.......... ..........
.......... ..........
.......... ..........
.......... ..........
.......... ..........
.......... ......††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...... ..........
.......... ..† 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..... .~. †~........
.......~†* ......††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...... *†~.......
......~†*@ @*†~......
.....~†*@§ §@*†~.....
....~†*@§@ @§@*†~....
...~†*@§@# #@§@*†~...
..~†*@§@## ##@§@*†~..