Why does the voice in your head never stop?

The words

Years in there. Never saw it.
From out here... that's it?
A few sentences. Brick on brick.
I called it the world.
This one has no walls.
So many lights. Not one crash.
All of it, one way. Up.
I try to follow one. Gone.
Another. Gone.
Who could watch all this?
...Someone is.
Not moving. Not once.
Go closer.
Not yet.
My own voice. It followed me out.
Fine. You come too.
One more step.
...It's looking at me.

About this episode

After years inside a well of his own sentences, a man steps through the gap and looks back. From outside, the well is not the world at all. It is a small tower, a few sentences laid brick on brick. "I called it the world," he says.

Ahead of him opens a system with no walls. Countless lights stream past, all moving one way, upward, and not one of them collides. He tries to follow a single light and loses it. He tries another and loses that too. Who could watch all of this? Someone is: a still figure on a platform, not moving, not once.

He starts toward the figure, and behind him a brick from his old wall lights up with the words "Not yet." His own voice has followed him out. This time he does not fight it or try to leave it behind. "Fine. You come too." He takes one more step, and the figure turns toward him.

Why does the voice in your head never stop? Perhaps because it was never a stranger. It is made of sentences we once said ourselves, and stepping outside does not leave them behind; we can still choose to walk on with them. This is episode 3 of an ongoing story from The Inner Observatory, made by SWB-AI. It continues from episode 2, the moment the wall opened wide enough to walk through, and episode 4 comes next.

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