Many hours later, a little black fox sat perched on the head of an unconscious young male. It bobbed its head a little, waking up after the nap it had taken, before yawning, unhinging its little jaws to a level you wouldn't think possible.
It looked down at the sleeping man, and said, "Why is my master so lazy? I'll have to wake him up!"
And with that, it stepped off of his head, the small red runes flickering all over its body as it suddenly vanished from sight, appearing outside of the training facility and by a freshwater river located south of Marcus's palace.
It shook its fur a little, then formed a massive bucket made of pure void, similar to the tentacles of Marcus, yet much more refined, without the typical energy wastage that occurred when Marcus used the skill.
The system could only perform to the level of Marcus and fought to the best of his current abilities, rather than to the potential of his fighting skills.
The massive void bucket of water faded into the darkness, and with another flicker of runes, the little beast appeared right on Marcus's head yet again.
It flipped off, landing cleanly and controlled on the ground in front of where Marcus had fallen unconscious and took out the massive bucket of water.
It then did something peculiar. It focused the surrounding Vis into a pouch, then seemed to sift through it, collecting certain aspects of it and discarding others, before fusing the sifted parts into a small, cloudy pill.
That same pill was then tossed into the water canister, and the pill visibly dissolved, cleaning the water, and giving it a slight tinge of warmth.
The little fox chuckled to itself, before pouring the entire thing onto Marcus's head, dropping a total of about twenty litres of water at once, soaking Marcus's clothing through and nearly drowning him.
In a splutter of confusion, Marcus leapt to his feet, weapon drawn and ready to slay whatever needed to be slain. It took a few seconds for him to remember what had happened the previous night, and the severe injuries he had sustained.
It also took another few seconds for him to realise he was now feeling perfectly fine, and that there had been a strange fox pop out of where the strange pendant used to be.
He suddenly realised that he had no idea where the pendant was, and scuttered around, flipping objects and looking under tables to find out where he had left the pendant.
Upon bending over to check under a table, he came into contact with two small, purple beady eyes staring into his own, radiating innocence and curiosity, yet giving Marcus a mini heart attack.
"AAAAAAH WHAT IS THAT?!"
Marcus leapt backwards, pulling out his scythe and preparing to strike the beast as soon as necessary.
"Finally! You're awake master"
"W-what are you?"
"Master?! I don't even know you!"
The little beast pouted, clearly upset at the lack of recognition it received from its master, then suddenly appeared on top of Marcus's head.
"Artemis why is it on my head?"
< "It's your pet, isn't it?" > she chuckled, making fun out of his confusion
"Artemis you're so lucky you don't have a physical form…"
She squealed, before laughing at him yet again.
Marcus moved to try and take it off of his head, but the little bugger's claws were too strong, and it wouldn't release its grip no matter what he tried.
He even got a soluble lubricant, and poured it over his head, covering the fox and its claws, but the lubricant seemed to be evaporated out of the air before it could even touch it.
Marcus, however, was soaked in the lubricant, and all of his further attempts at pulling the fox off of his head didn't help whatsoever.
After trying several times, and even trying to goad the beast off of his head, it became clear that the beast was staying.
He forced a smile as he washed the lubricant off of himself.
"Well, fox, what do you want?"
"I want to be with you, Master!" it replied, perplexing Marcus completely.
"…"
< "HAHAHAHAHA! This beast is officially my new best friend">
"No friend. Only Master," it chirped back.
< "Don't make me take it back… I can make your life a living h-" >
"None of that, Artemis! No curse words in front of the child! Besides, I never thought you'd get angry so easily!"
"Curse words? What's that?"
"You don't have to worry about that, little one… so, I should probably give you a name, shouldn't I…"
The little fox bobbed its head vigorously, clearly pleased with the idea.
"Yes, name is good!"
"Well, in that case… how about Foxy?"
The little fox turned its head at an angle, its opinion on the name indecipherable.
< "There is no way I'm going to let you get away with naming the little fox Foxy! That's the most basic name I have heard in my life! Also, you might want to check the gender first?" >
Marcus put his hands on the fox, feeling around for anything that might indicate that the fox is male, but came out with nothing, and thus decided it must be female
"Okay fine, how about Teumessia, after the one from the fable?"
< "That's better, but it's a little long… how about we give her a nickname!" >
"I think Tiu sounds good… you like that one?"
< "Well… it's acceptable I guess..">
"Tiu it is!"
Without realising it, Marcus had taken the little fox in as his own, and that day a bond was formed that would later be revelled upon and spoken of by countless generations to come.
The relation between Man and Fox, and Artemis of course!