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,,,,,,,,,. ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, .,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,.~ ,.† 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..... .~, ~.,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,. ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, .,,,,,,,,,
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