you can still feel it
distant
somewhere
the feeling of fake leather against your ears
the pressure of shaped foam against your forehead and cheeks
the faint sense of your skull being held
gentle but vice-like
but it recedes
fades with every passing gate
they’re moving fast now
almost a blur
leaving after-image streaks and cheap-acid trails as you pass through each one
deep learning super sampling struggling to maintain frame rates
low over the water you start to decelerate
as the final gate emerges from the mist
slow now
weightless to a full stop
for a nanosecond nothing
not a thing
no movement
enough to make you wonder if it’s crashed
eyes darting
trying to see the ever-elusive periphery
the feeling of not-leather and foam creeping back
and then words appear
formed from air
Welcome to Red Gates
v. 0.126b
Step Through
step through
into
a void
nothing but horizon
a grey grid of pencil-thin lines
stretching away from you, barely visible
grey on grey
you fight panic
more words from air
Manifest your space
Create your calm
Focus
a sudden explosion of light on the horizon
like a technicolor sun rising
and then gone again
Focus, manifest your space
somewhere
still distant
through the foam and leather it feels the magnetics of your thoughts
watches the changing blood-flows of your memories
another burst on the horizon
half formed mountains
a hint of distant lakes
little more than an impression
childhood recollections
more emotion than memory
awoken into imagery by a thousand unknown
unwilling artists
their work stolen by secret mathematics
and then gone again
Focus, clear your mind of all but the space
counting breaths
you close your eyes
and surrender to it the attention it demands
Focus
your eyes open
crystal planet
the mountains are back
but stabilized
fully formed
prismatic structures towering above you
their peaks reflecting light into interlocking spectra
emotion engulfs you
unsure whether it’s the beauty of what you’ve manifested
or relief that it works
Don’t fight it
Feel it
the emotion is too much
too distracting
attention drifts
mountains crumble
landslides of pixel dust
rainbow evaporation
Focus
you close your eyes again
reimagine
open them and its all back
but more
heightened clarity
the highest of definitions
OLED bright
Focus
and it stays
let the noise back in and it crumbles
simple rules
hard to master
counting breaths again
you push forward into the vista
and start to climb
distant ceremonial percussion
strings plucked from the air
crystalline precision like frequency modulated sine waves
a palace in the clouds
hewn from the crystals around it
sculpted by algorithms that glance your thoughts
the path is so steep now that you’re almost pulling yourself up vertically
hand over hand
fingers feeling
struggling for grip
Focus
attention
Focus
struggling for grip
every misplaced finger
every failed attempt at purchase
betrays your distraction
and crumbles a place wall
raining crystalline boulders down on you
suffocating you with particle effects
Focus
I can’t
panic spiral
the death of
Focus
and it’s gone
your hands surrender to your mind
the palace collapses
taking the mountain with it
and you fall
anger and frustration
trying to grasp at something that’s not there
simple rules
hard to master
Focus
fuck your rules
Focus
rejection/rebellion
fight/don’t feel
enough of being controlled
let your mind be fleeting
Focus
is this all this is,
just more control?
a million images flourish and die
a thousand landscapes blink in and out
Enlightenment ain’t easy
Focus
below you the grey looms,
the grid rushing up to meet you,
shimmering and flexing as it opens up,
into wormhole
Step Fall through
falling,
rapt in chaos
the tunnel strobes with memories
low rate samples and deep-dream sketches
isn’t this really who you are
Focus
no
I won’t
the strobe accelerates
the fall quickens
the images blur
somehow both too vague and too detailed at once
you want to celebrate this
admit it’s you
revel in the noise of your unquiet mind
but anxiety creeps
exhilarating
but nothing to hold on to
nothing to ground yourself
This isn’t why you’re here. Focus.
you stare down
no ground below your feet
you scream, frantic
deep below red gates
deep under the grey
you kneel on cold floor
a moment of clarity
why step through the gates if you don’t want clarity?
why come here if you’d rather celebrate chaos?
why fight it?
Focus
yes
I will
close your eyes
recite the marketing mantra prayer:
RED GATES makes ego-death effortless.
Best In Class Digitally Mediated Wellness Practice.
AI Led Memory Extraction and Visualisation.
Create And Maintain Your Own Personalised Environments Through Focus and Manifestation.
Whole Worlds Are Just a Thought Away.
Designed for Mind-Body Health.
Try for Free. Breathing Techniques.
Meditation 3.0.
Companion App.
Enlightenment.
Like and Subscribe
you’re in control now
or is it red gates?
does it matter?
Focus
I am
Don’t drift
I won’t
your eyes open
and the grid is full.
Populated by memories
the ones that blinked in and out when you first entered
that strobed past you as you fell
but solid now
stable
beaches
a summer holiday
school playground
a kiss
emerging from a movie theatre at noon
blinking into daylight
a cottage on a lake
a new job
sun rising over post-party debris
holding skin-cracked hands in the snow
nostalgia
longing
regret
mistakes
the past
everything that distracts you
tricks you
occupies you
defines you
controls
it feels good to see it all like this
externalized
doesn’t it?
doesn’t it?
In order to build a new you,
you must destroy the old
a sensation of rising heat
you glance down at your open hand
flames flickering
growing from your palm
You must destroy the old
you drip fire from your palm
watch flames twist and grow
your memories burn
In order to build a new you, you must destroy the old
landscapes on fire
something tugs at you
a sense that you should enjoy this more
be invigorated by the illicit abandon of burning your own self
but you feel nothing
just calm
calm and quiet
calm and quiet and Red Gates
Succumb
out of the fire it emerges
as red as the flames
but impervious to them
even as they caress it
the final gate
A new world awaits, a new you
Step through
Process complete
Ego uninstallation successful
Subject operating at 97.98% clarity
[USERNAME] is safe and well in RED GATES