Glory Flower

The story of Emma Ott continues, in this newly edited version.
Countless stories and legends circle the name of Merlin the wizard, the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur, but there is a little known Welch tale, which offers a rather strange and unusual account.
It claims that Merlin was born of a pious woman and an incubus, a fallen angel. The demons of hell planned to offset the good done in the world through Merlin’s birth. His mother knew that he could easily do evil as well as good, so she had him baptized. That was how it first began. The evil half of him died and the good lived on.
Decades later, white haired and aging, Merlin wrote a book of incantations to bring his one true heir through time. This heir would eventually carry forth proof of King Arthur, but Merlin’s actions brought about a shift in time that altered a key event, his birth.
Now, when they exorcized the demon half of Merlin’s twined soul, the good side flourished as before, but a fundamental element changed; the evil half was able to survive, and it did. The outcast returned to the incubus in hell where the dead nourished the creature, just as the mother nurtured Merlin.
The dark soul grew and evolved into a wicked thing, and as the ominous being thrived, he brought agony and sorrow to all he touched in a way that only hell’s progeny could do. The creature, named Mandrake, longed to shroud the earth in darkness and to inflict pain, but his goal of destroying the one who could destroy him, his counterpart, seemed unreachable.
Merlin’s history, along with that of Arthur, Camelot and ultimately all of humankind, was altered. Civilization lost its sway and struggled to keep darkness from overtaking it.
That was how the change gave rise, but now it must end. In a tangled misadventure, Merlin, Thomas, and Arthur face the challenge of returning Camelot and the world to what it was. This tale is not just about them though, this is also my story. I am Emma, Merlin’s heir.