Meow Wolf certainly knows how to create an air of mystery. Cryptic billboards. Pink fliers asking for “Used Shrimp Memories.” And perhaps most enigmatic, the Denver venue for the Santa Fe-born arts and entertainment company’s third permanent location: The nearly windowless, tall white building shaped somewhat like a slice of pizza in the Sun Valley neighborhood boasts the same magnetism as an unopened gift waiting under the Christmas tree.

But 5280 likes to unwrap presents early.

Ahead of Meow Wolf Denver’s September 17 opening, we toured the cosmic merging of four distinct universes at the building dubbed Convergence Station with story development director James Longmire. The 360-degree approach to storytelling, as Longmire describes it, allows guests to explore strange worlds—a mystical swamp, a grungy city street, a crystal palace—and unravel a mystery.

Convergence Station’s team of writers worked alongside hundreds of artists, including 110-plus creatives from Colorado, to deepen the tale. Molina Speaks, a Denver artist and project director for a room called “Indigenous Futurist Dreamscapes Lounge,” is one such voice. He was inspired by the work of Denver artist Stevon Lucero, who has been painting his lucid dreams and visions for more than 40 years (Lucero himself worked on the room, too).

Those explorations of reality, dreams, and consciousness bring an indigenous perspective to Convergence Station’s study of memory and community, and is just one example of the important role artists played in crafting the final narrative. The result, Longmire says, is that each individual piece of art gels together with the overarching tale of Meow Wolf Denver. “Everything still makes sense within the broader themes and narrative,” Longmire says. “And often, it makes sense in profound, unspoken ways that we couldn’t possibly have engineered.”