,^~††%¤@##                                          ##@¤%††~^,
,^~††%¤¤@@                                          @@¤¤%††~^,
,,,,,~††%¤                                          ¤%††~,,,,,
,^~††%¤@##                                          ##@¤%††~^,
,^~††%¤@##                                          ##@¤%††~^,
,^~†%¤@### ,,,^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^,,, ###@¤%†~^,
,,,,~††%¤# ,^†            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.....            ^~, ##@¤%††~^,
,,,,,~†%@# ,,,^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^,,, #@%†~,,,,,
,^~††%¤@##                                          ##@¤%††~^,
,,,,,^~†%@                                          @%†~^,,,,,
,^~††¤@###                                          ###@¤††~^,
,^~††%¤@##                                          ##@¤%††~^,
,^~††%¤@##                                          ##@¤%††~^,