Korabas

The Otataral Dragon 

A True Eleint

“Otas’taral.  In every storm there is an eye, a place of … stillness.  Otas’taral means the Eye of Abnegation.  And now, upon the world, we have birthed a storm.” - Kilmandaros - (TCG)

Physical Description

"Wood. An X-shaped cross, tilting  over them, as tall as a four-storey building. The glint of enormous, pitted spikes. And nailed to the cruciform——a dragon. Wings spread, pinned wide. Hind limbs impaled. Chains wrapped  about its neck, holding its massive wedge-shaped head up, as if staring skyward—to a sea of stars marked here and there with swirls of glowing mist.

‘It’s not here . . .’ Pearl whispered.

‘What? It’s right above—’

‘No. Well, yes. But . . . look carefully. It’s enclosed in a sphere. A  pocket warren, a realm unto itself—’

‘Or the entranceway,’ she suggested. ‘Sealing—’

‘A gate. Queen of Dreams, I think you’re right. Even so, its powerdoesn’t reach us . . . thank the spirits and gods and demons and  ascendants and—’

‘Why, Pearl?’

‘Because, lass – that dragon is aspected.’

‘I thought they all were.’

‘Aye. You keep interrupting me, Lostara Yil. Aspected, I was saying. 

But not to a warren. Gods! I cannot fathom—’

‘Damn you, Pearl!’

‘Otataral.’

‘What?’

‘Otataral. Her aspect is otataral, woman! This is an otataral dragon.’  (HoC)

Silchas : He rose and faced Rudd. "We leave now. Korabas awaits."

"What is Korabas?"

"For this we must veer. Kallor's dead warren should suffice. Korabas is an Eleint, Ryadd. She is the Otataral Dragon (DoD)

Kaylith's vision : A dragon reared above her, its slick scales the colour of rust. Enormous spikes pinned its forelimbs, holding the creature up against a massive, gnarled tree. Other spikes had been driven into it but the dragon's immense weight had pulled them loose. Its wedge-shaped head, big as a migrant's wagon, hung down, streaming drool. The wings were crumpled like storm-battered caravan tents. Fresh blood surrounded the base of the tree, so that it seemed that the entire edifice rose from a gleaming pool.

'The slayer, the Otataral Dragon, has been bound. But it will be freed…' Sag Churok's words echoed in her mind. 'They will free it.' Who? No matter, she realized. It would be done. This Otataral Dragon would be loosed upon the world, upon every world. A force of negation, a slayer of magic. And they would lose control of it – only mad fools could believe they could enslave such an entity.

"Wait," she hissed, thoughts racing, "wait. Forces in opposition. Take away one – spike it to a tree – and the other is lost. It cannot exist, cannot survive looking across the Abyss and seeing nothing, no one, no foe. This is why you have lost your god, Sag Churok. Or, if it still lives, it has been driven into the oblivion of insanity. Too alone. An orphan … just like me." (DoD)

"There will be wards."

"Demelain wards, yes," Errastas said.

At that, Kilmandaros growled.

Speak then, Errastas, of dragons. She is ready. She is ever ready.

"We must be prepared," Errastas continued. "Kilmandaros, you must exercise restraint. It will do us no good to have you break her wards and then simply kill her."

"If we knew why they imprisoned her in the first place," Sechul said, "we might have what we will need to bargain with her."

Errastas' shrug was careless. "That should be obvious, Knuckles. She was uncontrollable. She was the poison in their midst."

She was the balance, the counter-weight to them all. Chaos within, is this wise? "Perhaps there's another way."

Errastas scowled. "Let’s hear it, then," he said, crossing his arms.

"K'rul must have participated. He must have played a role in this chaining – after all, he had the most to lose. She was the poison as you say, but if she was so to her kin that was incidental. Her true poison was when she was loose in K'rul's blood – in his warrens. He needed her chained. Negated." He paused, cocked his head. "Don't you think it curious that the Crippled God has now taken her place? That he is the one now poisoning K'rul?"

"The diseases are not related," Errastas said. "You spoke of another way. I'm still waiting to hear it, Knuckles."

"I don't have one. But this could prove a fatal error on our part, Errastas."

He gestured dismissively. "If she will not co-operate, then Kilmandaros can do what she does best. Kill the bitch, here and now. You still think me a fool? I have thought this through, Sechul. The three of us are enough, here and now, to do whatever is necessary. We shall offer her freedom – do you truly imagine she will reject that?" (DoD)

“Because the Holds are Elder, you fool.  It was K’rul’s bartering with the Eleint that made this whole mess – that brought the warrens into the realms, that forced order upon the chaos of the Old Magic.  K’rul’s conniving that saw one dragon selected among the Grand Clan, chosen to become the Negator, the Otataral; while all the others would chain themselves to aspects of magic.  They brought law to sorcery, and now I will shatter that law.  Forever more!”

“K’rul sought peace –“ Errastas to Sechul Lath - (TCG)

“Where she passes,”  said Kilmandaros,  “no life shall ever return.  The stillness of matter becomes absolute.  She is the Eye of Abnegation, the storm’s centre, where all must die.”

 “Mother, we have gone too far.  This time –“

“It’s too late!”  shrieked Errastas.  “She is the heart of sorcery!  Without the Eye of Abnegation, there can be no magic!”

“What?”

 But Kilmandaros was shaking her head.  “It is not so simple as that.”

 “What isn’t?”  Sechul demanded.

“Every storm,”  she said,  “has an eye … of stillness.  Now that she is freed, the Eleint must kill her.  They have no choice.  Their power is magical, and Korabas will kill all that magic depends upon.  And since she is immune to their sorcery, it must be by fang and claw, and that will demand every Eleint – every Storm, until T’iam herself is awakened . And as for K’rul, well, he can no longer refuse the Errant’s summons – he was the one who harnessed the chaos of the dragons in the first place. -(TCG)