#@#¤$$†~^. .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... .....^~†$$
$†~^...... ...^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^... ......^~†$
$$†~^..... .^† THE SPIRE ~†. .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... ~†^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†~^ ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... †~^ ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A †^~ ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. †^~ BENEVOLENT SPIRE, TOWERING WELL ^†~ ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. ^†~ ABOVE OUR TALLEST TREES. IT WAS ^~† .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. ^~† CLAD IN WHITE SCALES, AND SHAPED ~^† ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... ~^† LIKED A MUSHROOM. ~†^ ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... ~†^ WE LOVED IT DEARLY. †~^ ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... †~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†^~ .....^~†$$
$†~^...... †^~ IT PREDATED US BY MANY YEARS, ^†~ ......^~†$
$$†~^..... ^†~ AND WE DID NOT KNOW ITS ORIGINAL ^~† .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... ^~† BUILDERS. THEY HAD USED ITS ~^† ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... ~^† HOLLOW BODY FOR MANY STRANGE ~†^ ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. ~†^ PURPOSES - A WOMBLIKE PLACE OF †~^ ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. †~^ GESTATION, A STORAGE OF STRAGE †^~ .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. †^~ FLUIDS, A TEMPLE TO SOME KIND OF ^†~ ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... ^†~ ARCANE DEITY. ^~† ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... ^~†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^† ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... ~^† WE WERE GRATEFUL FOR ITS ~†^ .....^~†$$
$†~^...... ~†^ PRESENCE, AND HONORED IT THE †~^ ......^~†$
$$†~^..... †~^ ONLY WAY WE KNEW HOW: BY †^~ .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... .^~ BREAKING IN. ^~. ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... ...^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^... ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. ...^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^... ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... .~† THIS PLACE WE CALLED OUR CITY: ^†~ ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... ^†~ WAVY AND FRACTURED, WITH EACH †^~ ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... †^~ COURTYARD ON A DIFFERENT HEIGHT, †~^ .....^~†$$
$†~^...... †~^ ROADS BECOMING ROOFS BECOMING ~†^ ......^~†$
$$†~^..... ~†^ DRAINS. AND SOME PLACES, LIKE ~^† .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... ~^† THE SPIRE, NOBODY HAD ACCESSED ^~† ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... ^~† FOR MANY YEARS. ONCE ITS WALLS ^†~ ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. ^†~ ARE JUST TOO HIGH, AND THE †^~ ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. †^~ INTERNAL ROUTES TO LABYRINTHINE, †~^ .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. †~^ A PLACE AMONG OTHERS IS EASILY ~†^ ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... ~†^ OVERLOOKED. ^~† ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... ^~†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^†~ ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... ^†~ SO, BASICALLY, THAT SUMMER THE †^~ .....^~†$$
$†~^...... †^~ FOUR OF US SNUCK AND CLIMBED AND ~^† ......^~†$
$$†~^..... †~^ CRAWLED FOR WEEKS, SEARCHING FOR ~†^ .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... ~†^ A SECLUDED PLACE TO DO DRUGS AND ~^† ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... ~^† PLAY MUSIC ON OUR HANDHELDS. ^~† ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. ^~† INSTEAD WE FOUND VAST LUNGS ^†~ ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. ^†~ DRAINED OF THEIR CATALYST †^~ .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. †^~ SLUDGE, AND A BIRDS-EYE VIEW TO †~^ ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... †~^ MAKE SENSE OF OUR ROAMINGS FOR ~†^ ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... ~†^ YEARS TO COME. ~^† ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... ~^†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~† .....^~†$$
$†~^...... ^~† A CENTRAL SPINE, A STAIRCASE ^†~ ......^~†$
$$†~^..... ^†~ AROUND IT, THE SEVEN TOROIDAL †^~ .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... †^~ LUNGS STACKED OUTSIDE, AND THE †~^ ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... †~^ CONTROL ROOM ON TOP. THE SOCKETS ~†^ ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. ~†^ FOR ITS EYES. THE SMALLER SPIRES ~^† ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. ~^† FOR RADIATING CONSCIOUSNESS ^~† .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. .~† INVITATIONS. ^†. ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... ...^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^... ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... ...^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^... .....^~†$$
$†~^...... .^† IN TWENTY FOURTEEN, THE TOWER IS †~^ ......^~†$
$$†~^..... ~†^ TOPPLED AND EATEN BY MACHINES. †^~ .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... †~^ AFTER A WHILE, SOMETHING NEW IS ^†~ ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... †^~ CONJURED IN ITS PLACE. IT'S A ^~† ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. ^†~ TINY MAW AT FIRST, SHORTER THAN ~^† ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. ^~† US, AND WE LET IT BE. OUR ~†^ .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. ~^† JOURNEYS STILL END AT ITS FEET. †~^ ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... ~†^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†^~ ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... †~^ BUT THEN WE ARE BETRAYED. THE ^†~ ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... †^~ NEW TOWER EATS US. OTHERS ARE ^~† .....^~†$$
$†~^...... ^†~ SUCKED INSIDE. NEW BUILDINGS ARE ~^† ......^~†$
$$†~^..... ^~† MANIFESTED OVERNIGHT, ONLY TO ~†^ .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... ~^† DISAPPEAR IN THE EVENING FOG. †~^ ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... ~†^ FOR A WHILE ITS SOME KIND OF †^~ ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. †~^ TIMESHARE SCAM. GOONS ARE PLACED ^†~ ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. †^~ OUTSIDE, AND WE GET BEATEN UP A ^~† .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. ^†~ FEW TIMES, AND STOP GOING. ~^† ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... ^~†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†^ ...^~†$$¤#
¤$$†~^.... ~^† IIRC IT'S CURRENTLY OWNED BY †~^ ....^~†$$¤
$$†~^..... ~†^ SOME ENERGY DRINK BARON WHO USES †^~ .....^~†$$
$†~^...... †~^ IT TO HOLD ALL HIS FOURTY EIGHT ^†~ ......^~†$
$$†~^..... .^~ CARS..... ^~. .....^~†$$
¤$$†~^.... ...^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^... ....^~†$$¤
#¤$$†~^... ...^~†$$¤#
@#¤$$†~^.. ..^~†$$¤#@
#@#¤$$†~^. .^~†$$¤#@#
@#¤$$†~^.. ..^~†$$¤#@
#¤$$†~^... ...^~†$$¤#