In spite of what he had told Sol, Huepow knew that today would be the day.
It only made sense after all - Sol's spirit was slowly decaying, and the prince knew it would ultimately be selfish to keep him waiting when so much was on the line. Still, in spite of eagerness to see Klonoa once more, Huepow still wanted to hold out. He had just made a friend who was willing to hear him out and treat him like a person - not a prince, and he still held out some vain hope that his mother would come around and begin to actually tackle his problems with him head on.
Little did he know that it all, of course, was about to come crashing down.
"Return to your bedroom. We have a problem."
The command had been spoken to him as soon as Huepow had left the great hall after breakfast, and the commanding tone allowed him to piece together what had happened in his mind - still, he hadn't known just quite how bad things really were.
The second he set foot within his bedroom, Emilio having been ordered to stay outside, he felt that same hand clasp on his shoulder - though it felt colder, distinctively bonier. The second he whipped around to see Sol staring down at him, he felt another bony hand clasp itself shut over his mouth - which was for the best, considering the scream Huepow instinctively let out upon seeing the state of his ghastly ally.
Sol was positively rotting - his pale complexion had begun to peel off of his hands and jaw - giving way to blackened bones that oozed a solid black liquid, with thin wiry cords that looked to be his veins being the only thing to tie his broken body together. His eyes were gone, replaced with sunken black holes, and even as he spoke his jaw could only pathetically lift up and down, in an abominable mimicry of speech. Huepow repeatedly screamed into Sol's rotted hand, desperate to get away - only for the spirit to desperately try to keep him calm, lest they be discovered.
"Calm down. I'm alive, that's all that matters."
Huepow shoved Sol's hand off of his mouth and desperately wiped off the black sludge that had clung to his mouth. the sludge dissipated as it hit the ground - clearly part of the apparition, unreal as it were. The prince panicked and tried and failed to form any sort of coherent questions, panicking. "What-? What happened?! Why are you-?"
Sol raised a hand as if to silence him, and looked down, as if angry at himself. "I overcalculated. I didn't anticipate that manifesting would have such a drain on my body. But... it happened. Whatever happens, we must get the Crucibles today. there can be no more waiting."
Huepow was silent, unable to come up with any rebuttal. It was staring him in the face - time was running out, and as much as he wanted to stay here, just for a few more moments, he knew the time had come. Sol spoke up, quietly, with a soothing tone Huepow hadn't heard from him since he reappeared to him within the mines.
"I can see your hesitation. Rest assured young one - this will not be the last you see of your kingdom. I just have one last thing to ask of you once we restore my body, and then I'll let you go. You can be free. Reunited with the traveller. and I will give you peace."
"I have to go for now - I suspect in my current form that I have only mere hours left. Once you have the Crucibles, head for the mines. When we speak again -if we speak again - the ritual will be complete. Until then..." Huepow watched as his spirit began to fade one last time.
"I bid thee farewell, my child of the stars."
Huepow perked up as he heard these last words - his child of the stars. He barely had a second to ponder before he heard the sound of something being knocked over outside his room. Huepow grabbed the jars and vials of star matter - which he had been keeping by his bedside - stowed them away in a small bag, took hold his blade's hilt, which he carried in its sheath in his belt, and tenderly opened the door to his room, instinctively expecting the worst.
The stool that Huepow's bodyguard had been using as support had been knocked over, seemingly in haste.
Emilio was gone.

As Huepow approached his mother's throne room alone, to ask for access to the Crucibles, he felt his stomach churning. Had Emilio heard what the two had been talking about? Did he know? He had to - he couldn't afford something like this, not now, not here.
He paused at the throne room doors and took a deep breath, before tenderly opening the door and speaking up.
"Mother-?"
He piped down once he saw his mother - who seemed to be conversing with two of the royal guards, in what Huepow swore was a panicked frenzy - a panic that he had never seen from someone seemingly so collected, so calm, as his mother. She turned to face him, before shooing away the two guards hurriedly, and approaching him quickly, speaking up with a rushed, panicked tone.
"Huepow, thank goodness you're safe. I know you wanted to experiment with the Crucibles today but - there's been an... incident-"
"Incident? What-? What's happened? What's going on?" Huepow blurted out, firing one question after the other.
"...It's Emilio. He's gone rogue. The Crucibles have been stolen."
His mother continued. But he didn't hear it. His mind flooded with panic - he was compromised, exposed - this was it. The moment he'd been waiting for.
He had no other choice.
"Huepow-!"
He pulled away, and dashed out of the throne room, his mother chasing behind him.

Huepow sprinted through the palatial halls and dashed into the trophy room near the top of the palace - a large circular room, with vast displays of artefacts from his kingdom's rich history, all concealed behind individual, sloped panes of glass. He bolted towards a broken pane and looked within - two large fixtures, clearly meant to hold the crucibles, had been smashed, the artefacts yanked out of them. The only treasure that remained in the Crucible casing was a large, forked sceptre, between the forks of which looked to be an ornate, starry glass bauble. He looked at the inscription next to it - "Dreamcaster." The ornate markings on the staff seemed to serve no purpose, but he knew just by looking at them that the weapon was important. He looked down at the inscription table detailing their history, only to find it blank, which he found strange given the rich descriptions of every other tablet surrounding the displays.
He looked down, and saw a trail of broken glass leading out into a nearby corridor. Without hesitation, he sprinted towards it - and nearly slammed right into the bodyguard who quickly emerged from the hallway. He looked down and saw the guard was carrying one of the Crucibles - the bottom point, and the guard's hand, stained with fresh blood. The guard bowed to him and profusely apologised.
"Sir Huepow! My apologies - I was on duty when Emilio took the Crucibles. I chased after him and managed to retrieve the crucible - though I had to slash at him to get it. He'll be okay though - it was merely a flesh wound, I made sure of it. Rest assured sire - once we retrieve the other, he will be made to pay."
Huepow's head was spinning as he took the Crucible from the guard - feeling its weight in his hand, knowing that he had one final chance to save Sol. He hesitated, and spoke up, hearing his mother enter the room behind him.
"Don't punish him. He doesn't know what he's doing."
"And you do?"
Huepow turned around and saw his mother standing behind him, her eyes now fixed in an uncharacteristically steely gaze. She spoke in a stern, commanding voice.
"I don't pretend to know what Emilio thinks he's doing, but clearly there's something much greater going on here if he's willing to go to these lengths. And given how you've been acting the past few days, I don't believe you've been entirely truthful with me. Make no mistake - whatever is going on here, I cannot allow you to go through with whatever experiment you had planned. Something far greater must be at stake here."
Huepow looked down once more at the Crucible, taking in her words, but knowing that he wouldn't obey.
"You're right."
He turned away, tucked the crucible into the small bag he had brought with him, and once again took off running, down into the undercity and towards the mines, his mother and the guard chasing after him.
Huepow sprinted into the mines, expecting some form of resistance from the workers hacking away at the walls, though was surprised to see they were all too focused on their work to pay him any mind. As he descended deeper down, the amount of workers thinned out, until he was entirely alone in front of the crevice that led to the cave where Sol's vessel resided. He inspected the ground beneath him and noticed a thin trail of blood droplets, and noticed the red palm mark on the cavern wall behind him.
Emlio drew his dagger as Huepow laid his eyes on him, a serious look on his face.
"Give me the Crucible." Emilio commanded harshly. Huepow noticed that he hunched to the side a bit, and saw a gaping scar on his hip - a wound from the guard. Emilio kept the other Crucible tucked under his arm, but so long as Huepow had his own, it didn't matter.
Huepow took a step back, gripping his blade's handle, and matched his gaze. "You'll have to-"
"I know about Sol."
Emilio said it with such nonchalance, but it pierced through Huepow's mind and his expression softened, knowing the game was up. He paused, and tried to de-escalate.
"...For how long?"
"Since last night. I heard you talking to him, and I pieced everything together. "All you've got," he said. Tell me, did he tell you what I think he told you? About the traveller?"
Huepow's gaze hardened as he heard him mention Klonoa, and spoke up in defence of himself.
"Sol's life is on the line, I am helping to save him. What does it matter if I help him, he can't be that much of a threat! Besides, my mother isn't doing anythingto help me, and who knows if I'll ever get a chance to meet with Klonoa again-?"
"THAT'S WHAT I WAS FOR!"
Huepow fell silent.
"...What."
Emilio continued, his pace quickening as he spoke, overwhelmed.
"Your mother - the queen - she told me to, okay? She told me you were upset about Klonoa, and I was meant to - I don't know - replace him, or something. She thought-" he paused for breath." "...She thought if you had someone to talk to, to listen to you... that you'd..."
"Move on."
Maria, the Moon Queen, appeared behind Emilio, and finished his sentence, mournfully. Huepow stared up at her, a flurry of emotions forming within his chest. He couldn't speak, couldn't bring himself to say anything. What more could he say to someone so adamant in her refusal to listen to him?
"Huepow, if you're doing what I think you're doing, there's something I need to tell you beforehand."
She took a deep breath.
"Sol was your ancestor."
Huepow took yet another step back, looking up at her. "What are you talking about?"
"Sol didn't just live in Cress during the time of Ghadius' attack." She continued. "He was its king. Our kingdom was under attack, facing oblivion, and so he did something to save it in the event Ghadius awakened Nahatomb. Something unforgivable."
"He made a pact with Ghadius... but found himself unable to fulfil it. So Ghadius trapped his soul when he died during the closing days of the war, and kept him locked away for three thousand years. He is a desperate man, a paranoid man - and will do anything to ensure the survival of Cress... but only so long as he lives to see it."
Huepow retaliated, his mind rushing with questions, struggling to contain himself. "...Does anyone outside of this castle know about this? Why - why isn't his name on the inscription table in the trophy rooms? Why can't we say his name?"
Maria looked away, ashamed. "...The wounds he left on our bloodline were far too painful to bear. We couldn't forget what he had done to us - but we didn't have to bear his scars."
Huepow simply stared in silent fury. "We didn't have to bear his scars." They had erased Sol's name from history - all to save their skin.
His choice was made.
As he turned towards the crevice, Emilio sprinted towards him, dagger drawn.
"HUEPOW!"
Huepow quickly slid into the tunnel, though not before Emilio's dagger pinned his crimson cloak to the crystalline walls. Still, Huepow tugged - and tore the bottom half of the cape, leaving it ragged, the white Cressian mark torn asunder.
He slipped further into the cavern, hearing his mother and Emilio calling behind him.
Huepow stumbled onto the floor of the cavern and began hastily assembling the fragments of the vessel into a proper skeleton, trying to remember which piece went where. He could still see that vision of the vessel within his mind, but it was weak, blurry - which only served to further his haste. as he assembled the hexagon that bridged the ribs together, he fit the Crucible into the centre - which he struggled with, given the pieces were not glued together, and shifted around - before pulling off the lid and hastily pouring a jar of star matter in, filling the Crucible to the brim, throwing away the jar, and slamming the lid back down and begging silently, on his knees.
"Please work... Please work...Please work..."
Silence.
Just as Huepow felt himself become overwhelmed by despair, the Crucible began to glow a bright pink. As it glowed, the star matter oozed out of the bottom, trailing towards each piece of the vessel, seeming to glue each piece together as it travelled further. the arms, spine, ribs, legs - all found themselves clicking to each other, all part of a grand design. The Crucible seemed to fuse itself with the hexagonal structure and briefly levitated, before joining the ribs together, its point facing down towards the ground. From here, the six hexagonal points at the crown of the strange jewel brightly glowed, and yet more star matter seemed to arch out, forming a strange casing - the vessel's flesh. Huepow felt that image of Sol's vessel overpowering his mind, drowning out all other thoughts, and knew that this was what the Crucible was drawing from.
He felt Sol's presence, all the memories and visions he had given him, leave his mind as Sol's clothes formed over the vessel's body. Huepow stepped back, towards the crevice, faintly hearing Emilio and his mother's voices calling out to him. But this was all he had left - the only thing that still mattered to him.
A blue glow filled the room and a glowing orb - that same soul Huepow had seen in his dreams when Sol first told him about his past - appeared, sinking into the Crucible, encrusted within his new body.
Sol opened his eyes.
The former king of Cress looked exactly as he did in Huepow's visions, the only difference being that he was freed of the shackles that once bound his soul to Ghadius. He stood up, a whole foot taller than Huepow, and spoke.
"Hello Huepow."