The Syker Key by Aaron Martin Fransen

One: Burn
     
    The Key had been in the hands of human hosts for thousands of years. It was comfortable. It had, in fact, known humans since its construction. But it knew change was coming. It knew, but it was not permitted to show it’s bearer the future.
    To the eye it was a simple round crystal, barely four centimeters across, with thousands of facets on it’s surface cut by means unknown to men, by means not shared by its creator.
    It was a simple device, used only to focus thoughts, to be able to give certain thoughts physical impact. It did not care to the intent of those thoughts, and in fact was completely impartial, refusing to take sides in the battle between creation and entropy. It would not, of its own accord, affect change.
    It knew about the coming bombardment from space, but was simply not permitted to warn it's bearer. It also knew that the bearer should have been able to detect it, but due to those vagaries of human behaviour it found confusing, he did not.
    When the comet storm arrived, it was thrust up and out of the atmosphere in the same widespread devastation that nearly eliminated mankind. Millions of tons of earth excavated in a single day as fire and smoke engulfed the planet, followed by immense waves that finished nearly all that was left.
    In less than one rotation, nearly six billion humans, not to mention countless animals, lost their lives. It was, almost literally, the end of the world.
    From its orbit around the sun the Key waited, protected by many layers of rock and dust, dirt that had followed it into the sky.
    Slowly, mankind began to rebuild as it watched. Societies strong enough to build monuments, pyramids, cities, and then empires.
    It knew that descendants of it’s last bearer had survived, even though genetic lineage was meaningless. They were the only ones left with access to the technology to build the pyramids, both in the east and in the west. The Key had taught them many things, and moving megalithic stones was the last thing they remembered.
    And, in time, even that was lost.
    It watched as Egypt formed, ruled, and decayed. Behind it, Greece, then Rome.
    Then the dark ages arrived as another, thankfully smaller meteor storm struck. Only thousands were lost this time, and man was quick to rebuild, taking only a few hundred years.
    But before the dark ages passed, it would find a candidate.
    Just over eight thousand years, and finally it found an opportunity. It had travelled far, protected in its rocky cocoon, calmly absorbing energy from the sun and waiting.
    It found its target, and for the first time in many millennia it tasted air as it chose to return. To the region known as Gaul it flew, fell, engulfed in fire from the extreme velocity. Many would watch the fireball.
    Only one would find it.

Two: Rediscovery
     
    792 A.D.
     
    June in Gaul was beautiful. Fruit everywhere, bugs chirping, animals in abundance. Summer's warmth tended to bring out every manner of creature and plant as they took advantage of the long days and plentiful sunlight.
    This had been a better summer than most too. Only a few decades previous had seen scores of rocks fall from the sky, and in turn hid the sun for far longer than was comfortable.
    The sight of a disheveled rider on horseback prompted most of those animals to scurry out of harms way, but the rider himself was certainly in no hurry.
    The rider yawned and scratched his beard, the length of the day taking its toll. Summer in paradise indeed. He hated to waste daylight by not covering miles, but spending long days on the back of a horse was taxing, to say the least. His ass was just plumb sore. Years of studying the mystic arts had not taught him any wonderful methods of easing the pain of riding.
    The beard in fact betrayed his 38 years, wide patches of grey throughout. Many thought him older.
    Pan Syker rode his steed through the lighter brush where he could, avoiding the clearings. Best not to be in the open, exposed. The beauty of