Etheria - the Lost Kingdom

If you've been hearing about Etheria in the Philippines, it's not too late yet to begin where it started. "Etheria" is the most sophisticate, big-budgeted production that TV has ever produced so far. It is a collaboration of a TV network, a pool of young and professional creative writers, an internationally known production designer with his team or artists, and two well-respected movie directors who were all challenged to bring quality TV to the mass audiences. Power packed with a cast of popular actors and actresses, watching Etheria is like watching a movie in a smaller screen.

But Etheria did not start in Etheria. Etheria is a prequel-sequel of Encantandia. Sounds conflicting? It is because Etheria in Encantadia boasts of complex twists that if you ever missed a chapter, like the Etherian Kingdom, you will be lost. So, for those who were not able to see its beginning, the history of Etheria follows.

It all started in "Mulawin" - an accidental hit series on TV that stayed in the top 10 ratings since it first aired in late 2004. Like any other fantasy story, "Mulawin" is a fight between good and evil. To present a moral story, it exaggerates the transformation of humans when they have chosen to turn away from the light and decided to stay in darkness.

Mulawin is a race of half-human-half-bird species that used to co-exist with humans until a group of the same species called "Ravena" destroyed this healthy relationship. A mulawin, and even a human being, can transform into a ravena when he or she chooses to do what is evil. He/she can redeem him/herself when he/she chooses to do what is good. In its fight against evil, the Mulawins have found a thousand-century old ally with the Encantadas.

Encantadas and Encantados are citizens of another dimension world called "Encantadia". Encantadia has four kingdoms: Lireo, Sapiro, Adamya, and Hathoria. Each kingdom is a keeper of one of the four gems that represent these elements: wind, water, earth, and fire. When the Kingdom of Hathoria tried to possess all of the four gems for a greedy purpose to rule the whole Encantadia, Hathoria made war against Sapiro and Adamya. Both kingdoms were defeated. As a result of the war, two kingdoms remained: Hathoria and Lireo. To protect all the gems from the hands of Hathoria, these were given to one queen - the Queen of Lireo, Queen Miné-a. The gems were kept within her and could never be taken away from her unless she would give them in her own freewill. (This is symbolic of what we call the diamond self - a paradigm that each one of us is a gem; that there remains always within us the good part of us; and that in order to redeem ourselves from "darkness" or chaos within, we nurture that precious "gem", which is the goodness within.)

The Queen Miné-a had four daughters: Pirena, Amiham, Alena, and Danaya. When the time came for the queen to go to Devas (likened to heaven), she gave each of the gems to her daughters. Pirena became the fairy of fire; Amihan, the fairy of wind; Alena, the fairy of water; and Danaya, the fairy of earth.

Gurna, a "dama" or maid, was the nanny of the Queen and eventually her daughters. But among the four princesses, she loved Pirena most. She would do anything to make her the next queen. Brainwashed by her Gurna, Pirena rebelled against her mother queen and three sisters. She sided with the Kingdom of Hathoria. When the Queen died, Princess Amihan became the next Queen. Soon Queen Amihan became a mother when she gave birth to Lira. Lira was prophesied to be next Queen. Upon learning this, Pirena made a move to prevent this prophecy. Using her power, she also gave birth to a daughter and named her Mira. Using another power (she could change her form), Pirena went to Lireo, stole the infant Lira and replaced her with her own daughter, Mira. Pirena brought Lira to the land of humans to kill the baby but she failed. Found by a poor man, the infant Lira grew up as Milagros in the land of humans. Meanwhile, in Encantadia, Mira grew up as Lira.

On earth, Lira/Milagros fell in love with a mortal. But that's another story, so let's fast track. Pirena, soon, was able to defeat Lireo and made herself the new queen. Banished from their kingdom, the three princesses lived with the local tribes.

Before Queen Miné-a, the very first Queen of Lireo was Casophéá. Punished by the god Emre, Casophéá lived under the earth. Casophéá had the ability to see the future. She knew that peace would be lost in Encantadia. She also knew about the prophecy that a certain Lira would save Encantadia. Through her, the three princesses had known that the true Lira was still alive. The prophecy was meant to happen; so, soon, Lira learned about her true self and decided to stay in Encantadia to fulfill her destiny.

Let's fast track again. Hagorn, the King of Hathoria, was the father of Pirena with whom she sided with when she took over Lireo and overthrew her sisters. But Hagorn didn't want to admit that. He was more interested in Pirena's gem of fire. Asval, the surviving prodigal prince of Sapiro, lured Pirena to fall in love with him. But all he wanted was the gem of fire. So, Hagorn and Asval, made a pact to overthrow Pirena. Asval killed Pirena and Hagorn was able to get the Gem of Fire. Prior to her death, Mira learned that she was not the true Lira, and that her true mother was Pirena and not Amihan. For that reason, she despised Pirena for letting her live with a lie. So Pirena died without a Kingdom, betrayed by her father, betrayed by her lover, disowned by her daughter, and the gem of fire stolen from her.

But Pirena should not die. Her death would mean the destruction of Encantadia. So, Lira, with the help of Casophéá, journeyed to a remote place in Encantadia to get the fruit of life. Though she failed the tests, Evades, the keeper of the fruits, granted her wish because she saw the goodness in Lira. For that reason, Pirena lived again but she continued to live in hatred after being betrayed by all the people she loved, except Gurna who stayed with her till the end. But sooner, she also found out the truth that it was Gurna who fed her with all the lies since she was a child. Realizing how Gurna had made her the wicked princess, she redeemed herself by reuniting with her three sisters. And so the four princesses, like the charmed ones, became one again. And peace was brought back to Encantadia.

Lira's mission was over and she became the next queen but decided to relinquish it to her aunt, Danaya. She had chosen instead to live with her mortal lover, Anthony and got married. But being a fairy, she would not grow old but her husband did. When her husband died, she went back to Encantadia and requested the god Emre that she to die like a human being so she could be with Anthony. Her wish was granted.

Lira and Anthony never had a child. When the body of Lira was in Encantadia, Casophéá took some strands of Lira's hair. Using her fairy power, a baby was born out of Lira's hair. (Royal blood fairies have the power to conceive without physical contact.) Lira's daughter was named Cassandra.

There was another prophecy. Upon the birth of the last royal princess (who is Cassandra), the lost kingdom of Etheria will rise again. So, the story of Etheria begins.

The story of the Kingdom of Etheria was removed from its history so that no one would know that it ever existed. But the prophecy was beginning to happen. So the four Sang'gres (royal blood fairies) Pirena, Amihan, Alena, and Danaya had to go to the past to prevent Avria, the queen of Etheria, from uttering her curse. In the history of Etheria, the Kingdom of Etheria was defeated by the joined forces of the kingdoms of Sapiro, Lireo and Hathoria with the help of the god Emre. Emre gave these three kingdoms the power of the gems of wind, earth, water, and fire. Queen Avria, before breathing her last, when her kingdom lost in the battle, uttered the curse that upon the birth of the last Sang'gre, Etheria would rise again. The curse was beginning to fulfill its promise.

Warned by Casophéá not to meddle in the events of the past, the four Sang'gres could not avoid it. Their presence in the past was changing the history. As a result, the present time was also changing. Will the four Sang'gres succeed in their mission? Watch "Etheria", Monday to Friday, GMA-7, right after Extra Challenge.