Festering Evil: Shattered Past Book 4

Iron Resurgence

David was still having a hard time maintaining his composure after all of that awesomeness that happened right in front of his eyes. He remembered Nova would tell him stories about the Iron Lords, and her father's relationship with Lord Saladin. It was....rocky at best. David shook his head a little bit looking up to the legendary man that was in front of him. The three most legendary figures of his time were in front of his eyes, and he was too busy containing his excitement to continue his line of questioning. 

"What's SIVA Lord Saladin? My big sister would talk about it, but she never told me what it was." David asked curiously. Saladin put his ax on his back and walked up to the large door with a shield with two hands gripping an ax on it. Lord Saladin took a sword hilt from around his belt, and the fiery blade ignited. He wiped away some of the snow that was on the ground to reveal a hole of some sort. He backed up gripping the blade with the tip of the sword pointed at the ground towards the hole. The sword sank into the hole, and the Iron Lord twisted the blade. 

Trails from the ground engulfed in flames and made their way towards the door to the sanctuary. The flames ignited the symbol causing it to glow briefly then the door began to open. "Come inside, I shall explain." He gestured to them. The three guardians headed inside following him. David's eyes went wide looking at the inside of the Temple, the structure had the soft glow of fire flickered off the walls, and there was a large tree in the center. 

"I'm getting some major Lord of the Rings vibes right now." David thought to himself as he looked around the place. The group headed into the large tree chamber, and there were statues of people who wore armor akin to a medieval knight. They either had a sword in their hands or an ax. He looked at the tree in the center and saw the same sword staked into the Earth, with a helmet on top. One that belonged, to a warlock. Or at least that was the conclusion he could draw based on his surroundings. 

He looked over to Saladin then back to the sword. He slowly approached the blade with the helmet still on its hilt. Lord Saladin walked over behind the boy as he looked at the sword. "That was your sister's father's." He said placing his hand on David's shoulder. David looked up to him, and he had his helmet off. His eyes were strained, and his skin was dark. His hair, however, appeared to be gray in color and he had a scruffy, short beard that covered the lower half of his face. David pressed the button to disable his helmet his white and black hair was spiked up at the front like it usually was. 

His sister's father. Nova would talk about her biological parents with him sometimes. She'd visit their grave sites in New York every month on the same day. Every third Wednesday. She loved them very much and would do anything to have them back; she'd cry at that grave for hours. David lowered his head slightly; he wondered what his father in law was like. She told him about her parents, but he would have loved to have met them. 

"Are you alright David?" Saladin asked him. 

"Yes Lord Saladin, I'm alright," David said sadly. Saladin let go of the boy's shoulder. He'd known of David's existence for a long time, he said that he trusted James, but what he was thinking was something else. The fact that he would even consider letting him become a guardian when he first became a teenager was bewildering to him. Even if they kept an eye on him the entire time, he wouldn't have done that if he had a child. Saladin shook his head for a moment and turned to James and Cameron who were looking up at the statues. 

"Saladin, what is this place?" Cameron asked him. 

"This is the Iron Temple, the sanctuary of the Iron Lords," Saladin replied, he sighed for a moment. "It wasn't always this empty; there was a time where these halls were full of laughter, drinks, and stories." He said placing his hand on the large stone ax head of one of the statues. "Anyway, thank you three for coming here on such short notice." He said locking eyes with the other two adults.