Gary was just getting done reading a particularly interesting comic when the guards stormed in and started dragging all of the prisoners away. Apparently they were being urgently transferred out of this particular prison. In fact they were being transferred off of the planet itself. They were under siege. The pirates had somehow made it to the planet, and begun a full-scale invasion. Before Gary was able to board the transport, it exploded. The pirates had arrived in their flying boats and began bombarding the prison. The guards began firing back. Gary took the opportunity provided by the chaos to run back towards the prison. He knew that they had stored his things, and he was not leaving without his spatial ring.

Captain Steele was a tall, strong woman. She commanded respect everywhere she went. The greatest space pirate the Confederacy had ever had the displeasure of facing, and today she was determined to become a bandit queen. Her new strategist had managed to aid in turning her rag-tag flotilla into a deadly armada. Over the last couple of years they had managed to raid, and harass the confederates into submission. They were abandoning the local star systems. Of course Steele knew this was temporary. They would regroup, and come knocking on her door as soon as they finished likcking their wounds. She was here on this prison planet to conquer it, and pressgang the prisoners into her new kingdom. She was here at this particular prison at the request of her strategist. Apparently someone important to him was being held here.

The fighting died down, and the prisoners were rounded up by the pirates. They were lined up, and a scrawny one-eyed peg-legged old man began inspecting them.

“No, no, no, not this one, no.” the old man said. “Dammit!” He raged grabbing the neck of a nearby prisoner, and snapping it with surprising force. “He’s not here!” His voice boomed. “I can still smell him! Graaah”

Gary felt a shiver down his spine. He’d left the prison and flown off as soon as the Magical dampeners were disabled by the incoming fire, and he was able to find his stuff. He hoped that he was too small to be noticed by the ships orbiting the planet. Fortunately, he was.

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He kept flying in a random direction for a few weeks before determining that he was lost.

Caleb stumbled as the whip struck his back. He grit his teeth as he looked back. One of Duke Goldtree’s servants had whipped him. He was the duke of Goldtree, and his name is Duke.

“Hurry it up. I don’t have all day. I'm a very busy man, and I promised the prince that I'd have the bird already.” Yelled the duke staring into a hand-mirror and playing with his hair. A tall lanky 30 year old man with a pretty face, blue eyes, and luscious golden locks.

Caleb had a common face, brown eyes, and black hair. He was small for a 17 year old. He was an orphan. Despite his misfortunes he had a clear look in his eyes.

“Pardon me milord, but I can’t just coax out the cosmic mystery peacock. If we don’t approach slowly and carefully it’ll camouflage itself and run away. It would take a wizard to catch it if that happens sir.” replied caleb.

“Hmm ok.” said Duke Goldtree

Another of his servants whipped Caleb.

“That’s for back talking” stated the Duke

Caleb led Duke, his butler, his knight and his three whipping servants. Whenever Caleb had displeased the Duke with one of his actions he ordered one of the servants to whip Caleb. Never the same one consecutively. On their journey to find the cosmic mystery peacock the Duke had regularly been carried by the butler, or the knight in turns. After a long arduous journey Caleb was glad that they managed to pinpoint the bird's location. It meant that he would soon be free from his bondage as a debt-slave. He had been arrested for petty theft and charged with fines he couldn’t pay. He felt lucky that he had spotted the bird one night after a long day of work. He’d been promised his freedom if they found the bird.

The group found themselves atop a cliff hiding behind rocks staring at a nest that had been presumably built by the Peacock. The group waited a long while before a small peacock with a shimmering, strobe-light like tail flew onto the nest. The servants, and the knight prepared themselves to jump on to the bird when it slept. The peacock seemed to not have noticed them and was seemingly about to sleep. The reason this bird was important was that if eaten it could give the person who ate it wicked cool magic powers.

Suddenly the peacock jerked up, and vanished. It had perfectly camouflaged itself with its surroundings. A figure flashed past. Holding onto the neck of a wiggling peacock was Gary. He had landed on this planet moments ago after realizing that he had run out of food. This weird bird he just caught would be his first meal in days.