††††††††
†††† ††††
†† ††
† †
† †
† THE GLASS FACTORY. †
† †
† †
†† ††
†††† ††††
††††††††
##¶&§††~., 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. ,.~††§&¶##
††
†† ††
† †
†† ††
††