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I'd figured I'd submit an actual story here sooner or later. I'm also surprised there's no "Komodo" keyword.

This is a birthday gift to my Komodo Twin friends, Jeffron and JustaTheReptile

The point of view is mostly from their perspective. I made it clear when it isn't. I also didn't specify which of the two is actually narrating the story, so I'll leave that up to your imagination, or they decide one who gets to be the narrator. Hehee.

I have been working on this on-and-off for months. Sometimes I could a whole paragraph in under an hour. Other times it took me a few days to write a single sentence. I'm submitting what I wrote so far. There will be a "Part II", I just don't know how long that will take to get done.

So, without further ado...

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Damn it, I hated this long journey! But, now that it's over, I'm realizing it was worth it.

After what seemed like an eternity of hiking, my brother, myself, and our King could see the city of Airam. The mayor of the city sent a personal invitation to King Larcus for the city's annual celebration. The journey here was VERY uneventful, My brother though of it even less, but since He wanted both of us to come with him, we couldn't refuse. "Take a look." Larcus said to us, and we gazed at the magnificence of the city. "They say that 3500 years ago, the final battle of the Rageon Wars was fought in the barren fields not far from the city itself, when it was a small village. Airam has since dedicated that day to Jestarius and his allies with their Rageon Festival. They also say that Rageons gather at the Hero's Garden when the Festival begins." At that moment, I saw in my brother's eyes that he was thinking... I didn't like that idea either, but since we've never went to this festival, there's no way to tell if that would actually happen. "Now." Larcus broke us out of our gaze as we both looked back at him. "While we're here, both of your actions will also affect how the city will view the Komodos, so PLEASE don't do anything stupid or destructive." All we could do was nod to him. "Good." He said. "Now, into the city.".

It took us a little while, but we finally reached the city gates. We were welcomed with open arms. Once inside, I could not believe what I am seeing. A huge city, with tall structures, and filled with many different Reptilions! Larcus once again got us out of our gaze, even though he himself seems impressed. "I have to see the mayor. Remember, Nothing stupid or destructive. You're both free to explore the city until nightfall, where you meet up with me at the Cleran Inn." My brother and I simply nod to him. "Good." Larcus smiles to us. "I hope you both have a good time while we're here." He then turned around and went his own way, leaving us alone at the city gate... although we knew where we wanted to head first.

"Race ya to the Hero's Garden." I told my brother.

"You're on!" He replied with a smirk. We each dashed in a seperate direction.

Man, this city is bigger than I thought! I've been wandering for quite some time, and I still didn't see anything that looked like a garden! One thought that kept a smile on my face was that my brother is having the same difficulties that I am. I stopped to catch my breath, wow was it lucky for me! I looked up and I saw a sign:

HERO GARDEN ---->

I grinned and followed that arrow. Finally, I'm going in the right direction! I saw a couple other signs pointing towards the garden, each one made me happier. It didn't take me long now to reach the garden. Once I made it, I was surprised to see my brother waiting for me at the garden's entrance. "Heh, for once I actually beat you at something!" he said to me.

"Heh, you're right for once." I replied, keeping in mind what Larcus said to us.

We both entered the garden and immediately were greeted by an ancient statue of Jestarius. The sheer size of the statue, plus the fact that it still looked like new amazed us both.

"So that's him..." My brother said.

"Yeah... Our ancestor... He actually looks like a fusion of us..." I replied.

"If he was he would have been purple." My brother said, which gave us a slight chuckle.

We were still chuckling as we headed deeper into the garden, which had statues of Jestarius and his allies. We saw Orolos' statue, the strongest rageon of the group. it was said that he was Jestarius' first ally. We also saw Remira's statue. Her ability to use any weapon expertly without any training scared her opponents. There was also Golm, whose lightning powers shocked the Dark Rageons in disbelief; Farrallan, who made the winds extensions of himself; Beryline, who used force as her weapon; and many others whose identities curently slip our minds.

As we approach the last statues, we see someone gazing at one particular statue. When he were close enough, the person turned and saw us.

"Tremor!?" we said in shock.

"Well, well, if it isn't Jeffron and Justa." Tremor replied.

"I'm surprised to see you here." I said to him.

"A lot of rageons will be here for the festival, so there's a good chance we'll see all our friends while were here. I was also asked by my King to come here. Why are you two here?" He said to both us.

"Our King brought us with him." my brother bluntly said.

Tremor simply smirked. "Heh, guess he wanted you two to see the festival." He turned back to the statue. My brother and I also look at it.

"Castleton. They say he mastered the power of True Resurrection..." I said.

"The only guy of the group that wasn't a warrior..." My brother added. Seeing the statues in the garden, that made sense. All the Rageon statues in the garden appeared like warriors or mages, but Castleton looked more like a scholar.

"And that he came from a prestigious academy that vanished centuries ago." Tremor added. As we stared at the statue, I wondered... What did Jestarius see in Castleton to have him be a part of the group?

The three of us never noticed that a few hours passed as we stayed in the garden. When we heard footsteps coming towards us, we turned around and saw what looked like a caretaker come toward us. "Are you three enjoying the garden?" she asked; to which all three of us nodded. She had a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry, but the Garden is closing early in preparation for the festival." We all nodded. We were disappointed, but we understood the importance of the festival. "Come, I will lead you to the exit." she said to us. We nodded and followed her to the exit of the Garden. "The Hero's Garden will be open during the festival, so you will have more time to visit." she said.

"Thank you." We said simultaneously.

As we went into the plaza in front of the garden, Tremor turned towards my brother and I.

"We'd better head back. I'm sure our Kings are wondering where we are." he said.

My brother and I nodded. "Ours as well." I said.

"I'm sure we'll meet again during the festival." My brother added.

"I'm looking forward to that." Tremor replied as he smiled, then headed off. My brother and I started back towards the city proper.

As my brother and I got back into the city, I turned around to him and said. "Hey."

I saw the look of confusion in my brother's face when he asked. "What?"

I then asked him."Do you remember what was the name of the place Larcus told us to meet him at?"

He pondered and thought for quite some time. "The name... sounds like a metal, or something. What do you remember?" He replied.

I then pondered and thought for quite a while. "It started with a *Kh* sound." I replied.

"Then let's start looking." he said, to which I nodded.

We stayed together as we searched. We saw quite a number of weapon shops, armor shops, trinket shops, even corpicure salons... I don't know why... but none of these shops had an actual name. We looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was setting.

"We're not in the right part of the city." My brother realized.

"Oh, really?" I replied sarcastically, then the realization struck me. My brother could see that in my face, "We'd better find the inns quickly." I said in a more serious tone. My brother nodded and we walked together down the street. We were a bit frantic to find our way, but we kept calm. Those words from Larcus kept reverberating in our heads.

The townsfolk started lighting up the street lanterns as the sun set. We still haven't found the inns, but at least we aren't walking blindly aound the city. We started getting nervous, as we did not want to be brought back by Larcus. After hours of searching, we finally swallowed our pride and went up to a guard. "Excuse us." I said. The guard turned towards us.

"We're lost." My brother added, something I did not want to say; but we did see the guard smile some.

"I take it you two are new here?" He said. We both nodded.

"We're looking for the inns." My brother replied.

"I'll guide you to the inns, if you'd like." the guard said.

We smiled and nodded, gladly accepting his offer. The guard smiled back and said "Follow me.".

For a few moments we were going back the way we came, then he turned left onto a side street we hadn't seen before, which we followed him. This street only had one lantern in the middle, but both ends were illuminated by the main street lanterns. It took a little while, but when we reached the other side, we were amazed at the sheer size of these buildings! "These are are the inns. I hope you can find the one you're staying at." The guard said. His voice got us out of our trance.

"Thank you." We both said.

"Anything else you two need?" the guard asked us.

"No thanks." I said.

"You've been a big help!" my brother added.

"Well then, you both take care now." He said and headed back to his post.

We watched the guard leave, then we started at each other. "Which way do we go?" I asked him. We both looked to the left and to the right. inns down both ways. At least their signs were lit by the lanterns.

"Let's try the left." my brother suggested. I nodded and we headed to our left. As we walked, we looked at the name of each in, remembering what we knew of the name. Majestic? Evermore? Daventer? Fresh Spring? Some nice names, but they didn't fit what we were looking for. Ironkey? It had a metal in its name. King's Choice? It began with the sound we remembered. Neither of those had both. There were even a couple inns that didn't have names... or at least we couldn't see any names. When we reached the last inn on this side, we took a good look at the name. The Cleran Inn. Our faces lit up. "That must be it!" We both said as we rushed towards the front door of the inn.

Backtracking a few minutes..... In the main lobby of The Cleran Inn, Larcus waits; a few guards surrounding him. Larcus has been waiting patiently for a couple hours, but the looks of worry and concern cover his face. "They should have been back before the darkfall." He said upsettedly.

"Let us look for them." One of the guards suggests.

"Maybe in a few minutes." Larcus replies, keeping an eye on the inn's timepiece, watching the minutes and seconds tick by.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The lobby is eerily silent. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The minutes silently go by; Larcus and the guards still wait. Nothing. Not even a pin drop.

"They are quite overdue..." Larcus contemplated. "Alright. I've mentioned to you all what they look like. They must have gotten lost, so please find them and bring them here." Larcus finally gave the order. One of the guards heads for the door.

"You should have given the order an hour ago. We'll start looking for those two right a--." The guard starts to open the door, when it opens up with greater force from the other side, and the guard gets thrown out of the inn by the momentum. "WHOA!" screams the guard.

My brother opens the door to the inn. As he does so, another guard that was apparently opening the door got thrown out. "WHOA!" he yelled as he fell flat onto the street. We picked him up and carried him back into the inn. There we saw Larcus with a small handful of guards. They take a good long look at us, then they turn to Larcus.

"Looks like you don't need us now." one of them says.

Larcus then sees us. "So I see." he says. "Thanks for your help anyway."

The guards nod and proceed to leave, taking the other guard off of our hands. As they leave, they close the door behind them. leaving us alone with Larcus. "Really, you two have quite the impeccable timing." he said to us. that statement made us blush. "Have a seat over here." He said to us. We saw that he was sitting in a small area with 3 chairs and a two person couch, with a small table in the middle of them, and he was sitting in the middle chair. My brother and I sat down on the couch.

"I take it you both got lost?" Larcus asked us. We nodded our heads, an apologetic look on our faces. "Since this is the first time either of you visited Airam, I can understand. I'm not upset at either of you. But please, next time either of you feel like you're lost in the city, ask someone." he told us, and we nodded silently. "Alright then. I wanted to ask you both if you brought your Ceremonial Wear for this trip." Larcus said to us. He could see the shock and disgust on our faces. "I know you two don't like the Ceremonial Wear, but the Rageon Festival is considered a formal event, especially for rageons. Luckilly I had arranged for a caravan to carry the things we couldn't carry on our hike. All your gear, including the Ceremonial Wear, have all been placed in your room." Larcus pauses his lecture and hands us each a set of keys. "Those are the keys to your room. There are two locks on the door and you each have a working set of keys, so there should be no fighting between you two." Larcus continued, to which we nodded and took the keys. "And be sure not to lose them, or you'll have to answer to me." He added. We both gulped and nodded silently. "I know you two had a long day today. Get some rest and we'll discuss more things tomorrow; and don't worry, I will let you both know when you need to wear the Ceremonial Wear." Larcus finished his lecture. We both nodded, stood up, bowed to him, and headed for our room.

As he watched both of them leave, Larcus went to the front desk, where the innkeeper had been eavesdropping on them, not that Larcus minded.

"A bit rough on them about the keys, weren't you, your highness?" The inkeeper asked him.

"They need to be more responsible. They also affect my reputation here in Airam, and I don't want to leave a negative impression on the city." Larcus replied.

The innkeeper nodded. "I understand. I just hope they behave themselves while you're not around, your highness."

Larcus smiled softly and said, "I'm sure they will. They get a little rambunctious, but they still have good heads on their shoulders."

The inkeeper then sighed a bit, still concerned. "Well, if they do cause a ruckus, your highness, the staff and I will come right for you."

to which Larcus simply responded, "Thanks for the warning," and headed to his room. Once inside, one thing he noticed is a painting on the wall. Looking at it, he sees that was a portrait as Jestarius and his group, with Airam village in the background. "Jestarius... What were you like? What drew them all to you?..."

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I do hope you have liked my first story submission here. I proofread what I wrote, but my writing style is still a "work in progress".

Now for the Legalese...

Jeffron, Jestarius, and Tremor belong to Jeffron

Justa and Larcus belong to JustaTheReptile

"Rageon" is a term shared by both of them.

Other named and nameless characters are mine, unless I missed something.

Please do not use any of these characters without permission. Thank you.