I reached into my pouch, pulled out the dormant Uber-Heartstone, and held it up. The shadow-face recoiled, hissed at the sight of the dormant machine, and the humming frequency intensified.
"We're passing," I said, my voice finally finding its CEO steel. "And if you try to take a 'toll,' I will use this Stone to vacuum up every scrap of mana in this forest. Don't test me. I've survived a corporate board meeting with a hangover; you're just a glorified curtain."
I looked at the "Iron-Oak Gap." I looked at the mud. Then I looked at my silk shoes, which were currently the only thing standing between me and a very literal "downward spiral."
"Walk? Through that?" I gestured vaguely at the narrow, thorny bypass. "In this dress? With this blood pressure? I think not. I didn't claw my way up the corporate ladder to end up as a muddy footnote in a forest bypass."
