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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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