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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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