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† THE GLASS FACTORY. †
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#£¤§††«:.. SEVERAL CENTURIES AFTER IT HAD LAST ..:«††§¤£#
##£¤§††«:. BELONGED TO US, WE WENT ON AN OUTING TO .:«††§¤£##
#£¤§††«:.. THE GLASS FACTORY THAT BORE OUR FAMILY ..:«††§¤£#
£¤§††«:... NAME. IT HAD CHANGED OWNERS MANY TIMES ...:«††§¤£
¤§††«:.... SINCE OUR ANCESTORS DEATH, AND THEN ....:«††§¤
§††«:..... STOOD ABANDONED FOR A LONG WHILE. .....:«††§
††«:...... FINALLY, THE NATURAL END STATION FOR ......:«††
†«:....... THE BUILDINGS THAT SURVIVE: A MUSEUM, .......:«†
«:........ AND A GIFT SHOP. ........:«
:......... .........:
.......... THERE'S A LONG TIME SINCE MY FAMILY ..........
.......... MADE ANYTHING. BY MANY, WE WOULD BE ..........
.......... CONSIDERED POOR. ..........
.......... ..........
.......... THERE ARE TWO MAIN FACTORY BUILDINGS, ..........
:......... DOMED THINGS OF SEVERAL FLOORS, MADE IN .........:
«:........ YELLOW BRICK. LARGE BUT NARROW WINDOWS, ........:«
†«:....... REMINESCENT OF SOME CATHEDRAL. .......:«†
††«:...... CUSTOM-MADE GLASS, OF COURSE, LARGE AND ......:«††
§††«:..... LEADED, AND ASHEN. A BIT TOO DARK TO BE .....:«††§
¤§††«:.... PRACTICAL. ON THE EASTERN BUILDING, ....:«††§¤
£¤§††«:... SOME ARE SHATTERED. ...:«††§¤£
#£¤§††«:.. ..:«††§¤£#
##£¤§††«:. THE OTHER ONE IS PUBLICLY OPEN. THERE'S .:«††§¤£##
#£¤§††«:.. A MUSEUM, WITH WAX FIGURES OF MY GREAT ..:«††§¤£#
£¤§††«:... GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER, OR SOMETHING. ...:«††§¤£
¤§††«:.... VARIOUS TOOLS (OR REPLICAS) LAID OUT ON ....:«††§¤
§††«:..... TABLES, WITH EXPLAINING TEXTS. A LOT OF .....:«††§
††«:...... GLASS OF VARYING THICKNESS. ......:«††
†«:....... .......:«†
«:........ †† ........:«
:......... †† †† .........:
.......... ««««««« † † ««««««« ..........
.......... †† †† ..........
.......... †† ..........
.......... ..........
.......... I QUICKLY SNEAK OUT, AND CLIMB INTO THE ..........
:......... OTHER BUILDING. THE CONTRAST IS .........:
«:........ OVERWHELMING. IT MUST HAVE STOOD ........:«
†«:....... DERELICT FOR A LONG TIME, WINDOWS .......:«†
††«:...... BROKEN, METALLIC TRASH AND POOLS OF ......:«††
§††«:..... DARK GLASS ALL OVER THE FLOOR. NO .....:«††§
¤§††«:.... ELECTRIC LIGHTS, BUT I CAN SEE BY THE ....:«††§¤
£¤§††«:... LIGHT THAT SHINES IN WHEREVER THE DARK ...:«††§¤£
#£¤§††«:.. WINDOWS ARE MISSING A PANE. ..:«††§¤£#
##£¤§††«:. .:«††§¤£##
#£¤§††«:.. HOWEVER, THE GREATEST DIFFERENCE IS THE ..:«††§¤£#
£¤§††«:... HIGHER FLOORS: THIS BUILDING HAS NONE. ...:«††§¤£
¤§††«:.... IT IS ONE MASSIVE HALL, STRETCHING AWAY ....:«††§¤
§††«:..... INFINITELY ABOVE ME. SOMEWHERE UP THERE .....:«††§
††«:...... IS SOME GREAT IRON LATTICEWORK, FROM ......:«††
†«:....... WHERE CHAINS ARE SUSPENDED, AND PARTS .......:«†
«:........ OF MACHINERY HAS BEEN FALLING DOWN. ........:«
:......... .........:
.......... THERE IS, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GREAT ..........
.......... HALL, A THIN SPIRAL STAIRCASE THAT ..........
.......... LEADS UP THERE. I SNEAK OVER THERE, AND ..........
.......... TAKE A FEW RELUCTANT STEPS. AFTER JUST ..........
.......... A REVOLUTION, I NOTICE THAT FOR EACH ..........
:......... STEP THE BUILDING STARTS TO GLOW, THE .........:
«:........ BRICKS TURNING A DARK RED, AND THEN ........:«
†«:....... ORANGE, ALL THE PILED UP DEBREE BEING .......:«†
††«:...... LIT FROM BEHIND. ......:«††
§††«:..... .....:«††§
¤§††«:.... I STOP READY TO RUN DOWN AND OUT, BUT ....:«††§¤
£¤§††«:... THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE ON THE STAIRCASE ...:«††§¤£
#£¤§††«:.. WITH ME NOW, PRESSED CLOSE. HE'S ..:«††§¤£#
##£¤§††«:. LOOKING LIKE ME, SHORT HAIR AND THIN .:«††§¤£##
#£¤§††«:.. ARMS, BUT WITH EARS FROM SOME ANIMAL, ..:«††§¤£#
£¤§††«:... AND MORE DISTURBINGLY, COMPLETELY MADE ...:«††§¤£
¤§††«:.... OF DARK LIQUID GLASS. ....:«††§¤
§††«:..... .....:«††§
††«:...... †† ......:«††
†«:....... †† †† .......:«†
«:........ ««««««« † † ««««««« ........:«
:......... †† †† .........:
.......... †† ..........
.......... ..........
.......... MY FEAR HOLDS ME IN PLACE WHILE HE ..........
.......... STARTS OPERATING LEVERS AND DIALS SET ..........
.......... IN THE CENTER OF THE STAIRCASE. SLOWLY, ..........
:......... IT STARTS SPINNING, CIRCLING UPWARDS. .........:
«:........ IT'S AN ELEVATOR! I START TO RUN ........:«
†«:....... DOWNWARDS, BUT NOW THE LIQUID BOY .......:«†
††«:...... CREATURE GRABS HOLD OF ME. I TRY TO ......:«††
§††«:..... SHAKE HIM OFF, BUT HE'S TOO STRONG, AND .....:«††§
¤§††«:.... PULLS ME BACK UP BESIDE HIM. ....:«††§¤
£¤§††«:... ...:«††§¤£
#£¤§††«:.. THIS TIME, I TURN ANGRY INSTEAD. WHAT ..:«††§¤£#
##£¤§††«:. THE HELL? WHO IS THIS GUY, ACTING LIKE .:«††§¤£##
#£¤§††«:.. THIS? I REACH OUT MY FREE ARM AND SLAM ..:«††§¤£#
£¤§††«:... A RANDOM LEVER. SOME METAL BAR IS ...:«††§¤£
¤§††«:.... SUDDENLY RELEASED BETWEEN US, HITTING ....:«††§¤
§††«:..... HIM ON THE ARM, FORCING MY RELEASE. I .....:«††§
††«:...... SHOVE HIM OFF OF ME, AND HE FALLS INTO ......:«††
†«:....... THE LEVERS, MESSING THEM UP. .......:«†
«:........ IMMEDIATELY, A THIN RUSTY CHAINMAIL ........:«
:......... CURTAIN IS DROPPED AROUND ME. BUT THE .........:
.......... ELEVATOR ALSO SPEEDS UP SIGNIFICANTLY. ..........
.......... ..........
.......... THE WALLS ARE FLARING NOW, YELLOW, ..........
.......... WHITE, ALMOST BLUE. I CLOSE MY EYES AND ..........
.......... CURL INTO A BALL. BUT THEN, THE GLASS ..........
:......... BOY SCREAMS, A PIERCING SOUND THAT .........:
«:........ FORCES MY EYES BACK OPEN. I WATCH AS HE ........:«
†«:....... BECOMES TOO LIQUID, HIS BODY POOLING .......:«†
††«:...... DOWN IN HIS NOW MASSIVE TAIL, AND THE ......:«††
§††«:..... TIP OF IT SUDDENLY BREAKS OF IN A GLASS .....:«††§
¤§††«:.... DROP THAT FALLS TOWARD THE FACTORY ....:«††§¤
£¤§††«:... FLOOR. ...:«††§¤£
#£¤§††«:.. ..:«††§¤£#
##£¤§††«:. HE'S CRAWLING ON THE STAIRS, UNABLE TO .:«††§¤£##
#£¤§††«:.. KEEP HIS BODY UPRIGHT. CAN'T REACH THE ..:«††§¤£#
£¤§††«:... LEVERS, CLAWS AT MY CHAINMAIL CAGE, ...:«††§¤£
¤§††«:.... WHILE HIS BODY IS TURNING INTO DARK ....:«††§¤
§††«:..... PEARLS. FINALLY, HE'S LOST TOO MUCH OF .....:«††§
††«:...... HIMSELF AND THE SCREAM IS CUT SHORT. ......:«††
†«:....... THE LAST OF HIM RAINS DOWN. .......:«†
«:........ ........:«
:......... I STILL CAN'T REACH THE LEVERS FROM .........:
.......... WITHIN MY CAGE. LOOKING UP, I TRY TO ..........
.......... MAKE OUT THE CEILING, BUT IT'S ALL A ..........
.......... WHIRLING SEA OF COLOURS. BELOW ME GLOWS ..........
.......... THE HELLFIRE OF THE FACTORY WALLS, BUT ..........
.......... VERY FAINT. I SIT DOWN, CURL BACK UP, ..........
:......... BECOME STILL. .........:
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§††«:..... ««««««« † † ««««««« .....:«††§
¤§††«:.... †† †† ....:«††§¤
£¤§††«:... †† ...:«††§¤£
#£¤§††«:.. ..:«††§¤£#
##£¤§††«:. A LARGE CLUNK SHAKES MY ENTIRE BODY, .:«††§¤£##
#£¤§††«:.. AND SNAPS ME BACK INTO REALITY. I'M ..:«††§¤£#
£¤§††«:... BACK AT THE FACTORY FLOOR, BUT THE ...:«††§¤£
¤§††«:.... STAIRS ARE STILL MOVING SLIGHTLY, ....:«††§¤
§††«:..... CLICKING IN PLACE, CARRYING ME THE LAST .....:«††§
††«:...... FEW CENTIMETERS. I CAME FROM BELOW, ......:«††
†«:....... SOMEHOW. THE CHAINMAIL IS RETRACTED, .......:«†
«:........ AND I SLOWLY DISMOUNT THE STAIRS. ........:«
:......... .........:
.......... SHAKING AND CRYING, I MAKE MY WAY OVER ..........
.......... THE FACTORY FLOOR, WADING THROUGH DARK ..........
.......... GLASS MARBLES. A QUICK GLANCE DOWN, AND ..........
.......... I SEE THERE'S SOMETHING FAINT INSIDE ..........
.......... THEM. EMBRYOS? ARE THESE EGGS? ..........
:......... .........:
«:........ I SHUDDER, AND CLIMB BACK OUT. ........:«
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