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