The Captain (The Last Horizon, #1)

by Will Wight

“The path won’t let you down,” one of my mentors had told me. “If you don’t stay at the top of your game, you’ll let down the path.”

“Someone has the biggest gun on the planet. It might as well be you.”

A pair of ghostly hands made from the same light formed over the bridge. They were cupped together, hiding something between their palms, and as the hands drifted closer I could see they were large enough to cover my entire body. When the hands drifted down to the floor in front of me, they separated, revealing a woman. She was made entirely of blue-green light, like a hologram with no obvious projector. While humanoid, she did not take the form of a natural human. Horns rose from her head like coiled roots, and the irises of her eyes were seven-pointed stars instead of natural circles. She wore long robes, her hands were serenely folded, and she gave me a peaceful smile.

She looked amused. “I have the Aetheric power and weight of any planet in the galaxy. I thought you would understand such concepts, sevenfold Archmage.” I felt an instinctive shock at hearing the title, but I was more interested in the capabilities that Horizon had just revealed. The ship obviously had access to some external source of information. My great-grandfather hadn’t been born when The Last Horizon was sealed here, and if the ship had a magical way of scanning me to detect my magic, Horizon wouldn’t have said ‘sevenfold.’ “Sixfold, actually,” I corrected. “Ah, is that so? My mistake.” She made it sound like she hadn’t made a mistake at all, like she was playing along to humor me.

“You may be the greatest mortal Archmage, but I see in you a legacy of failure. Each of your lives has ended in death and disgrace. Now, haunted by ghosts of the past, you are but a weak and broken thing. So tell me yourself, Varic Vallenar. “What makes you worthy of me?”

“It is considered by many to be a myth, though records certainly exist of ships claiming to be The Last Horizon. Supposedly, the entire ship is one Zenith Device, though Aethertech is not my area of expertise. It carries enchantments from a host of Archmagi, three World Spirits, and supposedly an astral dragon. “Such is the legend.

“If it would help improve your performance, I could pretend to be sentient.” Her face took on an unconvincing expression of doubt. “What is my place in this universe? What is my meaning? My impending mortality lends a sense of value to my rapidly dwindling life.” “Piercing accuracy. There’s no doubt you’re self-aware.” “Do not be fooled. It was only an imitation.” “I wasn’t fooled.” “No need to be embarrassed. The nature of sentience is to fall for flawless deception.”

Raion put his fists on his hips. “I am Raion Raithe!” Illusory fireworks exploded behind him. The little girl clapped like she’d seen a trick. The Fallen Sword did not look impressed.

Sometimes, I thought people would benefit from a death or two, just to teach them a healthy respect for the value of their own lives.

While the whole ship was an ostentatious display of wealth, this was the kind of magic I appreciated. It was purely aesthetic, with no point other than to look impressive. Magic should be magical.

“Oh, I know. But I have given him the chance not to die a fool.” “…Last Horizon, did you intend to send that transmission? Because you have threatened a military officer and Galactic Union representative.” “It is a stubborn beast of labor that must be whipped until it listens,” Horizon continued. “Oh, I’m sorry, did I send that too?”

Horizon frowned. “I’m not sure the Subspace Drive will work.” “We have to try,” I responded. “I’ll do everything I can to hold us together in Subspace so we can reach the Grand Hive in time.” “So what you’re saying,” Horizon said, “is that we should strive to dive with our Drive to reach the Hive alive.” I looked up from the computer. “There’s nothing in the archive! We’ll have to connive and contrive a way to survive.” “And when we arrive, we’ll thrive.” I held up a hand. “Give me five.”