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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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