,^-:$%&¶@# #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ,,,^^^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::^^^,,, @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ,^: the spire -:, #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -:^----------------------------------:-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :-^ once upon a time, there was a :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :^- benevolent spire, towering well ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^:- above our tallest trees. it was ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^-: clad in white scales, and shaped -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -^: liked a mushroom. -:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -:^ we loved it dearly. :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :-^----------------------------------:^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :^- it predated us by many years, ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^:- and we did not know its original ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^-: builders. they had used its -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -^: hollow body for many strange -:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -:^ purposes - a womblike place of :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :-^ gestation, a storage of strage :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :^- fluids, a temple to some kind of ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^:- arcane deity. ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^-:-----------------------------------^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -^: we were grateful for its -:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -:^ presence, and honored it the :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :-^ only way we knew how: by :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ,^- breaking in. ^-, @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ,,,^^^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::^^^,,, #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ,,,^^^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::^^^,,, @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ,-: this place we called our city: ^:- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^:- wavy and fractured, with each :^- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :^- courtyard on a different height, :-^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :-^ roads becoming roofs becoming -:^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -:^ drains. and some places, like -^: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -^: the spire, nobody had accessed ^-: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^-: for many years. once its walls ^:- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^:- are just too high, and the :^- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :^- internal routes to labyrinthine, :-^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :-^ a place among others is easily -:^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -:^ overlooked. ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^-:----------------------------------^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^:- so, basically, that summer the :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :^- four of us snuck and climbed and -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :-^ crawled for weeks, searching for -:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -:^ a secluded place to do drugs and -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -^: play music on our handhelds. ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^-: instead we found vast lungs ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^:- drained of their catalyst :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :^- sludge, and a birds-eye view to :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :-^ make sense of our roamings for -:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -:^ years to come. -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -^:----------------------------------^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^-: a central spine, a staircase ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^:- around it, the seven toroidal :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :^- lungs stacked outside, and the :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :-^ control room on top. the sockets -:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -:^ for its eyes. the smaller spires -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -^: for radiating consciousness ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ,-: invitations. ^:, @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ,,,^^^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::^^^,,, #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ,,,^^^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::^^^,,, #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ,^: in twenty fourteen, the tower is :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -:^ toppled and eaten by machines. :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :-^ after a while, something new is ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :^- conjured in its place. it's a ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^:- tiny maw at first, shorter than -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^-: us, and we let it be. our -:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -^: journeys still end at its feet. :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -:^----------------------------------:^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :-^ but then we are betrayed. the ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :^- new tower eats us. others are ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^:- sucked inside. new buildings are -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^-: manifested overnight, only to -:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -^: disappear in the evening fog. :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -:^ for a while its some kind of :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :-^ timeshare scam. goons are placed ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# :^- outside, and we get beaten up a ^-: #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ^:- few times, and stop going. -^: @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ^-:-----------------------------------:^ #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ -^: iirc it's currently owned by :-^ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# -:^ some energy drink baron who uses :^- #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ :-^ it to hold all his fourty eight ^:- @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# ,^- cars..... ^-, #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ ,,,^^^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::^^^,,, @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# #@¶&%$:-^,
,,^-:$%&¶@ @¶&%$:-^,,
,^-:$%&¶@# #@¶&%$:-^,