The Awakening

The Awakening takes place in 1 BCA. It is one of the major arcs of the story of the Keepers of Mana and tells the story of how the Keepers were reincarnated.

Lu Chao's Bargain
One year has passed since Arrathir Quinn awoke as the Keeper of Black Mana. He is currently living on his own, having moved out of his mother's home shortly after his return.

One night, after saving a prostitute from a gang, Arrathir finds a mysterious e-mail in his in-box. Despite a warning from his other self (the Keepers' names are progressively revealed throughout the story), Arrathir opens the e-mail and is transported to a white room where he meets Lu Chao once again.

The Planeswalker tells Arrathir and the Keeper of Black Mana that he is displeased with the progress they've made towards awakening the remaining Keepers of Mana. The spirit flat-out refuses to awaken the Keepers, so Lu Chao challenges him to a summoner's duel to force him to go along with his plans.

The spirit is quickly overwhelmed by Lu Chao's strategy and dejectedly agrees to awaken the Keepers. He completely rebuilds Arrathir's deck for the upcoming Pro Qualifier Tournament.

The PTQ
On the morning of the PTQ, Arrathir wakes up to find he's overslept (the spirit having broken his alarm clock when it went off) and is forced to summon a Havoc Demon to speed him to the tournament.

As he rushes to the front door, he collides with Eva Pezrokov. Completely thrown off by her, Arrathir makes a very bad first impression and Eva writes him off as another nerdy pervert.

After having a bit of trouble registering, Arrathir finally gets to the first round of the tournament, only to find out his opponent is Eva.

Extremely intimidated by her aggressive behaviour, Arrathir's gameplay totally falls apart and he loses the first game, despite the spirit taking over his body at the last minute in an attempt to win.

Eva isn't impressed by his strategy and taunts him about it. However, the spirit manages to come back and win the next two games, leaving Eva confused as to how he managed such a win after his pitiful first game.

Arrathir goes on to win the next two rounds, but after his third round is accosted by Eva who challenges him to a duel with one catch: the loser has to drop out of the tournament.