The assault was not on her body, but on her mind. As the gears turned, a torrent of images, sounds, and emotions flooded her consciousness, a chaotic, overwhelming storm of psychic energy. She saw things, impossible things: a city of glass floating in a sea of clouds, a knight in shining armor battling a creature made of shadow and starlight, a baby crying in a burning field, a fae with eyes like the night sky weeping over a broken star.
They weren't her memories. They were... echoes. The echoes of everyone who had ever touched this door, everyone who had ever tried to solve this puzzle. Their hopes, their fears, their dreams, their nightmares, all swirling together in a maelstrom of raw, untamed emotion.
She cried out, a sharp, choked gasp, her hands trying to pull away from the cold, unforgiving stone. But she was held fast, an invisible force keeping her in place, forcing her to endure the psychic onslaught.
