The distraction was all that was needed.
In the back of his mind he could hear Will yelling "Fire!" But it hardly would have made a difference.
Right behind Jessica's wall going up and being dismantled by Will, Arthur and Catherine each used the ground underneath the mercenaries to throw them down as bullets started to flail in every direction, except at their intended target.
Pan turned his attention to defence. As Will started to fight back, Pan tried to parry his every move. He countered every attack, blocked every attempt to get through, John could sense the struggle; Will was powerful, and Pan wasn't going to last long.
But just then John was ready. Enough energy had been concentrated, now he could act. At his whim, he constructed two silos of charged particles, extending from Will all the way into the upper atmosphere, reaching through the magnetosphere, where it met with the nearly unfiltered solar wind. Untold trillions of particles that were the building blocks of everything from matter to energy were suddenly arranged and focused, acting as a funnel for the massive electrical current being generated by the sun and being, under normal circumstances, blocked by the Earths magnetic field. John punched a hole through, allowing the energy to stream freely.
The effect was dramatic and instantaneous. Electricity always looked for the path of least resistance, and John gave it one, from the heavens straight down to the Rocky Mountains, to a small clearing, and ultimately to the very location Will stood.
Will, in fact, closed the circuit himself.
In an instant a thunderbolt the likes that had not been seen on Earth in many millennia struck. Will saw the energy buildup, and even tried to block it, but it was too much, and too fast. The bolt itself was beyond imagining, but not beyond memory. Countless civilizations in the past had watched such bolts rip through the planet, even between the planets.
Will evaporated into charred dust with a clap so loud it burst the eardrums of every person in the clearing.
At least, every person not behind Pan's protective wall of compressed air. Even with the protection, John's ears were ringing like they never had, and he suspected he'd be seeing stars for weeks.
Even with his eyes closed the flash had been impossibly bright. He was thankful that at the last moment he had forced the eyes closed of all those close to him.
He fell to the ground, exhausted. Jessica went to him, kneeling down to grab him in a fierce embrace. "It's not over yet," she whispered in his ear. He could barely hear her over the ringing.
When he looked at her though, she had a smile on her lips.
His first priority was his son, but he could sense he was only a moment away, running towards them. Still safe, good.
At the other end of the clearing lay the mercenaries, most unconscious, all bleeding from the ears, and a few were missing; the unfortunate souls too close to Will when the bolt struck. John hardly considered them unfortunate.
But Jessica was still smiling at him. What was he forgetting?
The eclipse. It was still dark. And at that moment he felt it reach totality, and his universe exploded again as the Key appeared finally, already in his hand, and flashing its brilliant blue and purple light.
The key had a new bearer.
John thought he there were no secrets left. He thought there was little that the Key would show him that Pan and Jessica hadn't shown him already. And he was surprised at the absolute depth of his ignorance.
What the Key knew, he now knew, and it was overwhelming, like taking the drink from the proverbial fire hose. But even then the Key was holding things back. It knew the limits of its bearer, and would not exceed them, no matter how much there was to learn.
He didn't know how long he was in that state, that rapture of bonding, but when he opened his eyes again, the sky was lightening and his son was sitting in front of him. The Key had stopped glowing.
Zack, smiling, received the strongest embrace of his young life just then. "Come on Dad," he complained when it was clear it wasn't the usual quick hug, "I'm okay!"
John relented and let him go. He could feel his eyes watering, but he didn't know how much was from from the joy of seeing his son safe, and how much was from the experience of becoming the protector of the Key.
"Well John Syker," Jessica said, still kneeling beside him, "you're one of us now I guess.”
***
The Key was at peace, again. The bearer had been chosen, and it was in a way thankful that it was a soothingly familiar presence. In some realities, it had gone the other way.
It knew the effect of becoming bearer was a difficult one, the flood of information demanding, but it would be patient as ever, and let John Syker discover the depths of his responsibilities, and powers, in time.
But not too much time.
There was another threat, but even the Key was unable to gauge it yet. Soon however it would tell John. It would tell John about its brother and sister, to use the quaint terminology.
The Key was never alone.
***
Pan was relieved.
Over a millennia of worry had culminated in this event, and it had ended in their favour. Even he had been surprised at the amount of power John had been able to muster, but he was glad for it.
But he was sad as well. John and Zack's lives would be forever altered now, they would be forever secluded, never able to participate in society. He suspected it would be hardest on young Zack.
No matter, there were still bigger problems.
There were two more Keys out there. It was the one thing Pan kept for himself when he gave up being a bearer; he had to remember the relationship between the three Keys of power.
One Key was a menace, with amazing capabilities. Three were...well it was certainly beyond Pan's imagination.
He watched as his extended family rejoiced. He was happy for them, but he knew by tomorrow he would be leaving them.
After all, he already knew where one of the other Key's lay, and it was time to retrieve it.
The Syker Key Page 7