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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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