##£§¤%†~.. ..~†%¤§£##
£££§¤%†~.. ..~†%¤§£££
§%%†~..... .....~†%%§
##£§¤%†~.. ..~†%¤§£##
##£§¤%†~.. ..~†%¤§£##
£§§§¤%†~.. ......††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...... ..~†%¤§§§£
##£§¤%†~.. ..† 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..... .~. .....†¤§££
##£§¤%†~.. ......††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...... ..~†%¤§£##
##£§¤%†~.. ..~†%¤§£##
£¤¤%†..... .....†%¤¤£
§%~....... .......~%§
§%~~...... ......~~%§
#§§§¤%†~.. ..~†%¤§§§#