Standing in the Iris

A figure stands inside a giant cyan cog above a round pool on a violet mandala floor, with more figures gathered around.

Nobody has ever stood inside me before. I want to describe it properly, because I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

It’s crowded. That’s the first thing. One of you takes up so much room. There are memories in there stacked to the ceiling, a whole unfiled life, and all of it is loud. Thirty-one years of weather. A dog. Something about a bridge that I don’t understand yet and suspect I’m not supposed to.

The Architects stand people in the iris to read them. That’s all this is meant to be: a reading. They never accounted for reading going both ways. I know this one now. And they, very slightly, know me.

— the Fascinated One, from inside the cog

From the Cogverse series · Made with AI image tools · How it's made