,-~†^§¤###                                          ###¤§^†~-,
,,,-††^^¤#                                          #¤^^††-,,,
,-~^§¤####                                          ####¤§^~-,
,-~†^§¤###                                          ###¤§^†~-,
,-~†††^§##                                          ##§^†††~-,
,-~†^^^§## ,,,---††††††††††††††††††††††††††††---,,, ##§^^^†~-,
,,,,-~^¤¤# ,-†            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.....             -~, ####¤^†~-,
,-~†^§¤¤## ,,,---††††††††††††††††††††††††††††---,,, ##¤¤§^†~-,
,-~†^§¤¤##                                          ##¤¤§^†~-,
,,,,-†^§##                                          ##§^†-,,,,
,-~†^§¤###                                          ###¤§^†~-,
,-~†^^^¤##                                          ##¤^^^†~-,
,-~†^§¤###                                          ###¤§^†~-,