¨:~††¤¤¶##                                          ##¶¤¤††~:¨
¨:~††¤¤¶##                                          ##¶¤¤††~:¨
¨:~††¤¤¶¶#                                          #¶¶¤¤††~:¨
¨:~††¤¤¶##                                          ##¶¤¤††~:¨
¨:~††¤¤¶¶#                                          #¶¶¤¤††~:¨
¨¨¨::~†¤¶¶ ¨¨¨:::††††††††††††††††††††††††††††:::¨¨¨ ¶¶¤†~::¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨:~†¤¤¶ ¨:†            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.....            :~¨ ¶¶¶¤¤††~:¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨~†¤¤ ¨¨¨:::††††††††††††††††††††††††††††:::¨¨¨ ¤¤†~¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨:††¤                                          ¤††:¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨:~††¤¤¶##                                          ##¶¤¤††~:¨
¨:~††¤¤¤¤#                                          #¤¤¤¤††~:¨
¨:~††¤¤¤¤¤                                          ¤¤¤¤¤††~:¨
¨:~††¤¤¶##                                          ##¶¤¤††~:¨