¨,~~††††$@                                          @$††††~~,¨
¨,~††$#@##                                          ##@#$††~,¨
¨,~~~~†$$#                                          #$$†~~~~,¨
¨,~††$#@##                                          ##@#$††~,¨
¨,~††$#@##                                          ##@#$††~,¨
¨,~††$#@## ¨¨¨,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,¨¨¨ ##@#$††~,¨
¨,~††$#@## ¨,†            THE  SPIRE            ~†¨ ##@#$††~,¨
¨¨¨,~~†$$@ ~†,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†~, @$$†~~,¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨,~††#@ †~, 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 ,†~ ##$$†~,¨¨¨
¨¨,,~††††# †,~ OUTSIDE, AND WE GET BEATEN  UP A ,~† #††††~,,¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨,†$@ ,†~  FEW  TIMES,  AND  STOP  GOING.  ~,† @$†,¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨~~††$@# ,~†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†, #@$††~~¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨~†$# ~,†  IIRC  IT'S  CURRENTLY OWNED BY  †~, #$†~¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨,††$#@### ~†, SOME ENERGY DRINK BARON WHO USES †,~ ###@#$††,¨
¨,~††$#@## †~, IT  TO HOLD ALL HIS FOURTY EIGHT ,†~ ##@#$††~,¨
¨¨¨~~†††## ¨,~            CARS.....             ,~¨ ##†††~~¨¨¨
¨,~††$#@## ¨¨¨,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,¨¨¨ ##@#$††~,¨
¨,~††$#@##                                          ##@#$††~,¨
¨,~††$$$@#                                          #@$$$††~,¨
¨,~††$#@##                                          ##@#$††~,¨
¨¨¨,,,~†$@                                          @$†~,,,¨¨¨
¨,~††††$$#                                          #$$††††~,¨