†~,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,~†
=†~,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,~†=
&=†~,,,,,, ,,,,,,~†=&
&&=†~,,,,, ,,,,,~†=&&
@&&=†~,,,, ,,,,~†=&&@
#@&&=†~,,, ,,,,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,,,, ,,,~†=&&@#
##@&&=†~,, ,,† 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..... ,~, ,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,
~,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,~
†~,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,~†
=†~,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,~†=
&=†~,,,,,, ,,,,,,~†=&