave became the Kingsglaives and Crownsguards cue to start attacking. They raised their weapons and charged forward towards Ardyn. A cornered Ardyn released the same black daemon tentacles that Somnus had seen at Steyliff Grove. At least six emerged from Ardyn's back and pierced through members of the Kingsglaive and Crownsguard with utmost ease.

Realizing that he could no longer stand by and watch as his guards were slaughtered in front of him, Somnus summoned his sword and charged straight at Ardyn. As the pair clashed, blade against tentacle, Somnus saw the faintest glint of humanity in Ardyn's inhuman yellow eyes. And for a brief moment, he was taken aback by the reality that he was fighting to kill his own brother.

That split-second of lost concentration gave Ardyn the chance to push him back. He flung Somnus back with a heave of his tentacle and Somnus barely landed on his feet some metres away. Ardyn, however, did not pursue this further and headed straight out of the door behind him.

'After him!' The leader of the Kingsglaive hollered and the surviving royal guards all took off after Ardyn.

Somnus stood rooted to his spot as the chaos ensued. Medical personnel were called in to attend to the fallen guards. And the Oracle collapsed onto the floor in shock, her face pale enough to match her robes.

After that, everything was a blur.