The first king of Amleth, according to Master Merlin, is a foolish leader with an equally foolish plan. He was originally part of the royal family of Emas. Now that the horrors of the Devil King are over, people are naturally flocking in to clean up and restore. There's a lot to do. Burying corpses, cultivating the land, building houses, and so on. Of course, a leader should be appointed, but fortunately for the current Emas, it wasn't him who led the restoration.
"And that means unfortunately for all of you, now in the future" [Merlin].
Jealousy. Hunger for power. Whatever the reason, he and his followers begin to develop another land, with very little success. That land is now where we live today.
Starvation. Desperation. All kinds of emotions running through his head, and that's when
"He made a deal with a devil!?" [Diana]
"I thought the Devil King was defeated?" [Nar]
"The Devil King. Yes. But some of his minions survived, and this particular one happens to be listening to the sigh of that stupid king's heart" [Merlin].
The deal? Help him make this land better than any other nation. Make this nation better than the nation led by his own family. That's what he wanted, but a deal involves two sides, and what the devil wants is
"The life of the citizen?" [Sas].
"And I suppose he agreed to it" [Ledang].
"Indeed he did. Though he thought it would be one or two, or even just a hundred, but..." [Merlin]
"I can see where this is going" [Head Maid]
"Me too" [Diana]
"Meow" [Fie]
"Yes. You're right, Fie. Even cats and animals are considered a tribute to be paid" [Merlin].
Of course, the devil is patient. He doesn't take his promised share right away. In fact, he waited for a hundred years or so, just as the king was lying on his deathbed, to give him one last taste of despair, and little did the devil know
"The king assembled a warrior only to eliminate the devil. Crafty" [Ledang].
"Did he succeed?" [Diana]
"Yes and no. Nearly 90% of the lives were lost, and that's when a blessing rings out" [Merlin].
"You mean Maleficent!" [Diana]
"Right. She comes in and saves the day. It just so happens that one of the princesses is a special girl like Diana here, who caught Maleficent's attention, so when the princess asked for Maleficent's help, she did just that" [Merlin].
Maleficent stopped the Devil's progress, and out of spite and anger, the Devil used his own life. His own heart, along with the hearts of all those he takes with him, inflicting one last curse on this land.
"And that's the curse that afflicted the former Vars family" [Khamisah].
"There are other versions, but since I heard it from you, I assume this is the correct one" [Ledang].
"I see. And to fight the curse, Maleficent's blessing was passed down to each generation until Ophelia, who inherited it in the first place" [Diana].
"You're right" [Merlin].
This is an interesting bit of history. I wonder if Kara and Mara knew about it? Maybe not? I can't imagine Aunt Amleth telling Kara and Mara about it. She's a great mother and I'm sure she would rather die than burden Kara and Mara with this secret.
"But then something must have happened, right? Something that caused the blessing or the curse to get out of control?" [Dana]
"That's right. You see. The Blessing remains as powerful as it was from the first generation, since Maleficent is the Dark and Time Fairy, but the Curse is growing stronger and stronger" [Merlin].
Apparently, with each passing generation, the curse feeds on everything. Anything it can reach. Be it war. Be it bloodshed. Be it treachery. Draft. Famine. Flood. Anything. Anything to feed itself, to grow stronger and stronger, until one day it's Ophelia's turn to inherit the blessing.
"And one faithful day when Ophelia, Amleth and I were training, a storm came and we sought shelter in a humble hut" [Khamisah].
"Wait a minute..." [Diana]
"This humble hut... " [Dana]
"Could it be..." [Nar]
"That's right. That's where I first met the three of them, and that's where I took Ophelia, Amleth and Khamisah as my apprentice" [Merlin].
"I don't know about Ophelia, but neither Aunt Amleth nor Sister Khamisah knew anything about witch art..." [Diana]
"Well, I didn't teach any of them about witch art, but I found the blessing of Maleficent reaching out to me from inside Ophelia's soul and what I saw was incredible" [Merlin].
"What did you see?" [Diana]
"I saw that one day I will take a very sweet, blonde, happy girl who ran away from Aru Village as my apprentice!" [Merlin]
"WHAT!?" [Diana]