Tamer of Cosmic Beasts

Akash looked at the screen in awe.

"All-Devouring Dwelling, that sounds domineering but... whose voice was that?"

He pondered to himself.

Suddenly, everything vibrated, and waves rose as if struck by a seismic shock.

~BOOM~

Akash heard a gigantic blast, looked towards its way, and guessed it came from the empty pond. Dust rose and Akash squeezed his eyes to see it better as he heard a strange noise, akin to boulders being crushed. Something rose from the dust and a fist smashed the outside of the pond, a dragon's fist. It didn't take long for the rest of its body to come into view or rather, obstruct Akash's whole view as its height seemed to reach the skies.

It was all made of stone, Akash thought it resembled a marionette dragon rather than an actual living dragon.

~BDOMP BDOMP BDOMP~

The dragon hiked towards Akash, lowered its head and…

~KIRRAAAAAAAWWHRRR~

It let out a sharp and deep shrilling roar at Akash, piercing his ears, yet he didn't flinch or showed any signs of fear, rather, he clenched his right fist and bared his claws on the left.

Akash was perplexed about this puppet's identity.

"How can a marionette roar like that?"

He thought.

After the roar, the dragon laid down on the ground and opened its mouth, inside of which a portal could be seen, proving that the dragon was indeed under something or someone's control. Akash could guess where this portal would lead to. He looked at his fist and claw and pondered in disbelief.

"This roar should have been powerful enough to stun a Star King, yet I am not affected!"

He rejoiced in his newly evolved powers.

Akash started to move towards the dragon's mouth. As he came, he suddenly heard countless roars of dragons from the chasm. Akash halted his steps and focused on his hearing. The roars were getting louder. Akash caught the aroma of different varieties of fried meat. Calculating the possibilities, he concluded that there was a festival going on inside the rift, a festival of beasts. A gust of humid air kissed the naked body of Akash. He licked the tip of his finger and raised it to understand the air type. After which, he squeezed his eyebrows together and said.

"Oh, so, the next training ground is a jungle."

Akash stretched his body, giving rise to cracking sounds throughout all his bones. Akash felt like all the fatigue had been lifted from his body as he sighed loudly in pleasure.

"Hahh... alright."

Following this, he marched towards the puppet dragon's mouth. Once inside, his eyes widened. All his assumptions were correct except one, it was not just a festival of beasts, but rather, it was a festival of dragons. Akash saw a straight boulevard path in front of him, leading to a gigantic temple.

There were thousands of drakkoths and dragonkins in sight. The former was a species of four-legged humanoid lizards, while the latter were distant relatives of dragons, taking a hominine form and losing out on some power in the process. They were preparing a variety of dishes, playing drums and trumpets.

As Akash walked towards the temple, he noticed 10 humongous pillars surrounding it. The temple was so wide and tall that it reached the clouds, there was even a dragon on it. Akash assessed that dragon, but he felt it looked more like a giant serpent, entangling the entire temple.

~FARLAAP FARLAAP FARLAAP~

Startled by the strange clapping noises, coming from the cloudy sky, he couldn't see what it was or from where exactly it was coming from. The sounds seemed to surround him from every angle.

~SLAM SLAM SLAM~

10 terrifying large dragons landed on the 10 pillars, surrounding the temple.

"You made us wait too long, Akash Tagar."

A slim looking dragon complained to Akash. He was of green colour with stripes of turquoise and teal tint.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Akash bowed and apologized.

Akash tried to ascertain their cultivation level, but he couldn't find any hints.

"They all seem beyond my level of understanding." Akash presumed.

Akash looked to his surroundings.

"What are the celebrations about?"

An august golden dragon replied.

"It's because you are finally here."

"Our long wait has come to an end, at last."

A brownish-red dragon continued as lava dripped from his gums. His teeth were bright orange just like heated steel.

Akash looked at all the dragons and asked respectfully.

"May I ask who you all are?"

The same slim Green Dragon started.

"I and these 9 are the surviving Lords of His Highness's army. I'm the Poison Dragon King, Duran Subedar."

The brownish-red dragon was second.

"I am the Fire Dragon King, my name is Roro Subedar."

The golden dragon spoke third.

"I am the Light Dragon King, I'm known as Daki Subedar."

The fourth to speak was a female dragon. Her wings' colour resembled ice while her nails and teeth were blue. She had ice covering her back and the pillar she was standing on was similarly covered in ice as well.

"My name is Frost Subedar, the Ice Dragon Queen."

The fifth's turn came, and a gigantic bulky dragon spoke.

His body was of a brown colour, carrying a mountain full of timberlines on his back, wingless. He humphed at Akash rudely.

"The Forest Dragon King, the name is Jeeth Subedar."

Next one was the smallest one of them all. His eyes glittered purple lightning, his colour continuously changed from blue to sapphire to violet, back and forth. Lightning of the same trio of colours flickered on his body. He smiled at Akash and bowed.

"The Thunder Dragon King, Oronol Subedar at your service."

Suddenly, everyone looked towards the 9th pillar. An intense killing intent emerged from it, directly towards Akash Tagar. Akash was startled, he felt fear again after a long time.

"Oyee, what do you think you are doing?"

Duran looked at that dragon with a side-eye.

"You guys are pathetic."

The dragon retorted and continued.

"He smells like that Proud Sabretooth, and... and you bowed to him."

Frost replied with a smile.

"So what? He also smells like Lady Dawn."

"It won't change the fact that he is also the successor of that damned cat, he reeks of the smell of my people's blood. Let me kill him in Sabretooth's stead and avenge my brethren."

"Are you done?"

A dragon on the last pillar spoke for the first time.

"No... I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Say anything more and I'll bury you right beneath your pillar."

Silence filled everything. Even the Drakkoths and Dragonkins stopped when they heard this voice.

"Hey there, I am the Wind Dragon Queen, Coronela Subedar."

The female dragon of the seventh pillar spoke to ease the atmosphere. She was white, with her body entirely covered with feathers. She looked more like a big bird than a dragon.

The eighth was a pitch-black dragon, hiding his presence better than any of the others.

"I am Kaliya Subedar, Darkness Dragon King."

Now came the hostile ninth's turn. He had a crimson red coloured body with a blood red spine protruding out from his back

"I am Zidiro Subedar, Blood Dragon King. Unfortunately, I am a king of no one but myself now. My kind was brutally killed and feasted on by Proud Sabretooth."

There was a hint of hatred and ill intent in his tone.

Akash looked towards him.

"I am so sorry for your loss, Lord Zidiro. However, It was not me who did that, I am here to help you all. Don't hate me for something I am not responsible for as I would never do something like that."

The last to speak was a dragon completely made of bones, nothing else. No skin, no flesh. Yet, he was the most terrifying of all. There was a strange vibe of pre-eminence revolving around him. He was the one who had threatened Zidiro earlier. He smiled at Akash and knelt.

"Hello, New King. I am Hadda Subedar, Martial Dragon King."

As Hadda knelt, every other dragon knelt as well, including the drakkoths and dragonkins. The only one still standing was Zidiro. Out of nowhere, a mysterious loud thunderclap echoed throughout the sky. Only Akash and the 10 dragons were unaffected as the rest had collapsed. A tremendous power could be felt behind that thunderclap. Akash was scared once again, but this time, it was not directed towards him.

Zidiro started to tremble. He smashed his huge head on his pillar and spoke.

"I apologise, New King. Please, forgive me."

Akash was puzzled at the scene.

"Al... alright, stand up."

As all the dragons rose Akash looked at Duran and asked.

"What do you meant, when you said you are His Highness' Lords?"

He already had some vague guesses, but he wanted to confirm it.

Duran replied respectfully.

"Our King, Omni Dragon King, was the ruler of our dragon Cosmos. He had established an army with a stable rank system. He was the King, behind him were the Lords, below them were the Earls and at the bottom were the soldiers. Each planet was given only 10 Lords and 100 Earls, there weren't any limits on the number of soldiers."

Akash's eyes widened. It was the same ranking structure that the System gave to Akash, making him ponder…

"Was the System made by the Omni Dragon King?"

Akash threw another question.

"Why all of your's last name is Subedar? While, your tribes are different"

Roro replied.

"We are dragons, we are not named at birth. So, Omni Dragon King named us all, he gave Subedar as last name to all Lords and gave Jamadar to all Earls. Our ki..."

Roro was still speaking but all of a sudden, a huge typhoon erupted, and trees were flung many miles away as thunder roared throughout the sky. All the 10 giant dragons knelt once again.

Akash looked at Hadda, who was calm. Akash understood the situation and asked.

"Is this how he always makes his entrance?"

Hadda didn't move and replied.

"Indeed, that is how The Omni Dragon King always arrives."