,,,,,~%§##                                          ##§%~,,,,,
,.~†%$$$$#                                          #$$$$%†~.,
,.~††%%$§§                                          §§$%%††~.,
,.~†%$§###                                          ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§###                                          ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, ###§$%†~.,
,,,,,.~%$§ ,.†            THE  SPIRE            ~†, §$%~.,,,,,
,.~†%%%§§# ~†.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†~. #§§%%%†~.,
,.~†%$§### †~. ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A    †.~ ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$#### †.~ BENEVOLENT  SPIRE, TOWERING WELL .†~ ####$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### .†~ ABOVE OUR TALLEST TREES.  IT WAS .~† ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### .~† CLAD IN WHITE SCALES, AND SHAPED ~.† ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### ~.†       LIKED  A   MUSHROOM.       ~†. ###§$%†~.,
,,,,,~%$$§ ~†.      WE  LOVED  IT  DEARLY.      †~. §$$%~,,,,,
,,,,..††%§ †~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†.~ §%††..,,,,
,.~††%%§## †.~ IT PREDATED  US BY  MANY YEARS,  .†~ ##§%%††~.,
,,,,.†††%§ .†~ AND WE DID NOT KNOW ITS ORIGINAL .~† §%†††.,,,,
,.~†%$$§## .~† BUILDERS.  THEY  HAD  USED  ITS  ~.† ##§$$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### ~.†  HOLLOW  BODY FOR  MANY STRANGE  ~†. ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%%%$§# ~†. PURPOSES - A WOMBLIKE PLACE  OF  †~. #§$%%%†~.,
,,..~†$$## †~.  GESTATION,  A STORAGE OF STRAGE †.~ ##$$†~..,,
,.~††%%$$§ †.~ FLUIDS, A TEMPLE TO SOME KIND OF .†~ §$$%%††~.,
,.~†%$§### .†~    ARCANE    DEITY.              .~† ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### .~†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.† ###§$%†~.,
,.~†††%$## ~.†  WE   WERE  GRATEFUL  FOR  ITS   ~†. ##$%†††~.,
,.~†%$§### ~†.  PRESENCE, AND  HONORED  IT  THE †~. ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### †~.  ONLY   WAY  WE  KNEW  HOW:  BY  †.~ ###§$%†~.,
,.~†$§#### ,.~        BREAKING        IN.       .~, ####§$†~.,
,.~†%$§### ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, ###§$%†~.,
,,,,,.~%§#                                          #§%~.,,,,,
,,,,,,~%%§                                          §%%~,,,,,,
,,.~†%%§§# ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, #§§%%†~.,,
,,,,,~†$## ,~† THIS PLACE WE CALLED OUR  CITY:  .†~ ##$†~,,,,,
,,,.~%$$$# .†~ WAVY  AND FRACTURED,  WITH  EACH †.~ #$$$%~.,,,
,,,,.~~%%§ †.~ COURTYARD ON A DIFFERENT HEIGHT, †~. §%%~~.,,,,
,.~†%$§§§§ †~. ROADS  BECOMING ROOFS  BECOMING  ~†. §§§§$%†~.,
,,.....†$# ~†. DRAINS.  AND SOME  PLACES, LIKE  ~.† #$†.....,,
,.~†%$§### ~.† THE  SPIRE, NOBODY HAD  ACCESSED .~† ###§$%†~.,
,,,.~~†%§# .~† FOR MANY YEARS.  ONCE ITS  WALLS .†~ #§%†~~.,,,
,.~†%$§### .†~ ARE  JUST  TOO  HIGH,  AND  THE  †.~ ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### †.~ INTERNAL ROUTES TO LABYRINTHINE, †~. ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### †~. A  PLACE AMONG OTHERS IS  EASILY ~†. ###§$%†~.,
,,,.~††%$§ ~†.           OVERLOOKED.            .~† §$%††~.,,,
,,,,.~%§## .~†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.†~ ##§%~.,,,,
,,,~~~††%§ .†~ SO, BASICALLY, THAT  SUMMER  THE †.~ §%††~~~,,,
,.~†%$$$## †.~ FOUR OF US SNUCK AND CLIMBED AND ~.† ##$$$%†~.,
,,,,~%%%$§ †~. CRAWLED FOR WEEKS, SEARCHING FOR ~†. §$%%%~,,,,
,.~†%$§### ~†. A SECLUDED PLACE TO DO DRUGS AND ~.† ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%%%$## ~.†  PLAY  MUSIC ON OUR HANDHELDS.   .~† ##$%%%†~.,
,,,,.~%$$§ .~†  INSTEAD  WE  FOUND VAST  LUNGS  .†~ §$$%~.,,,,
,.~†%$§### .†~  DRAINED  OF  THEIR   CATALYST   †.~ ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### †.~ SLUDGE, AND A BIRDS-EYE VIEW TO  †~. ###§$%†~.,
,,..~~~†%§ †~. MAKE SENSE OF OUR  ROAMINGS  FOR ~†. §%†~~~..,,
,,,,,.~†$# ~†.        YEARS   TO   COME.        ~.† #$†~.,,,,,
,.~†$§#### ~.†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~† ####§$†~.,
,,,.~~†%§# .~† A  CENTRAL  SPINE, A  STAIRCASE  .†~ #§%†~~.,,,
,,,.~††$$§ .†~ AROUND  IT,  THE  SEVEN TOROIDAL †.~ §$$††~.,,,
,..~~~~%§# †.~ LUNGS STACKED  OUTSIDE,  AND THE †~. #§%~~~~..,
,,,,~~%%§§ †~. CONTROL ROOM ON TOP. THE SOCKETS ~†. §§%%~~,,,,
,,,,,,~%§# ~†. FOR ITS EYES. THE SMALLER SPIRES ~.† #§%~,,,,,,
,.~†%$§### ~.†  FOR   RADIATING  CONSCIOUSNESS  .~† ###§$%†~.,
,,,,,.~%$# ,~†           INVITATIONS.           .†, #$%~.,,,,,
,.~†%$§### ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, ###§$%†~.,
,,,,~†%$##                                          ##$%†~,,,,
,.~††%$$$# ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, #$$$%††~.,
,.~†%$§### ,.† IN TWENTY FOURTEEN, THE TOWER IS †~. ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### ~†. TOPPLED  AND  EATEN BY MACHINES. †.~ ###§$%†~.,
,.~~††%$$# †~. AFTER A WHILE,  SOMETHING NEW IS .†~ #$$%††~~.,
,.~†%$§### †.~  CONJURED IN  ITS PLACE. IT'S A  .~† ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### .†~  TINY MAW AT FIRST, SHORTER THAN ~.† ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### .~†  US,  AND  WE  LET IT  BE.  OUR  ~†. ###§$%†~.,
,,,,~%%$§§ ~.†  JOURNEYS STILL END AT ITS FEET. †~. §§$%%~,,,,
,,,,,.†%§# ~†.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†.~ #§%†.,,,,,
,~†%$§#### †~. BUT  THEN WE  ARE BETRAYED. THE  .†~ ####§$%†~,
,,,,.†%%§§ †.~  NEW TOWER EATS  US. OTHERS ARE  .~† §§%%†.,,,,
,.~†%$§### .†~ SUCKED INSIDE. NEW BUILDINGS ARE ~.† ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### .~† MANIFESTED  OVERNIGHT,  ONLY TO  ~†. ###§$%†~.,
,,,,,.†$§# ~.†  DISAPPEAR IN  THE  EVENING FOG. †~. #§$†.,,,,,
,.~%$§#### ~†.  FOR A WHILE ITS  SOME  KIND OF  †.~ ####§$%~.,
,.~†%$§### †~. TIMESHARE SCAM. GOONS ARE PLACED .†~ ###§$%†~.,
,,,,,,,~%§ †.~ OUTSIDE, AND WE GET BEATEN UP A  .~† §%~,,,,,,,
,.~†%%$§§# .†~  FEW  TIMES,  AND  STOP  GOING.  ~.† #§§$%%†~.,
,.~†%$§### .~†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†. ###§$%†~.,
,.~††%%$§§ ~.† IIRC  IT'S  CURRENTLY  OWNED  BY †~. §§$%%††~.,
,.~†%$#### ~†. SOME ENERGY DRINK BARON WHO USES †.~ ####$%†~.,
,,...†$$§# †~.  IT TO HOLD ALL HIS FOURTY EIGHT .†~ #§$$†...,,
,.~†%$§§§# ,.~            CARS.....             .~, #§§§$%†~.,
,.~†%$§### ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, ###§$%†~.,
,.~†%$$§##                                          ##§$$%†~.,
,.~†%$§###                                          ###§$%†~.,
,,,,,,~%$#                                          #$%~,,,,,,
,,,~†%$$##                                          ##$$%†~,,,
,,,,,.†%§§                                          §§%†.,,,,,