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