Limbo: The Unknown is a The Legend of Spyro fanfic written by Solar Script.
It tells the story of an abused young teen named Keiran who is one day pulled through a portal into the dragon realms and is subsequently turned into a hatchling under a year old. He is found by a pair of dragon children in the woods and is brought to live in their home, where he is welcomed and shown the love he was denied for so long by his birth family. He quickly finds trouble, however, as a shadowy apparition, who has been preying on Keiran for years prior, repeatably haunts him while he is asleep or alone, going as far as to even physically injure him. Not helping matters is the fact this apparition seemly has an agenda against Kieren, and seems intent on stirring up trouble for him and his new adopted family.
The fanfiction was posted on October 2015 and can be read here
on Fanfiction.net. Beware of unmarked spoilers below.
This work contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Keiran's birth parents were very cruel to him, physically and mentally. His grandparents, too, are at least verbally abusive and blame him for his parent's death in the car crash, despite it not being Keiran's fault.
- Asshole Victim: Keiran's parents are the victims of a car crash at the beginning of the story after a truck slids on the ice and they cannot dodge it in time, but his parents are such deplorable individuals to their young son that it's impossible to feel bad for them. They even use their dying breaths to blame their son for the incident, further cementing how abusive they were. Heck, they were spending the entire car ride over yelling at, hitting, and blaming their five-year-old son for petty stuff and saying blaming their bills on him when it was not his fault. They had truly their deaths coming.
- Big Bad: The shadowy apparition seems to be this, given how he keeps inciting all the problems Kieren faces. He is vaguely implied to be Malefor, given how he claims to be the true emperor of the world and to be one of the only dragons who processes the shadow element besides Keiren and Cynder. When he appears in person in chapter 10, his scales are much darker than Malefor's though. Ignitus even hints at said dragon being the big bad, telling Kieren in chapter 5 that though he cannot find the existence of the shadowy apparition haunting Kieren's thoughts, he believes its to be a "darker force", like those who wanted to destroy the world. Malefor is even cited as an example of said darker forces, and by extension of comparisons of this dragon. Given what the shadowy apparition does in the story, he certainly seems to have the power to back up this claim.
- Big Sister Instinct: Sylvia is very protective of her younger brother Kieren and whisks out of the temple to safety after Terrador gets aggressive, borderline insane even, and orders guards to seize Kieren after he shows his shadow element.
- Casting a Shadow: The unnamed *Big Bad is a shadow dragon implied to be tormenting Kieren with a shadowy apparition tormenting him throughout the story.
- The Caretaker: When brought to the temple, Kieren is assigned one named Nahara, a cheetah in chapter 10. Though she does her tasks of taking Kieren to the cafeteria to eat and putting him to bed, she unfortunately is a rather abrasive and ill-tempered individual.
- The Chessmaster: The unnamed shadow dragon who appears in the ending of chapter 10, the apparent *Big Bad of the story, seems to be one. He is heavily implied to be the shadowy apparition tormenting Keiren, given his awareness of events and shadow element, which fits perfectly with the abilities of said apparition. He seemed to have possessed Terrador, Sylvia, and even Spyro at different points in order to have them lash out at or say hurtful things toward Kieren, which in turn alienates him from his adoptive families and makes it harder for him to trust just about anyone; apparently playing into said shadow dragon's hands. The shadowy apparition even tells Kieren in chapter 7 that he still needs him for something. In chapter 10, the shadow dragon finally appears to Kieren, proclaims himself the true emperor of his land, and states his interest in Kieren as an heir, stating he has "never seen a hatchling with such raw, untouched power", even offering to teach Kieren how to use his powers. Given that he seems to have minions in the Warfang guard (such as the apparent red guard captain working for him) and is implied to have arranged for the guardians to order Kieren back into the custody of the temple, it implied he has been behind all of the stories conflicts.
- Cruel to Be Kind: In chapter 9, Spyro cruelly tells Kieren to leave after the two cloaked dragons, Fang and Dagger, are sent to take him to the temple to stay. Spyro mentions later to Cynder he was ordered by the Guardians to relinquish custody of Kieren. Yelling at him and pushing him away as he did apparently was to make it easier for Keiren to accept being taken away since Spyro had no choice in the matter and Kieren was too attached to him to comply with the orders otherwise. That and it could be a defense mechanic due to having to comply with orders he did not want to, seeing as this could be perceived as yet another betrayal by some close to him, from Keiren's perspective, which Keiren did take as a betrayal of trust.
- Dark Fic: Oh yes, it's this. Considering the fact everything in this story seems to be dedicated to making the main character as miserable as possible, with the shadowy apparition appearing at random to torment Kieren in various ways, this is a given. The fic practically runs on random angst.
- Demonic Possession: The shadowy apparition seems to be capable of this, as several dragons, including Terrador, a guard, Sylvia, and even Spyro act uncharacteristically harsh or even attempt to harm Kieren, though they or others express bafflement afterward that they acted like that. The shadowy figure indirectly confirms he was responsible for this towards the end when he mentions he was responsible for bringing Kieren to the temple, likely possessing the guardians again and forcing them to give the order.
- Deus Angst Machina: Kieren in a nutshell. It's like every aspect of his life is dedicated for making him miserable: His parents were abusive, his grandparents were abusive, he was an outcast in daycare and school, he was bullied by other kids and no one wanted to play with him when he was younger. He also has depression, schizophrenia, and a bit of multi-personality disorder. And all that's before he gets pulled into the dragon realms and turned into an under-a-year-old hatchling. From there, he is tormented by a shadowy apparition that torments him in his dreams, can assault him physically anywhere at any time, and can even mind control anyone to make them lash out at Keiren or otherwise force people to do what it wants them to.
- A good example is in the Third chapter, where the shadowy apparition shows him a dream of a twisted version of himself and tells him he murdered "them" without even showing bodies or what this them is (perhaps referring to his new adoptive family or the car crash that killed his abusive parents.) Random scenes with vague gaslighting happen out of nowhere for the sake of making Kieren miserable.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When in their custody in chapter 8, Spyro and Cynder take Kieren to some cliffs to talk and ask him about his past, since his origins and parents were unknown, as well as to get a better understanding g of his shadow element and the apparition bothering him. Kieren, having trouble trusting people due to everyone seemingly turning on him at random and being sour about his abusive parents, responds by attacking her with his earth element. As is typical of this fic, the shadowy apportion overrides Spyro to lash out at Keiren and make Spyro attempt to claw him in retribution for attacking Cynder.
- The Empath: Kiowa, Spyro and Cynder's son, explains in chapter 8 he can read people's auras, emotions, and thoughts. Apparently, it's a rare ability. Because of it, he is pretty much the only character in the story no Kieren is older than he seems. The only other who knows maybe the unmanned shadow dragon.
- Forced Transformation: Downplayed. After he is sucked into a portal, the Chronlicer contacts Kieren and offers to help him, but states his only option is to be brought to the dragon realms, as its where the Chronlcier is. Keiren accepts, but it's stated this would transform him into a dragon since that is the realm's "main species."
- Good Parents: Nurruth and Meesla love their daughter and son very much, and extend the same love to Kieren. They adopt him with open arms after Haze and Sylive bring Kieren to their home after finding him in the forest. Spyro and Cynder also count as they love their children and take care of Kieren when he is given to them after the temple incident. Best shown in chapters 8 and 9, where they and their kids treat him lovingly, play games with him, and shower him with affection.
- Hated by All: Downplayed with Keiren and possibly invoked by the main villain. Not everyone hates Kieren, but many people around him seem to react with is-guilty towards him, including Terrador, Slyiva at one point, and even Spyro at another point, although this is due to the shadowy apportion taking over them. The main villain, who is behind the apparition, seems to be invoking this to alienate Keiren from anyone he trusts so that he can convince Keiren to join him. Back on earth, is own family was abusive towards him, and its noted many kids bullied or did not play with him, due to him being a bit strange. This is in part because he was left socially stunted by his family's abuse and suffered mental illnesses.
- Idiot Ball: Downplayed, but Nurruth and Meesla grasp a few times. Their daughter Sylvia even moreso.
- After Terrador sics guards on Kieran, they both stay in the room to talk sense into the guardian and leave it up to their eleven-year-old daughter to escort two toddlers (Kieran and Haze) to safe while being chased by full-armored adult dragons instead of doing so themselves. Though leaving someone to talk sense into Terrador would make sense, there were several other adults (Spyro, Cynder, and the other guardians) present in the room already doing that. Given the direness of the situation, one would think an adult getting them to safety would have made more sense than leaving that task to a small child. To be fair , they were threatened to be sent to the dungeons of they intervened but the other guardians and Spyro and Cynder were already talking back to Terrador and likely would have vouched for Nurruth and Messla anyway.
- Downplayed again later. Their children are still missing out in the woods after the incident with Terrador. Both Noruuth and Mesela want to go search for them but Cynder and Spyro talk them down to go do so themselves, reasoning its late and they are tired. Admittedly, that argument has some merit, it takes a lot of convincing before the two parents relent, and Spyro and Cynder, two trusted dragons in Warfang, are on the case instead but it's still a bit questionable for two parents to ever leave their children, including toddlers, alone in the woods for a pair of relative strangers to go find instead of partaking in the search themselves.
- Sylvia is tasked with watching Haze and Kieren (a three-year-old and under-a-year-old hatchling) while going out to get some food for her family. When she forgets a specific type of meat her mother needed, she for some reason decided to leave the two toddlers alone in the park, reasoning that they would make her take longer, without explaining why. Later, Keiren is harassed and assaulted by the shadowy apparition again because he is alone after Haze briefly wanders off. Their mother even chews her out for disobeying her by leaving the hatchlings unattended and Keiren outright asks Syliva why she left them alone. Sylvia doesn't even know why, stated she doesn't think sometimes and even admitted how stupid it was for her.
- When running away from a bunch of armored, adult dragon guards Terrador sicced on them in chapter 6, Syliva see's fit to leave Haze, a toddler, behind to hold off the guards at his urging. She gives him a 'power boost" of sorts with her magic but it does not justify why a toddler would be fit to fight off adults. Haze did decently in downing them, but another red dragon captain beats him up.
- Mother Bear: Mesela, as well as Cynder, are both mothers and are protective of their hatchlings. Both jump to Kieren's defense when Terrador orders Keiren to be seized by the guards. They even go as far as to threaten Terrador.
- Papa Wolf: Norruth and Spyro are more than willing to give a verbal beat down and threats to Terrador after he orders Kierne be seized. Spyro even knocks him unconscious.
- Parental Substitute: Keiran's various foster families in the dragon realms. First are Mesela and Norruth. Later, Spyro and Cynder fill this role for him after being given custody of Kieren in chapter 8 until chapter 9,
- Resentful Guardian: Keiren's grandparents are this to him. Also, his later caretaker, Nahara hates being forced to take care of Kieren. Though she does her tasks, such as making sure he gets to bed and taking him to the cafeteria to eat, she insults him, tells Kieren she does not want to have to deal with him, and even goes as far as to grab him by the throat and taunt him. She rather coldly orders Kieren to bed as well. This seems to have been invoked by the main villain when: a lot of this resentment towards Kieren is because she was ordered by the villain's minions to be his caretaker, despite not wanting to do so. Apparently, she was picked because the minions, Fang and Dagger, wanted Kieren to be under supervision but did not want any worker, especially a dragoness (who are stated to be caring ) to get attached to the hatchling. Its likely this plays into how their master, the unnamed *Big Bad, wants to keep Kieren emotionally isolated so he can be manipulated.
- Story-Breaker Power: The main villain, who is implied to be the one behind the shadowy apparition, can torment Kieren anywhere or anytime, mind control anyone from anywhere as far as we know, such as doing that to Terrador, Sylvie, and even Spyro himself briefly. He even managed to destroy the Chronicler's astral body in the seventh chapter, although we learn in the 8th chapter Ignitus managed to hide "himself" or rather his mind within Kieren, though his thoughts are noted to be separate from Keirens. He can speak through Kieren as well .
- The Sociopath: An unnamed red dragon soldier, who is a captain in the military, kills his comrade, a blue dragon guard, who was downed by Haze using his electricity when Haze stayed behind to cover his sibling's escape. He kills the blue dragon with fire, calling him weak and kills him with fire. He then torments Haze by digging into his scales with his (apparently magic-based ability ) claws and calls him a coward. When Haze calls him a monster, he outright agrees. Who he is is not made clear, though he may be in league with the main villain or even be the main villain in disguise, given that he drops his armor after killing the other guard.
- Trapped in TV Land: A stable of the fandom. In this case, Kieren is pulled into the dragon realms by the Chronicler (though this is not confirmed until chapter 5) after an unexplained portal-related phenomenon seems to be appearing on Earth, as evidenced by the news report at the beginning of the first chapter with scientists experimenting with said portal by sending stuff and people through it. The portals started going haywire by the second chapter, with some appearing in Kieren's neighborhood, as evidenced by a loud bang and scream appearing in his neighborhood before Kieren was sucked into one that appeared in his room during chapter 2, sent to a void between realms. The Chronicler then contacted him and offered to bring him to the dragon realm, which had the adverse effect of transforming Keiren into a dragon since those are the "main species " there. Why Kieren was turned into an infant hatchling despite being about fifteen is not made clear.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Inexplicably, Haze is only three yet he acts older, showing care for Kieren as a big brother and understanding family and a surprisingly mature sense of protecting family, even staying back to cover his sibling's escape when temple guards are after them.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- It's mentioned in chapter 2 right before Keirne gets sucked into portals that the initial one scientists were experimenting on split into 8 portals, but nothing about the other portals beyond the one Kieren was sent into is ever referenced again in the story.
- Kieren's grandparents and friend Soren are not seen again after chapter 2, and it's not clear how they reacted to Kieren's disappearance in the dragon realms or the portal appearing in Kieren's grandparents' house. Granted, this is because the story from there takes place solely in the dragon realms from mostly Kieren and other character's perspectives there, so it's unlikely they could appear again unless the story flipped back to Earth. Although, given how abusive Kieren's grandparents were, its unlikely they cared too much about their grandchild disappearing; Soren likely would be concerned for his friend but its probably he simply decided to live his life as usual.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Many times, implied to be courtesy of the shadowy apparition. It is often when the shadow apparition takes over someone's mind and causes them to attack or be hostile to Keiren whenever there seems to be something positive happening or generally makes a situation worse. Prominent examples include when it seemed to take over Sylvia in the woods and made her insult and blame Keirne for what happened at the temple or when it seemed to incite Spyro to insult and raise a claw at Keiren.
