¨¨:«††*&¶#                                          #¶&*††«:¨¨
¨¨¨:«††*&¶                                          ¶&*††«:¨¨¨
¨¨:«††*&¶#                                          #¶&*††«:¨¨
¨:«††*&¶##                                          ##¶&*††«:¨
¨¨:«††*&¶#                                          #¶&*††«:¨¨
¨¨¨:«††*&¶ ¨¨¨:::††††††††††††††††††††††††††††:::¨¨¨ ¶&*††«:¨¨¨
¨¨:«††*&¶# ¨:†            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.....            :«¨ #¶&*††«:¨¨
¨:«††*&¶## ¨¨¨:::††††††††††††††††††††††††††††:::¨¨¨ ##¶&*††«:¨
¨¨:«††*&¶#                                          #¶&*††«:¨¨
¨¨¨:«††*&¶                                          ¶&*††«:¨¨¨
¨¨:«††*&¶#                                          #¶&*††«:¨¨
¨:«††*&¶##                                          ##¶&*††«:¨
¨¨:«††*&¶#                                          #¶&*††«:¨¨