.,~†%%§@##                                          ##@§%%†~,.
..,~†%%§@#                                          #@§%%†~,..
...,~†%%§@                                          @§%%†~,...
....,~†%%§                                          §%%†~,....
.....,~†%%                                          %%†~,.....
......,~†% ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... %†~,......
.....,~†%% .,†            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.....            ,~. %%†~,.....
....,~†%%§ ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... §%%†~,....
...,~†%%§@                                          @§%%†~,...
..,~†%%§@#                                          #@§%%†~,..
.,~†%%§@##                                          ##@§%%†~,.
..,~†%%§@#                                          #@§%%†~,..
...,~†%%§@                                          @§%%†~,...