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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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