Arrival

[Amaterasu]

Urist felt as if overwhelming power surged through his body. Power wielded by the gods, meant not for mortals, a power that should pulverize a lowly mortal as himself by simple contact. And yet, it did not. He huffed several times, looking at his palms. Amazing...
 
"Ah... ah see. Lemme jes'... give me a moment." So this was what a Prime must feel like. His shocked face turned into a broad smile. Words could not describe this feeling... none besides "amazing".
 
He reached out before him and closed his eyes, imagining before him an item that he wanted to leave here. An object for Omni to have. One that would not be as practical as Oki's sword, but one that would hopefully be worthy of being displayed in the Oververse.
 
Before his inner eye he sculpted a grand stone wall, made of marble and with great detail. He wanted it to be lifelike, as if it was a photograph made by the newfangled technology of Coruscant, imprinted into stone. He could feel the eyes of the others resting on him and it spurred him on. Nothing but silence surrounded him but he knew, somehow, that it was working.
 
When he opened his eyes the results of his work surpassed his greatest expectations: a huge slab of marble, five meters tall and some ten meters wide, stood before him. It was good that he had thought of facing sideways from Omni's throne, otherwise it would have created a wall between the group and him. Carved into the marble was a depiction of a snowed landscape dotted with rocks and frozen trees, with a dwarf driving a sled through the snow. That sled was pulled by two thick-furred dogs and had large crates and sacks of cargo on it, secured in place with ropes and a net. Though it was a carving it looked so realistic that one would think that the dogs and the dwarf would start moving at any second, jump out of the painting and ride the sled through Omni's throne hall. It had such detail that one could almost see the happiness shining in the dwarf's eyes - the unbridled happiness of someone doing what they loved - and feel the dogs's soft fur under their fingers. It captured the scene with absolute perfection.

And that was what Urist disliked. He realized that what he had just created was not comparable to a real carving, it was in no way equal to the weeks, months, maybe years that one spent minutiously working with chisels and hammers to carve out the shapes, with rags and files to polish the surfaces, with drawings and sketches to capture one's intent. It was devoid of the errors that made a drawing truly good. Spots where the artist had chiseled away a tiny bit too much, discolorings where the marble was imperfect, scratches and faults caused by the artist's slip-ups - they made the carving "dwarven." This was pristine, exactly as he had willed and imagined it, without the tiniest fault. It did not look like it was made by a dwarf's lifeblood, with years of learning and more years of work. It looked like it had been created by a higher creature, effortlessly and easily.

He felt strangely empty as he eyed his work. "Well... tha' didn' feel as good as ah thought."

Amaterasu stepped up to the marble and ran her hand over it. "I can see why", she said after a moment. "I have yet to conjure a piece of art here in the Omniverse, but I know from experience of my life before I was brought here what happens if you do it by methods than the labor of your hands."

"Is tha' wha' it means ta be a Prime?" Urist asked, glancing towards Omni to see if the deity was admiring the carving. "Ta accomplish anythin' ye want effortlessly, an' better than any work could do?"

"Would you call this better because it looks so, Urist?" the goddess asked in a serious tone. "A Prime can obtain anything they want with Omnilium, but sometimes taking the hard way feels more rewarding. Sometimes you have to use your powers, but if you have a choice you should think it over. For a first timer though, you've outdone yourself", she added and smiled heartwarmingly at the dwarf.

"T'was a picture ah've been meaning ta carve me someday", Urist replied. "Ah been picturin' it back an' forth in me head fer a year or so. Somethin' ta remember me days o' transportin' goods across the Fields." He turned back to Omni. "Well... ah hope ye like it. Hang it from a wall or somethin' if ye do." Well, obviously. He didn't expect Omni to leave it in the middle of his throne room like that. But he didn't know what else to say, and just awkwardly ending the sentence didn't sound too good either. Then something else popped into his head. "Oh, yes. Do ye need ta touch me again ta remove yer... ehh, yer Prime-power blessings?"