I think the declaration part is the gesture of "giving" of the 2nd cap, and Ark, by accepting it, unknowingly accepted everything that came with it.
After all, we're not supposed to accept any gifts from strangers, and that wisdom applies to all levels. On our level it can be drugs or poisoned candy, on a higher level, an energetically tinkered cap that screws someone up and tries to merge with a negative alternative reality.
And i suspect the reason why it was the hat that got involved is because Ark got it for a blood-giving event where he nearly fainted. The cap was energetically tied to a traumatic event from his life (and a medical procedure of sorts), so if an entity wanted to bring more of that on him, it could be through the cap. Like a using it as a channel.
Or perhaps it's not that the cap was used as a channel, but that it was a reflection of what happened, like a ripple effect on a body of water after someone throws a rock into it. An entity was messing with Ark's blood system, so, as a side effect, the cap (the thing energetically tied to him almost fainting from blood loss) duplicated itself. It was a warning that was ignored.
I really should have said something about being careful about that cap when the topic first came out, but everyone seemed so overjoyed and convinced that it's a positive thing that, in the end, i said nothing...
Perhaps, next time if you get a "gift" like this... you should
burn it, as a gesture of middle finger to whoever sent it to you.
(but no, seriously, i wonder if that would prevent all of what happened to Ark from happening in the first place, or would it be like trying to make ripples vanish by throwing more rocks into the lake...
)