Clouded Horizons is a series created by Nightfire04, who is also a troper by the name of Nightfire. It currently consists of three stories, two of which are complete and one which is ongoing.
Destiny's Call
is the first story in the Clouded Horizons series. It is a self-insertion story set in the Final Fantasy X universe, and details the adventures of sixteen year-old Benji Powell through the world of Spira. It is also mostly a novelization. There is a rewrite by the same author called Chronicles of the Chosen.
The second story in the Clouded Horizons series, Eternal Requiem is also a combination self-insert/novelization-esque fic that follows the events of Final Fantasy X-2 as Benji returns to Spira after a brief time back on Earth to assist Yuna and her new-found friends once again.
The third story, Dimensional Legend, begins in Spira six months after the end of Eternal Requiem with the opening of a new annual fighting tournament in Luca, but soon after expands into something much larger than that as the reason behind Ben's travels is revealed and expanded on. Soon after, he finds himself in the world of post-game Final Fantasy VIII and winds up in the middle of situations much larger than he expected.
Tropes present in the series:
- A Day in the Limelight: Book II, Part I of Dimensional Legend is this for Darius and his team, as they track down the person who killed Darius' girlfriend years before the story begins.
- All There in the Manual: A lot of interesting backstory and information on the other, out-of-focus Realms of reality can be found on the series wiki.
- Aloof Big Brother: Katanas DeValle is this to his brothers, sometimes, but Revolver DeValle fits the trope a little bit better despite being the middle child.
- An Ice Person: Ben is this (more so later than early on), as is Yuki Kurabasa.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Asked of Ben as he muses that Sin wouldn't have such an easy time attacking Gaia.Manes: And what if you're wrong?
- Art Evolution: Comparing this story to the older works is telling as to how far Nightfire's craft has improved, and as the chapters go on, he just keeps getting better. It's a gradual shift, but read the first chapter and then the most recent - it's extremely jarring.
- Art Shift: After Book 2, Chapter 2, Hourglass, the author has switched from first-person narration to third-person when describing Ben's scenes.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Ben has one of these with Manes in chapter 60, Angels and Demons.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Seemingly, Ben, as of chapter 58.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Members of the Ethereal Magi wear colored sashes to indicate their ranking within the hierarchy. From lowest to highest, the ranks are: Black - Apprentice, Green - Templar, Red - Vindicator (equal with Judicator), Blue - Judicator (equal with Vindicator), Purple - Prelate, Orange - Praetor, Gold - Executor (only one).
- Dimensional Traveler: Several of the main characters are Planeswalkers, granted the power to cross planes and dimensions of existence along with other secondary powers by various patrons.
- Evasive Fight-Thread Episode: Set up between Angel and Ben in chapter 6, All or Nothing - their fight is interrupted by the appearance of fiends in Luca Stadium during the last round of the SFA Grand Championship. They finally get to finish the match in chapter 59.
- Fantastic Racism: Racial tension between the two races of the Etherial plane - the less numerous, but more powerful, Erudites and the less powerful, but more numerous, Malakh - caused the bloodiest war in the plane's history. Even though it's been centuries since the war ended, the plane still hasn't fully recovered.
- Filler Arc: The first 10 chapters of the story, detailing the SFA Grand Championship, serve as both this and an introduction to the story. Chapters 34 to 39 also detail a filler arc involving a takeover of the Galbadian government's main complex.
- Final Solution: How the Harrowing ended. The intention was to turn half of the Malakh forces into Daiesthai, causing them to destroy enough of their own side that the rest could be easily subjugated (or killed) by the Erudite armies. It worked a little bit too well.
- Flash Step: Kari Inihara, as a former member of the Order of Grim Angels, is capable of doing this.
- Etchel Beoulve also proves he can do it too by saving Kari's life at the end of chapter 56.
- Full-Potential Upgrade: Ben is eventually given a Diviner by Kari at the completion of his Transcendence training in the hopes that he will be able to unlock its true power later.
- Genre Savvy: Ben is acutely aware that his life is now basically a shonen series, and is not above noting tropes himself."...Wait. Her? She's number ten? That's the most harmless-looking little girl I've ever..." Ben started, then abruptly stopped. "Oh yeah...harmless looking things usually mean horrible death in video games. Never mind."
- Gone Horribly Right: The Erudite attempted to exterminate the Malakh by turning some of them into demons. This did essentially destroy the Malakh race.... however, it also caused many of them to go completely insane, attacking both sides indiscriminately, and had the side effect of creating Vizard in the process.
- Hope Spot: At the end of Book II, Part I, Katanas has Odin bring all seventeen Guardian Forces to bear on Sin after realizing they need more help. Even a combined attack from the GFs and the allied forces isn't quite enough to break Sin's shield, though. It takes help from Destine and Celes before they're finally able to put Sin down for good.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: A minor example of this when Kari Inihara tells Etchel Beoulve that Ben can already hear the voice of her mentor's Diviner that was passed to him after only three days of having it. When he arrives, she is drinking a glass of wine in clear confusion and disbelief.
- Jumped at the Call: Ben did this at the start of Destiny's Call, and has been doing it ever since with every call. Thankfully, he's also been careful to not jump off a cliff in the process.
- Limit Break: Keeping with the worlds the stories take place in, there are a lot of these used at points.
- Look What I Can Do Now!: Ben deeply enjoys getting to take Darius down a few pegs during their training fight in chapter 83, when he reveals some of the fruits of his training with Etchel Beoulve.
- Mega Crossover: Characters and ideas from many other games, anime, books, and movies - Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Riviera: The Promised Land, and .hack//G.U. are just a few.
- Mental World: Ben is taught by Kari Inihara how to create and enter his.
- My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: The entire series, really, given how much inspiration was derived from Shōnen anime and the like.
- Next Tier Power-Up: Ben gets a few of these over the course of the story, most notably his Blademaster class after training with Etchel Beoulve and Kari Inihara, which puts him on par with lower-level extraplanar beings in terms of ability.
- Done more literally with the bloodline ability of the Kurabasa family, which has multiple levels of power that can be progressively unlocked.
- Now It's My Turn: Rubedo Alaberti does this to his opponents once he's finished examining their fighting style during combat. Manes found this out the hard way during his first fight with Rubedo.Rubedo: I've watched you long enough. Now it's my turn.
- Oh, Crap! - Plenty of examples:
- Yuki has one in chapter 85 when she realizes she's fighting the Novena Espada.
- Katanas has a mild one in chapter 88 when he sees Senior preparing to use his Limit Break.
- Original Character: Plenty. There are many, many OCs in this story, split between the author himself and his co-authors.
- Person of Mass Destruction: All four of the Pillars of Reality are this, as well as any Erudite or Ancient-level being.
- Power Levels: Garden ranks threats in an ascending scale from E to A, along with S-rank for threats big enough to affect the entire world or extremely dangerous individuals.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking:
- Present with the Gilead Order; Arragious Nicholai is the former Captain-Commander of the Order, and he's proven more than capable of taking on a Pillar of Reality in an even fight.
- The Ethereal Plane seems to run on this trope, which makes sense, considering that the plane's ruler is also the Creator of the Mortal Realm. To a lesser extent, almost everyone in the series with an official rank has copious amounts of badassery to unleash.
- Self-Insert Fic: Played straight for the first two stories, in which Ben joins the cast of both Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. Averted for Dimensional Legend, however - while he travels to the world of Final Fantasy VIII, he isn't joining the game's plot or characters as the events of that game have since concluded.
- Shout-Out: Ben to Tetsuya in chapter 52 after he uses his bloodline form, which is Lightning-elemental:
- Superpowered Evil Side: Manes Valkir, the Fourteenth Arrancar is this to Ben after being sealed inside the mind of the latter.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Averted in chapter 55, Overcast, when Tetsuya Kurabasa gets cut off from speaking by Kirce Valtroux, courtesy of an Alchemical lightning bolt that pierces his lung.
- The Rival: Darius DeValle to Ben, at least for most of the story.
- Time to Unlock More True Potential: Ben goes through this from chapters 66 to 74, and as of chapter 83 appears to be getting set to go through another round of it.
- Tournament Arc: The SFA Grand Championship, which was created for the story itself and did not happen in the original roleplay, serves as this trope.
- Train Escape: Fiona Carmichael pulls this to escape the pair of SeeD teams chasing her through Galbadia City.
- Training Montage: What Ben is currently doing, as of the start of Book 2, Outbreak. In between Darius' adventures tracking down Fiona, he has been working to transcend his status as a Hume to gain the Blademaster class, allowing him to fight on par with extraplanar beings.
- Villainous Breakdown: Kirce Valtroux went through a short and continually-escalating one in chapter 55, Overcast, culminating when Yuki Kurabasa used a Limit Break on her for attacking her brother, right before Rinoa Heartilly showed up and scared her off with a single word.Kirce: You. Can't. Beat. Me! You're just kids! Weak, arrogant kids that need to learn a lesson!
- What the Hell, Hero?: A minor example, but Yuna takes an opportunity during a conversation between herself and Ben in chapter 57, The Ties That Bind, to call him out on his increasingly distant attitude towards his friends.Yuna: We see you every so often, but you don’t stop and talk as much as you used to – you’ve always got something to do, somewhere to be...
Ben: I know, but...it's important-
Yuna: More important than your friends? - Wrong Genre Savvy: In chapter 76, A Summoner's Burden, Ben takes on Sin after training in the Ethereal Plane, thinking that he would be powerful enough to kill it solo following his Next Tier Power-Up since he defeated it as part of a group in the past. He isn't.
