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