....~«††$¤                                          ¤$††«~....
...~«††$¤¶                                          ¶¤$††«~...
..~«††$¤¶#                                          #¶¤$††«~..
.~«††$¤¶##                                          ##¶¤$††«~.
..~«††$¤¶#                                          #¶¤$††«~..
...~«††$¤¶ ...~~~††††††††††††††††††††††††††††~~~... ¶¤$††«~...
....~«††$¤ .~†            THE  SPIRE            «†. ¤$††«~....
.....~«††$ «†~««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««†«~ $††«~.....
....~«††$¤ †«~ 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.....             ~«. ¤$††«~....
.....~«††$ ...~~~††††††††††††††††††††††††††††~~~... $††«~.....
....~«††$¤                                          ¤$††«~....
...~«††$¤¶                                          ¶¤$††«~...
..~«††$¤¶#                                          #¶¤$††«~..
.~«††$¤¶##                                          ##¶¤$††«~.
..~«††$¤¶#                                          #¶¤$††«~..