Berrick’s staff floated in his smoky hand as he walked around his pedestal looking at each part of it and looking at the ground around it. Asarius and Fleurety watched him, their faces still showing awe.

“What exactly did you do? I mean, how did you change the stone and how are you holding that?” Fleurety asked, his smile only slightly faded, despite the look of consternation on his face.

Berrick glanced up from the pedestal to look at Fleurety then turned away again and said, “Once I started focusing on earth magic, I noticed that part of my body is actually composed of ash. So, obviously, I set the stone rings into a spatial relation with the ash in my wrist. To hold the staff, I just moved the rings focus from my wrist to my hand, had the ring compact itself by focusing the increased density around the stone staff, and moved the ash from within the ring to around it throughout the rest of my hand.”

Fleurety’s mouth gaped wider.

“That’s your problem, now.” Asarius rumbled and left.

Fleurety acknowledged the demon leaving and then focused on Berrick.

“What are you going to do now? Will you create more claws and hold the eggs in them?” He asked.

“Of course not. I don’t have enough ash to position too many rings. Besides, walking around with a bunch of stone claws protruding from my body would be undignified. I shall do this.” Berrick turned from the pedestal he had been examining so closely and tapped the ground nearby with his staff. As he did, an exact replica of the pedestal, minus the egg, grew from the earth. Berrick then pointed the top of his staff at the egg. The stone claw began to move as it reached the egg and wrapped itself around it. Berrick picked up the egg with the staff and turned towards his new pedestal.

Meanwhile, Fleurety watched in continued amazement.

“You’re building pedestals for the eggs?” Fleurety asked.

“Welcome to the plan, Floury.” Berrick said and set the egg on his new pedestal.

As the claw released the egg and it sat on the new pedestal, it began to crack. Berrick scowled as the pieces of eggshell fell around and a demon emerged from within. A Great Dane sized hellhound rolled off the pedestal and drooled a bit of lava on the ground where it landed. It barked once at Berrick and Fleurety before bounding away.

“Well, that was a decent hellhound, at least.” Fleurety said, watching the hound leave. “And my name is Fleurety, not Floury.”

Berrick watched the retreating hell hound fondly then glared at his created pedestal. He kicked it. Or tried to, but he didn’t have feet so much as a dwindling torso extending down from his hips. He switched between examining his pedestal and the original a few times before looking back to Fleurety.

“That should have worked.” Berrick said.

“To be honest, I thought it might as well, but, ultimately, that pedestal is still made of the ground.” Fleurety responded.

“But I made it. You said that one of the Egg Guardians could put eggs on nests it had made using magic.”

“Ah, yes. Nastya builds nests to keep the eggs in. However, all of the materials she uses are enchanted with her magic to separate them from regular items.”

“So I need to do more than change its shape…” Berrick paused in his sentence and turned back to the two pedestals. He examined the original for a minute then move back to his and moved his hands over it from bottom to top.

“What did you do?” Fleurety asked.

“I poured my essence into it. That should separate it from regular stone.” Berrick answered.

Just then, another egg appeared in the base of the distributor and fell into the original pedestal.

“Perfect timing.” Berrick said as he grabbed the white egg with red spots with his staff’s claw.

“Are you certain you should try it now? Should you let it mature in case this doesn’t work?” Fleurety held up a hand to get Berrick’s attention.

“No, I’m quite confident.” Berrick said and set the egg on his new pedestal.

Fleurety grimaced for a moment, but nothing happened. The egg sat on the new pedestal without cracking.

“It worked!” Fleurety exclaimed.

“Of course it worked. I did it.” Berrick stated proudly.

Berrick prepared to speak again, but another egg fell from the distributor. This egg was solid black but for a slightly darker black spot near the top that seemed to shine. Berrick examined the new egg for a moment then turned back to Fleurety.

“Why are they all so different?” Berrick asked

“What?” Fleurety raised an eyebrow at Berrick.

“The eggs, they’re all different colors and designs. How am I supposed to interpret them?”

“The different colors and designs indicate different kinds of demons. I don’t know how to interpret them, myself. That’s always been a secret of the Egg Guardians.” Fleurety answered.

They were distracted from their conversation, however, by a cracking sound coming from behind Berrick. They looked at the source, which was the egg on Berrick’s new pedestal. The eggshells fell to the ground, and an eyeball the size of a human’s eye flapped a pair a bat-like wings to stay aloft above the pedestal. The eyeball blinked at the two demons and flew away.

“How did that happen?” Berrick wondered aloud and approached the empty pedestal.

He looked it over a few times and exclaimed, “My essence leaked out. It seems the stone could only hold it for so long. Obviously, this is inferior stone.”

“Inferior to what?” Fleurety asked.

“Superior stone.” Berrick answered and held his left hand to his chin, as though stroking it.

He appeared to ponder the problem for a few minutes while Fleurety watched. Suddenly, Berrick raised his staff and tapped the bottom against his pedestal with a noticeable discharge of energy.

Fleurety noticed the energy release and asked, “What was that?”

“Since it couldn’t contain my essence for very long, I turned to a more permanent solution. I gave it my mark as its creator.”

“Gave it your mark? You mean you named it as an enchanted item?” Fleurety questioned as he moved close enough to examine the new pedestal himself.

“It wasn’t difficult since it’s just a copy of someone else’s work.”

Fleurety looked at him again. “But it should be impossible for a novice enchanter to give items a mark. That requires one to be a master of their craft.”

“Well, what else did you expect from a master like myself?” Berrick answered then moved to an area nearby the two pedestals.

Berrick tapped the ground with his staff, and another pedestal rose from the ground. When it was finished forming, he tapped it again.

“I suppose I shouldn’t get too carried away yet.” Berrick said and grabbed the black egg with his staff’s claw. As he turned toward the first pedestal he had made, a small, red, demon with horns floated through the air towards them.

“Fleurety! I have important news!” It shouted, “This distributor has been blessed with an egg from the queen!”

Berrick set the egg on his pedestal and let it go.