.......§.. ....§§§§§§
.§§§§§...§ §§§..§§§§.
..§§§..§.. §§....§§..
§..§.....§ §..§§....§
.....§§§.. ......§§..
§§§§..§..§ ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... .§§§§....§
§§§....... .,† 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..... ,~. §§§§§§§§§§
§§§§§§§§§§ ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... §§§§§§§§§§
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