Toy Story Infinity: Episode 0.
The idea of toys being alive is nothing new.
As long as time has existed, mankind has imagined that various twigs, toys, mechanisms, were somehow alive.
The magical nature of a child's imagination can, in some cases, cause this to be so.
EVERYTHING has potential for life.
All it needs is a spark, a type of energy that can never be measured by mundane instruments, to flow.
The toys of the sort we see in Toy Story are actually desendants of an ancient spell, which created the spark.
Please note that all words have been translated from their original language into English, for ease of telling of this tale. No copies of the original legends exist, however there are rumours of a secret base where the tale of sentient toys has been picked apart and replicated by an organisation as powerful as the governments of the world. However, such rumours are merely hearsay.
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Our tale begins on the grasslands of an ancient land, far away from here. The world has changed much from how it was back then, and it will continue to do so, until the lands of Foran no longer exist in any recogniseable form.
There was a village in Foran, peaceful and quiet. Their chieftan was a proud warrior, but also good at preventing fights using words. He was known amongst his people as Swiftongue for this very same reason.
Some people called him a coward for often refusing to fight in wars, but his wisdom often exceeded that of those who called him thus, and after the first few decades of his leadership, the village prospered far more than they would after a century of warfare and death.
Indeed, other villages made pacts with Swiftongue's village to join together, and create a bigger, stronger village.
However... The people were never at ease, despite their prosperity, for the land still had magic back then, of a wild and untamed sort. From the shambling zombi of the southern regions of Foran, to the Fae of the north, the land was full of magical creatures.
Swiftongue saw magic as a dangerous thing to tamper with, especially as his own father was slain by a wicked sorcerer when he was just a child.
However, his wisdom saw that magical defenses were indeed needed to ward off the monsters of the world.
He had a choice- be victim to humans with the power to become the most devastating force on the planet, or be victim to the monsters of the wilderness, most of which were stronger than a man could ever be.
For many years, he kept the balance between the two potential types of doom, and hoped feverently he could think of a solution to the problem.
He eventually found himself a wife, of his own clan, who was said to be more beautiful than any other in the land. She was broad chested, strong, and had a good body to bear children with.
She also was one of Swiftongue's greatest fighters, although she fought under the guise of a man- the vision of a woman can cause enemies to use certain kinds of torture that they would not with a man.
Her name was Shia-tuk, and she was a magician of great power, but she had long since decided to forgo the usage of her power except in dire emergency for the good of the village.
Shia-tuk eventually bore three children to Swiftongue, each one with his jet black hair, and her gray eyes.
Eventually, Swiftongue died of an unknown aliment, which involved his body suddenly gaining boils, and many men attempted to woo Shia-tuk almost a day after his body was burnt away.
Shia-tuk was going to refuse the men, as she was still mourning her dead husband.
However, a powerful and strong man appeared in the tavern one night, when she wasdrinking on her own.
He had no clan tatoos, and was ignored by the other patrons of the tavern- one without a clan was either a exiled or a traitorous person. Either way, it was up to the chieftain to decide what was to happen to him, and with him being dead, there was little anyone could do.
He bought Shia-tuk a drink, and requested that she and her children stay with him for the night.
Shia-tuk was instantly overpowered by the man's obvious confidence and also, unbeknownst to her, the enchantment he had placed upon her drink, for he was, indeed, a sorcerer of great power- he was actually the same sorcerer who had slain the chieftain before Swiftongue, his father.
She agreed to stay with him, the enchantment making her forget about her children, who were, by this point, young enough to walk, but not old enough to hunt.
They went over to a small tent outside the village, and they made love, with the enchantment that Shia-tuk was under quickly fading as the night moved on. As the haze in her mind vanished, she quickly realised what was happening, but she was almost powerless to stop this powerful magician.
However, Shia-tuk did have a great amount of magical power herself, and she silently placed barriers within her own body to prevent their souls from joining, even for a moment, so that there would be no way for this strange man to sire her with a child.
The man soon stopped, and pulled out. Shia-tuk was worn out from the magics she had cast to prevent her having a child from this man. He thought that she was unconscious from the power of his lovemaking, and his pride grew.
He left the tent, and went back into the village, knowing that since he had now bred with the former chieftain's wife, he had a rightful claim to the leadership of the clan, so long as the children who were above him in the lineage were slain.
He entered the room in the chieftain's lodge, where the two girls and one boy were sleeping.
He muttered a quick spell, and placed his hand on his sword. It glowed red, and then began to flicker, as though aflame.
He moved closer to the girls, and began to strike, but then suddenly, the little boy woke up.
The little boy's name was Garnok, and unknown to his mother, he did have all the magical ability his mother had, if not more, as his youth meant that his power was much stronger for the time being. His only weakness in the spells he had accidentally uttered around the village is that he had no control over it.
His mouth moved involuntarily.
"You. Desecrator of this household. You have slain my kin and now you seek to slay those dearest to me. You will leave now, or a curse will be placed upon every single object that touches that sword, and any object that touches an object that touches that object and so on. Sentience will be given to all, and the eyes will burn you forever more. More to that, your sword will remain in your hand pernamently, and you will never be able to remove it, even if you remove every cell of your body, it will remain near you, and it will touch anything you feel any emotion over, whether positive or negative."
Garnok stared at the sorcerer after saying this, and then closed his eyes.
The sorcerer, angered by this child reprimanding him in the magical tongue, cut off the head of the boy.
The head lolled off, and landed in the boy's lap, facing up.
The boy's eyes opened, and they glowed a vibrant yellow, with a dark slit inside them.
"Fool. You have cursed yourself for all eternity. Pitiful mage... There is so much more you could have done with your power... Perhaps you can redeem yourself, but I will not tell you how, for I have not much left to live, as your curse only effects dead or unliving objects. be wary of what you touch, Gix the enchanter, son of Glanod, for the consequences to you will be severe."
Garnok's eyes then closed, and his mouth opened, letting out small amounts of steam.
Naturally, all this magical spells did awaken Garnok's sisters, who were sensitive to magical energy, but not capable of using it.
They screamed, and Gix decapitated all of them. Their heads did the same thing- the eyes glowed yellow, then their mouths let out steam.
Gix was about to leave the room and go and take command of the village, when Shia-tuk entered the room, recovered after her ordeal.
She grabbed Gix by the throat with one hand, preventing him from speaking, and used the other hand to twist his genitals. He tried to scream, but all he could manage was a choke.
She muttered a simple death spell, and a small part of Gix's skull fractured off, causing a huge torrent of blood over Shia-tuk's dead children.
She whispered a cleansing spell over their corpses, and watched as Gix's body convulsed on the floor as she released her grip on him. He was to die soon.
The sword of Gix, fell from his hands, and bounced off the floor, for the hilt fell down first. the blade then lightly touched a small doll that one of Shia-tuk's daughters owned. a small, fabric doll in the vague shape of a woman.
Shia-tuk didn't notice it when the doll started to move. She didn't notice the crying that came from it.
All she could do was watch as Gix bled over her floor, his blood mingling with the pools of blood from her daughters.
Her kin were all dead, except for a few distant relatives who had lost their minds through age on the western part of the village. They wouldn't even know who she was. The average person in the village was more likely to try to rape her than to help her, so she had no place to go. She sobbed silently, and kept on watching the corpses.
Eventually, she felt a small presence on her leg.
A bloodsoaked, fabric doll, knitted by herself for her eldest daughter, had walked over the corpses, and held onto Shia-tuk's leg, crying.
Shia-tuk jumped in fright, even though, as a magic user, she had seen many more surprising things in her past.
It was possible that she sensed that the doll was sucking in the magical energy of the world in order to survive.
Shia-tuk stared at the doll, and then asked the question that burned in her mind.
"What are you, Cottoned One?"
"I am a doll. I was created by you, but your son gave me life, as a part of the curse that that man recieved off of him. The mistresses I was created for are also slain. I have no purpose. I can give life to other toys and trinkets, but there is little else I can do."
"... So you have the ability to create life, yes?" Shia-tuk started, realising the implications of this.
"Yes. However, I will not do anything unless my creator tells me to."
Shia-tuk was thinking quickly- if all toys were alive, mankind would kill them all. Childhood would become a dull and boring place, and thus adults will be incapable of play- man would become a creature of work and death, as it had appeared to have been slowly turning into all her life.
There must be a way to prevent more death... ah yes. a Vow.
"You can spread life, Emera, for that is your name now, but you must promise that you never reveal your sentience to man, for they would hurt you with all the weapons that they posess. You can reveal yourself when in danger, or if you have no other choice, but revealing your true self is forbidden except in extreme circumstances."
"I promise." the toy said, kneeling to its mistress.
Shia-tuk realised this wasn't enough, and reached for the magic.
"YOU promise, but do you speak for all toys that come from you and after you? Will they obey your promise? no. However, you speak well, and true. All objects that are placed upon this curse will be subject to this promise, for this spell will guarantee that they do so. They will be INCAPABLE of movement if it reveals that they can do so unless it risks their life."
After the final syllable was uttered, Shia-tuk's energy waned once again that night. Her body was weary, and she slowly fell unconscious, with her life force slowly extinguishing.
She died a lonely death in that room, with Emera, the newborne toy, watching over the people and burying their graves out in the back of the house, where none would see.
Emera then threw herself into a grave, and waited until humans came to bury to other humans- for what she had seen had brought much hardship on Emera's soul, and she felt too saddened to live on, despite her mistress and creator's instructions.
_
The story of how toys gained their sentience ends there, however the tale does continue, for Emera unwittingly shedded small amounts of her own stitching in the bloody room. These fabrics were very much capable of bringing life to toys, but remained dormant for a long time, eventually leaving the house when a wind blew in when the new chieftain moved into the house. They flew far and wide, or at least, so the tale goes, searching for a suitable object to bring to life.
Let's just say that it did succeed, but that's a story for the next episode of Toy Story Infinity.