Zion didn't have a lot of room in his cage, it was only enough for him to at least turn around but he would scrape the edges of the cage every time he turned.
The only way he could keep track of time was the feeding times, it seemed like everyone was only fed once a day, enough to keep them alive.
People would occasionally come to look at the 'merchandise' and either brought someone or just leave without anything.
Soon enough, Zion had been trapped in the tiny cage for two weeks. He laid weakly at the bottom of the cage, curled up and using his tail to cover himself.
He heard footsteps approaching the area of the warehouse he was located. From the pace of the footsteps, they were quick and light so most likely a child or a short person.
Soon enough the footsteps stopped outside of his cage and the smell of bread entered his nose. He opened his eyes and peeked out from the fluff of his tail, spotting a young girl wearing a pink frilly dress holding bread out to him.
She had dark red hair that was braided and cute phoenix shaped jade green eyes. She had a heart shaped head and cute puffy cheeks of a healthy child. She looked probably around 5 years old.
She spoke but he hadn't learned enough of the language to understand more then a couple words, "...food... foxy..." Was all he understood.
He glanced at the bread that she held in her tiny hands, she had even put her whole hand through his bars. He didn't know whether she was confident that he wouldn't hurt her or she was ignorant about sticking her hands through the bars of a starved beast.
He lifted his head fully and looked at her curiously before stretching his neck out and lightly taking the bread from her hand with his mouth, then chomping down on it.
She giggled and ran off. He figured it was a one time thing and laid down again but not even 5 minutes later, the girl returned with a tall man in tow.
He once again looked up and saw jade green eyes that matched the little girl on the man's handsome face. He had a sharp jawline and piercing eyes as well as a scar that went from his left eyebrow down to his cheekbone.
He wore some pretty sturdy armour, one that was light enough to move easily but also enough to take quite a few hits. He even had a sword sheath tied at his waist.
The girl pointed at Zion and said something while looking up at the man. He gave her a kind smile and rubbed her head making her pout at him as he responded to her.
Not long after that fat slave merchant came into view and spoke a bit to them while motioning to Zion.
The Warrior dropped a bag of what Zion assumed to be money in the merchants hand and he nodded with a smirk then spoke again.
The girl rushed to the cage and grabbed the edge of it excitedly smiling at Zion who since they arrived, had been watching them closely.
The warrior had noticed his attention which made him a little curious as he organised transporting Zion out of there.
After an hour, Zion inside his cage, was placed in a carriage again but this one looked quite a bit nicer. The girl kept speaking excitedly and even fed him some more bread which after sniffing he would eat.
The man sat on the other side watching how Zion interacted with the girl. After travelling for hours, the girl started getting sleepy and was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Zion saw her head drooping and adjusted himself before slipping his tail through the top of his cage just as she fell asleep, her head dropping gently onto his tail instead of the metal cage.
He then just laid his own head on his paws and closed his eyes to get some rest.
The father who had been watching this raised an eyebrow, "Intresting... the fox hasn't made a noise since we left and it even used its tail to protect my daughter from sleeping on the bare cage. That slaver said he was a simple white fox from Scarlin Woods." He murmured to himself.
They eventually reached their home, a 2 story mansion in the middle area of a nearby town named Dalry.
The man picked up his daughter and carried her into the house while Zions cage was picked up by a servant of the house. He was carried to the kennel where hunting dogs were kept.
In the morning, the little girl came running into the kennel and to his cage. She spoke excitedly as she knelt in front of the cage then held out a strange scroll.
Zion looked at the scroll and tilt his head, 'Analysis.'
[[Item: Pet Contract Scroll.
Rank: B
Weakness: Can't contract anything above the scrolls rank. If pets contracted with this reach the scrolls limit, it will need to be redone with a stronger scroll or it will break.]]
'A contract scroll? System what happens if I accept this?' He narrowed his eyes cautiously.
[[A pet contract makes you the bound pet of the one who uses it on you. However unlike a slave contract, a pet contract has to be done willingly by both parties. Both parties will also benefit from hunting. Also if the pet dies, the human gets a backlash from its death but if the human dies, the pet dies as well.]]
'So... if I hunt she'll get stronger, if she hunts I'll still get the exp?'
[[Correct.]]
'Apart from the death thing... that's not so bad. I can help her get stronger which will in turn benefit me in the long run. Plus I won't have to worry about being hunted again.'
He didn't hesitate anymore and placed his paw on the scroll. A bright light surrounded them and he knew it had taken effect.