Image by shamnesh tp from Pixabay

Hialoah lifted her paintbrush from its case and set it on the canvas. The glittering surface pulsed and shifted as the first drop of paint touched it. Slowly a world appeared beneath the strange being’s hands. Mountains, a sea, and a forest took shape.

She finished and she stared at her work of art. She frowned. This looked like every other world she’d created in the past millennium. She went to scrap it. A hand caught her wrist. “No destroying worlds. You know the rule, Hialoah.” The voice was harsh, unforgiving.

“It’s dull and repetitive, Mekiki,” Hialoah protested.

“That’s not its fault. That’s the fault of the artist. Our job is to paint worlds for this new universe, not destroy them.” Mekiki glared at her. “If you want something different, create something different.”

“Every time I try, this is what happens.” She gestured to the boring world she’d created. “It turns out boring in the end because I can’t seem to do anything differently.”

“Do you want to switch departments? Try your hand at sculpting life forms for a while?” Mekiki asked.

“Could I? Maybe a break from world creation would help,” Hialoah told him.

“All right. We’ve got enough worlds to start us off. Why don’t you go join the life sculptors for a while?” Mekiki suggested, his voice a little less harsh.

Hialoah rinsed out her brush and set it back in her case. Maybe a little sculpting would shake her mind loose. After all, they’d been at this for a few millennia now. Surely they had enough worlds to populate by this time. She joined the sculptors, who welcomed her with a smile, and got to work.