Toys: Brave New World

(note: Presence and Caprice are copyright to Betwixt and used with permission - Toys and related characters are a shared concept of Inferno Pendragon and Deathwalker, this story is dedicated to imagination.. without which none of our stories would exist)

Prologue
It had all began in a small room within an old mansion, a room that served as a little rag-doll's home alongside many other toys - each one having come to life late one night via a mysterious golden mist.

Most of the other toys had been content with staying in that room, enjoying the circus that had been set up by the Jack-In-The-Box to entertain them all - but the little rag-doll was not liked by the Jack-In-The-Box, who gave him a cruel name: Patch, referring to his many stitches and unkempt appearance

Due to the Jack-In-The-Box most of the other toys made fun of Patch or shunned him, yet he never gave up hope for a better life - becoming aware of a world beyond the room and seeking it out.

Patch almost made it to the outside world with the help of another toy by the name of Starlight who grew to be his sole friend when the Jack-In-The-Box grew violent and ever more cruel, it was shortly after Patch managed to finally defeat his tormentor that everything changed, though not for the better.

A great and terrible shadow emerged and began to devour everything Patch knew and loved, everything he had fought so hard for - yet just as the terrible shadow came to claim Patch a bright light had enveloped him and forced the shadow to retreat.

Patch then found himself floating in a white void as an elfin woman with bright wings came to him and spoke in a voice that still filled the little rag-doll with wonder:

"Do not be afraid, little one.. for while your world has come to an end you're story can still continue.."

Patch couldn't understand what the figure's words meant but had little time to think as she sent him spiralling into a portal as vivid as any rainbow - her voice echoing after him:

"..be brave.. you can survive.. I believe in you..".

Chapter 1
After what seemed like an eternity Patch found himself transported high above the clouds as he proceeded to fall from the sky like a shooting star, landing in a patch of snow before he suddenly sat up and tried to dust himself off - looking around in surprise at buildings that spread up to the sky itself and seemingly endless rows of trees as he sat in the middle of a park in the centre of a crowded city.

To add to his shock Patch soon found himself running for cover behind a bush as a few figures walked by, little more than ordinary people going for an evening stroll, yet to Patch they were strange and alien giants.

Taking his eyes away from the path he had been on and leaning against the bush the little rag-doll just sat as the snow continued to slowly fall around him:

''"..Starlight.. I wish you were here.. you'd know what to do.." ''he thought to himself, a tear rolling down his cheek despite his single eye being little more than an old button.