Luckily, he had previously took a dump in anticipation of this moment.

Kazex looked up. The stars were gone. There was just a deep oppressing void in the sky lit by a single putrid green moon. It was as if the entire night sky had been transported somewhere else.

But there were no dragons in sight.

Kazex pouted in annoyance and got to his feet. He was so fixated on the sky, that he didn’t notice the figure cloaked in black standing a few steps away until he nearly walked into it.

Upon noticing the newcomer, Kazex yelped and leaped a few paces back.

The figure was hauntingly tall and gave off a sinister aura. In place of its face, there was only a pair of glowing red eyes under the hood. It lifted its hand from under its cloak and gestured with its palm in a placating manner. Under the sickly green moonlight, Kazex could see that the hand wasn’t human, despite the figure’s human-like frame and proportions. It was black with scales and its fingers had long, cruelly sharp talons.

“Greetings little one,” the figure in black spoke in an alarmingly grating voice. “I am called Ozokar. What shall I call you?”

“Ka-Ka-Kazex?” Kazex stammered, still unnerved by the figure’s sudden presence.

“Well met, Kakakazex. I have come from a very far place in search of something that my kind desperately needs. I can sense that you have that very thing in your possession. Can I perhaps interest you in a trade?”

Kazex twitched his long ears in anticipation. “You want this yessss?” Kazex asked, pulling a dried world root from his sling bag, “Da world roooot!”

Ozokar approached Kazex and bent over to look at the root. “Ahhh, yessss. That’s what your kind in this world call it. The world root. That is indeed what I am looking for.”

“And in exchange you give Kazex power, yes?” Kazex said.

“It would seem you are familiar with the transaction. Perhaps you have heard of it from your predecessors,” said Ozokar.

Kazex bit his lip and twitched his ears impatiently. “Power? Yes?”

“Yes little one,” Ozokar replied. “I can bestow upon you a blessing from my kind, in exchange for that root that you hold.”

Kazex narrowed his eyes. “Wat blessing?”

Ozokar studied Kazex for a moment. “You are weak, little one. Perhaps, you would appreciate a blessing that would make you mightier?”

“Hmmm, maybees. What else blessing?”

“Alas,” Ozokar replied, “While there are near limitless variations of blessings that my kind can bequeath to one of this plane of existence, it also depends heavily on the quality of the receiving soul. I do not mean to be insulting little one, but your existence is rather minor, even relative to your already minor plane. Your soul is weak. I can only provide you with basic blessings that directly enhances the nature of your being to a certain degree. Any greater blessing would destroy you.”

Kazex pondered the words of Ozokar. “Soooo, Kazex cannot gets biggg blessing because Kazex soul not big enuff?”

“In essence, yes, little one.”

“So canz Kazex gets blessing that makes Kazex soul more bigg?”

“Yes, that is possible,” Ozokar said, “But that would be lost on you. A greater soul without a greater vessel is pointless. You will not be any different as you are right now if you choose to partake a greater soul blessing.”

“But after, Kazex can receive bigger blessings?”

“Alas, while technically that is true, my kind has agreed to only provide one blessing in exchange for a single root…”

Kazex pulled a second root out of his bag.

Ozokar was speechless for a long while. Finally, he spoke again, “I-is that… a second root?”

“Yesh!” Kazex replied proudly.

“Two in the same cycle?” Ozokar asked, “And in the same place? T-thats… The odds of that is just…”

“So canz Kazex gets twos blessings?”

“Yes, Kazex,” Ozokar said, “I would be glad to exchange two blessings for such a bounty!”

Kazex grinned and stroked his chin. “Why do youz want world rootz so much? What youz use it for?”

Ozokar glanced away momentarily. “It is an exceedingly rare ingredient. And my kind desperately requires it.”

“Ingredient? Is it for foodz?”

“W-well, no, not exactly,” Ozokar replied, sounding evasive, “It doesn’t matter! It involves concerns that does not apply to your plane of existence.”

“But wat if Kazex can get more rootz?”

Ozokar went still. “What are you talking about? That’s not remotely possible. Only one root can grow on this plane every cycle. And even so, the chance to find one is infinitesimally small. In most cycles, the root just gets eaten by lesser creatures without being discovered. My kind can only detect the root if a creature with some measure of intelligence finds it. Only six whole roots had been found in the past two thousand years.”

“But I has twos,” Kazex said, dangling the world roots before Ozokar.

“Y-yes, well… You must be very lucky indeed, little one.”

Kazex tapped his foot impatiently, “If youz tell Kazex why youz needs it, Kazex can get you more.”

Ozokar leaned forwards to stare down the little goblin. “Hmmm… Very well. I suppose there’s no harm,” he sighed before he continued, “Listen well then little one. We are the Ular, a race of cosmic dragons that exist in the void far above your existence. For many eons, we have been at war with the Celestials. They are what you and all the beings on this plane would refer to as gods. It is a never-ending war, one that has always and still is being fought to a standstill.”

“Ooooo… war of da godz?” Said Kazex.

“Indeed, little one. However, in recent millennia, we Ular have been fighting on our back foot, so to speak. We are slowly losing the war. The sole reason is that we have become unable to reproduce.”

“Ooooo… no fark-fark?”

“Errr.. yes. Well put. You see, the male Ular have been having… equipment problems.”

Kazex grinned and nodded knowingly. “Ahhh… Old tribe chief have same problem.”

“Right… However, the situation is much more dire for the Ular. We have lost all ability and even desire to procreate entirely. For a time, all hope seems lost and our race seemed destined to descend into extinction. But then, a dimensional imp appeared to us with an elixir he had concocted. Just by imbibing that concoction, a male Ular would be overwhelmed with desire and his reproductive capabilities would be rejuvenated, for a time.”

“Ah… Kazex know to make potion to make old tribe chief can fark-fark again too! But Kazex never told him. Hee-hee.”

“Amusing, I’m sure,” said Ozokar, “As I was saying, we obtained the elixir, which we named Viagara. We eventually worked out how to synthesize it, and found that we had everything we need to produce massive quantities of it for our race to maintain our population. Everything, that is, except for a single rare ingedient.”

“Da world rooooot…”

“Indeed, little one. I speak of the very root… or roots, that you hold in your hands. Luckily, not much is needed to produce adequate quantities of Viagara. With just one root, we can make enough of the elixir to keep a select group of breeders going for about a hundred years.”

Kazex scratched his head. “But youz so powerful. Why don youz juz takez it from Kazex? Why trade?”

“Ah, that,” Ozokar said. “Well, several reasons. Primarily, since this plane is not born from our essence, there are limits imposed upon us should we wish to enter this plane. Technically speaking. I am not here right now. This body is merely my avatar used to navigate this plane. Secondly, the very act of removing items from an existence would destabilize the reality of said existence. In order to procure what we need, we would need to offer something in return. Call it equivalent exchange.”

“Power for yucky root iz equivalent exchange?”

“The root may be useless to you, but it holds great value to the Ular. Likewise, dispensing blessings to a lower minor plane is incredibly trivial for us Ular, but I reckon those blessings would hold great value to you and your fellow creatures here, am I wrong?”

“Yes! Very value to Kazex!”

Ozokar nodded sagely, “And thus the equivalent price point is established somewhere in the middle of how much we value each other’s commodity. It is merely economics, little one.”

“Ooooo… Kazex understands now.”

“So, might we then initiate a trade? Two whole blessings for the two roots that you have.”

Kazex cackled loudly. “Hahahahha hehehehe. Twoz rootz… Hahahhaha.”

Ozokar stared and blinked at the little goblin. “Have I said something that you found amusing?”

“Hehehehe… hahaha. You comez here. Follow Kazex,” Kazex said as he trotted off.

“Hey! Wait…” Ozokar said. Silently, without the slightest sound of a single footstep, Ozokar zipped after Kazex, as if he was floating above ground.

Kazex lead Ozokar to the tall wooden silo he had constructed, cackling with glee all the way. He stopped in front of a crudely constructed wooden latch door at the side of the silo.

“What has gotten into you little one? Please, might we just get on with the trade?” Ozokar said.

“Oh yez,” Kazex said, “Kazex wants to trade all his rootz.”

“All?” said Ozokar.

“Allz!!!” Kazex declared and pulled open the silo door.

An avalanche of dried world roots immediately came pouring out in great quantities, nearly burying the two.

Ozokar got up and brushed himself down. Then he gawked at the abundance of world roots that had washed under him.

Kazex’s right foot was sticking out of the hill of world roots nearby. Only his muffled cackling laughter could be heard.

“Hehhehehehhehehe, Hahahahahahahaha, hahahahahahahah, hehehehehe.”