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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. ##§%††»,..
.,»††%§### ###§%††»,.
..,»††%§## †† ##§%††»,..
.,»††%§### †† †† ###§%††»,.
..,»††%§## »»»»»»» † † »»»»»»» ##§%††»,..
.,»††%§### †† †† ###§%††»,.
..,»††%§## †† ##§%††»,..
.,»††%§### ###§%††»,.
..,»††%§## 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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