&%===††=., ,.=††===%&
££%%††..., ,...††%%££
##£&%=†=., ,.=†=%&£##
&&%%†††=., ,.=†††%%&&
#&%=†††=., ,.=†††=%
&======.,, ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, ,,.======&
&%†.,,,,,, ,.† 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..... .=, ,.=†=%&&
##£&%=†=., ,,,...††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...,,, ,.=†=%&£##
&===,,,,,, ,,,,,,===&
##£&%=†=., ,.=†=%&£##
&%††††.,,, ,,,.††††%&
##£&%=†=., ,.=†=%&£##
&=====†=., ,.=†=====&