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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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