I stepped outside the world tonight, But nobody saw me leave. The houses stood beneath the moon, The stars refused to speak. I walked beyond the edge of things, Past everything I knew, And found a sky of broken lights That somehow wasn't blue. The first plane came like laughter, A kingdom made of gold, Where every heart was overflowing And nothing could grow old. They called it **Ecstasy**, And everything was bright, But happiness became a prison When there was nowhere left to hide. Then **Admiration** opened, With towers reaching high, Where every soul was looking upward At something in the sky. I followed all their gazes, But I couldn't see the throne. I realized that worship Doesn't mean you aren't alone. **Then Terror found me.** No warning. No sound. Just darkness underneath me And nothing solid around. I ran until the shadows Began to run with me, And every star above me Looked like an eye that could see. **I am running outside the world, Where reality doesn't fit. Where the stars keep blinking secrets And I can't make sense of it. I'm somewhere between the heavens And the ground I used to know. I'm looking for a doorway home, But I don't know where to go.** Then came **Amazement**, And suddenly I could see A million impossible things That shouldn't exist with me. Nebulas became cathedrals, And galaxies became flames, And every point of starlight Was whispering someone's name. I reached for one bright constellation, But it scattered in my hand. The farther that I reached for it, The less I understood the land. Then **Grief** came like winter. No stars. No sound. Just memories of everything I'd ever left behind. I saw the faces of the people That I loved and couldn't save. I heard their voices in the distance, Calling softly through the haze. I tried to answer. Nothing came. Only silence. Only rain. Then **Loathing** opened underneath me, A place I didn't want to see. Every flaw I'd ever buried Was standing there in front of me. No mirrors could distort it. No excuses could remain. I saw the things inside myself I'd spent my life afraid to name. And I wanted to run. So I ran. Again. Until **Rage** became the road beneath my feet. I screamed at all the heavens, I screamed against the night. I screamed at every unanswered prayer, At every wrong and every right. I asked why I was wandering Beyond the world I knew. And the stars kept turning. And the stars kept shining. But they never answered me. Then came **Vigilance**. Quiet. Cold. Still. A plane where every shadow might be something coming near. I learned to watch the darkness Without surrendering to fear. I stood beneath the starlight With my back against the void, Waiting for some sign of meaning, Waiting for the world to make a noise. But nothing moved. Nothing spoke. And that's when I finally understood— **I wasn't lost because the road had disappeared.** **I was lost because I had stepped beyond the map.** **I'm running outside the world, Where reality doesn't match. Where every road becomes a spiral And every door becomes a trap. The starlight keeps on twinkling, But I cannot find my way. I'm searching for the place I came from At the ending of the day.** Then something moved among the stars. Not a planet. Not a light. Something older than the darkness Moved beyond my sight. And suddenly all the planes Began collapsing into one. Ecstasy became sorrow. Terror became wonder. Rage became stillness. And vigilance became hope. The eight worlds were not eight worlds. They were pieces of me. And I had been traveling through myself Trying to find the way home. So I stopped running. I looked upward. And for the first time, the stars didn't seem so far away. **Maybe I don't have to understand them.** **Maybe I only have to follow the light.** One star. Then another. Then another. Until the darkness became a road. And somewhere beyond the edge of everything I knew, I finally saw **the way home.**
