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† The Glass factory. †
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##@¤††~:,, Several Centuries After It Had Last ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, Belonged To Us, We Went On An Outing To ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, The Glass Factory That Bore Our Family ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, Name. It Had Changed Owners Many Times ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, Since Our Ancestors Death, And Then ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, Stood Abandoned For A Long While. ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, Finally, The Natural End Station For ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, The Buildings That Survive: A Museum, ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, And A Gift Shop. ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, There'S A Long Time Since My Family ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, Made Anything. By Many, We Would Be ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, Considered Poor. ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, There Are Two Main Factory Buildings, ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, Domed Things Of Several Floors, Made In ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, Yellow Brick. Large But Narrow Windows, ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, Reminescent Of Some Cathedral. ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, Custom-Made Glass, Of Course, Large And ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, LeadEd, And Ashen. A Bit Too Dark To Be ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, Practical. On The Eastern Building, ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, Some Are Shattered. ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, The Other One Is Publicly Open. There'S ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, A Museum, With Wax Figures Of My Great ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, Great Great Grandfather, Or Something. ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, Various Tools (Or Replicas) Laid Out On ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, Tables, With Explaining Texts. A Lot Of ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, Glass Of Varying Thickness. ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, †† ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, †† †† ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, ~~~~~~~ † † ~~~~~~~ ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, †† †† ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, †† ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, I Quickly Sneak Out, And Climb Into The ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, Other Building. The Contrast Is ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, Overwhelming. It Must Have Stood ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, Derelict For A Long Time, Windows ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, Broken, Metallic Trash And Pools Of ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, Dark Glass All Over The Floor. No ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, Electric Lights, But I Can See By The ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, Light That Shines In Wherever The Dark ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, Windows Are Missing A Pane. ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, However, The Greatest Difference Is The ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, Higher Floors: This Building Has None. ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, It Is One Massive Hall, Stretching Away ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, Infinitely Above Me. Somewhere Up There ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, Is Some Great Iron Latticework, From ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, Where Chains Are Suspended, And Parts ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, Of Machinery Has Been Falling Down. ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, There Is, In The Middle Of The Great ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, Hall, A Thin Spiral Staircase That ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, Leads Up There. I Sneak Over There, And ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, Take A Few Reluctant Steps. After Just ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, A Revolution, I Notice That For Each ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, Step The Building Starts To Glow, The ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, Bricks Turning A Dark Red, And Then ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, Orange, All The Piled Up Debree Being ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, Lit From Behind. ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, I Stop Ready To Run Down And Out, But ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, There'S Someone Else On The Staircase ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, With Me Now, Pressed Close. He'S ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, Looking Like Me, Short Hair And Thin ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, Arms, But With Ears From Some Animal, ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, And More Disturbingly, Completely Made ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, Of Dark Liquid glass. ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, †† ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, †† †† ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, ~~~~~~~ † † ~~~~~~~ ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, †† †† ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, †† ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, My Fear Holds Me In Place While He ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, Starts Operating Levers And Dials Set ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, In The Center Of The Staircase. Slowly, ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, It Starts Spinning, Circling Upwards. ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, It'S An Elevator! I Start To Run ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, Downwards, But Now The Liquid Boy ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, Creature Grabs Hold Of Me. I Try To ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, Shake Him Off, But He'S Too Strong, And ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, Pulls Me Back Up Beside Him. ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, This Time, I Turn Angry Instead. What ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, The Hell? Who Is This Guy, Acting Like ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, This? I Reach Out My Free Arm And Slam ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, A Random Lever. Some Metal Bar Is ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, Suddenly Released Between Us, Hitting ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, Him On The Arm, Forcing My Release. I ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, Shove Him Off Of Me, And He Falls Into ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, The Levers, Messing Them Up. ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, Immediately, A Thin Rusty Chainmail ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, Curtain Is Dropped Around Me. But The ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, Elevator Also Speeds Up Significantly. ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, The Walls Are Flaring Now, Yellow, ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, White, Almost Blue. I Close My Eyes And ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, Curl Into A Ball. But Then, The Glass ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, Boy Screams, A Piercing Sound That ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, Forces My Eyes Back Open. I Watch As He ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, Becomes Too Liquid, His Body Pooling ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, Down In His Now Massive Tail, And The ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, Tip Of It Suddenly Breaks Of In A Glass ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, Drop That Falls Toward The Factory ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, Floor. ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, He'S Crawling On The Stairs, Unable To ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, Keep His Body Upright. Can'T Reach The ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, Levers, Claws At My Chainmail Cage, ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, While His Body Is Turning Into Dark ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, Pearls. Finally, He'S Lost Too Much Of ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, Himself And The Scream Is Cut Short. ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, The Last Of Him Rains Down. ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, I Still Can'T Reach The Levers From ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, Within My Cage. Looking Up, I Try To ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, Make Out The Ceiling, But It'S All A ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, Whirling Sea Of Colours. Below Me Glows ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, The Hellfire Of The Factory Walls, But ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, Very Faint. I Sit Down, Curl Back Up, ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, Become Still. ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, †† ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, †† †† ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, ~~~~~~~ † † ~~~~~~~ ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, †† †† ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, †† ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, ,,,,:~††¤@
¤††~:,,,,, A Large Clunk Shakes My Entire Body, ,,,,,:~††¤
††~:,,,,,, And Snaps Me Back Into Reality. I'M ,,,,,,:~††
†~:,,,,,,, Back At The Factory Floor, But The ,,,,,,,:~†
~:,,,,,,,, Stairs Are Still Moving Slightly, ,,,,,,,,:~
:,,,,,,,,, Clicking In Place, Carrying Me The Last ,,,,,,,,,:
~:,,,,,,,, Few Centimeters. I Came From Below, ,,,,,,,,:~
†~:,,,,,,, Somehow. The Chainmail Is Retracted, ,,,,,,,:~†
††~:,,,,,, And I Slowly Dismount The Stairs. ,,,,,,:~††
¤††~:,,,,, ,,,,,:~††¤
@¤††~:,,,, Shaking And Crying, I Make My Way Over ,,,,:~††¤@
#@¤††~:,,, The Factory Floor, Wading Through Dark ,,,:~††¤@#
##@¤††~:,, Glass Marbles. A Quick Glance Down, And ,,:~††¤@##
###@¤††~:, I See There'S Something Faint Inside ,:~††¤@###
##@¤††~:,, Them. Embryos? Are These Eggs? ,,:~††¤@##
#@¤††~:,,, ,,,:~††¤@#
@¤††~:,,,, I Shudder, And Climb Back Out. ,,,,:~††¤@
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