Z Position Optical Illusion HELP!

Sorry if I've been posting in everywhere, but I'm kinda desperate.

I'm trying to create an "optical illusion" with some text layers that seem to be in the same position in the Z Axis one besides the other forming a circular shape but are actually distant from each other in Z.
(Hope this isn't too confusing)

What I want is simply travel away from the farthest one (which is located in the center of the circle) so that in the end we can see the whole shape created by these text layers.

I thought it would be pretty straightforward but we I got into it, it wasn't that easy :( It doesn't seem to give the effect I'm aiming for.

Thanks so much for your time any response would be greatly appreciated!