Michael

Kenji, Fatimah (friends)

Stone (rival)

**Michael** is a main protagonist in *The Dhavas*, the original tamer of Dante, and the most important human character in the story. He is a human from the Arberre region; despite his relative maturity and realistic understanding of the world, he struggles with Dante throughout the story, as well as interaction with peers.

## Role in *The Dhavas*

Michael is a major protagonist in *The Dhavas*, alongside Dante.

### Pre-Story

Michael was born in Grands Arbres Town in the Arberre region. As a child, he developed an interest in mani-taming that, unlike most children, bordered on the obsessive. He had few friends, instead preferring to read books or draw.

Through his childhood, Michael developed a reputation among the staff of the town's mani center, often attempting to ask for a mani despite lacking a license. However, one day at the age of ten, he alerted the center staff to a stray mani that had been struck by a car, and the staff saw the medical attention he had given the mani. Although the mani ultimately did not survive, the incident gained Michael much respect among the staff.

Michael's older brother, Theo, gained his license when Michael was 12 (Theo himself was 16). This made Michael frustrated, and for the first time he took the Taming Aptitude Test out of hopes of getting his license. Sadly, his score was just below the acceptance bar. Michael narrowly failed the test again the next year, due largely to the abnormally-high scores in the region that year.

However, when he was 14, Michael passed and received his license - coinciding with Theo returning from his failed attempt at the Arberre circuit.

### The Arberre Saga

The story of *The Dhavas* begins as Michael goes to the town center to receive his agrima (first mani). Although initially he receives a small, gray, pterodactyl-like mani named Five, after leaving the center he is forced into a battle by Stone, another local trainer. Five is beaten, but then Dante, a mani attempting to escape the center, decides to intervene and defeats Stone on Michael's behalf. The center staff witness this, and the center director gifts Dante to Michael as his new agrima, much to Michael's regret.

The first portion of the saga focuses on Michael and Dante as they attempt to get to know each other; Michael meeting his aunt Pearl and receiving his second mani, Mars; and then the trio as they head to the Agni (Fire element) House. At the Fire House, Michael lives alongside and is pitted against his peers; he finds them to be unhinged, violent, nihilistic people, which results in Michael leaving the house.

The longer portion of the saga focuses on Michael as he meets two other tamers, Kenji and Fatimah, and then their joint attempt at beating the Arberre circuit. All three tamers have unusually-powerful manis that give them a great advantage at beating the circuit, but Michael becomes increasingly unsure of his own aptitude at training, and also questions whether or not taming is beneficial for society at large. He also grapples with his own increasing fame as Dante's unusual powers become discussed across the region.

### Providence Islands Saga

In the Providence Islands Saga, Michael and Dante travel through the Providence Islands circuit with Summer, a local tamer. As the circuit is abnormally-easy, the saga revolves more around Michael and Dante's tumultous relationship, as well as Michael's struggle with his personal identity as he sees his life increasingly dependent on Dante.

### Corona Saga

In the Corona Saga, Michael and Dante travel through the Corona region with the mysterious, similarly-talented tamer Cielo and his mani Virgil. Although the saga focuses more on Dante, Michael's arc in the saga revolves around his attempt to rejuvenate his interest in taming with the exotic circuit, and his growing fatigue over Dante's failure to control his own desire for power.

## Personality

Michael is intelligent and kind-hearted, if somewhat clumsy or withdrawn. His passion for mani taming overtook his childhood and, throughout *The Dhavas*, accomplishing his goals of mani taming causes him to see what else in the world he has missed, and exposes him to vulnerabilities he had not considered before.

Michael is also sensitive, and has a respect for nature and living things. He tends to have a negative opinion of tamers who revel in the violence or risk of taming.

## Manis

**Arberre Saga**

- Dante (agrima, team leader)

- Mars (deputy team leader)

**Corona Saga**

- Dante (main fighter)

- The Bookworm II (backup fighter)