&.&.&....& .&.&&&&..&
&&&&&...&& &&&...&.&.
....&..&.. ..&..&&&&&
...&&.&&.. .&&.&....&
..&.&&.&.& &.&&&...&&
.&&&.&&&&& ...---††††††††††††††††††††††††††††---... &&..&..&.&
&..&&....& .-† The Spire »†. .&.&&.&&&&
&.&.&...&. »†-»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»†»- &&&.&&....
&&&&&..&&& †»- Once Upon A Time, There Was A †-» ..&&.&...&
....&.&... †-» Benevolent Spire, Towering Well -†» .&.&&&..&.
...&&&&... -†» Above Our Tallest Trees. It Was -»† &&&..&.&&.
..&...&..& -»† Clad In White Scales, And Shaped »-† ..&.&&&.&.
.&&..&&.&. »-† Liked A Mushroom. »†- .&&&..&&&.
&.&.&.&&&. »†- We Loved It Dearly. †»- &..&.&..&.
&&&&&&..&. †»-»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»†-» &.&&&&.&&&
.....&.&&. †-» It Predated Us By Many Years, -†» &&...&&...
....&&&.&. -†» And We Did Not Know Its Original -»† .&..&.&...
...&..&&&. -»† Builders. They Had Used Its »-† &&.&&&&...
..&&.&..&. »-† Hollow Body For Many Strange »†- .&&...&...
.&.&&&.&&. »†- Purposes - A Womblike Place Of †»- &.&..&&...
&&&..&&.&& †»- Gestation, A Storage Of Strage †-» &&&.&.&...
..&.&.&&.. †-» Fluids, A Temple To Some Kind Of -†» ..&&&&&..&
.&&&&&.&.& -†» Arcane Deity. -»† .&....&.&&
&....&&&&& -»†»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»-† &&...&&&.&
&...&..... »-† We Were Grateful For Its »†- .&..&..&&.
&..&&....& »†- Presence, And Honored It The †»- &&.&&.&.&&
&.&.&...&& †»- Only Way We Knew How: By †-» .&&.&&&&..
&&&&&..&.& .-» Breaking In. -». &.&&...&.&
....&.&&&& ...---††††††††††††††††††††††††††††---... &&.&..&&&.
...&&&.... .&&&.&..&.
..&..&...& &..&&&.&&.
.&&.&&..&& ...---††††††††††††††††††††††††††††---... &.&..&&.&.
&.&&.&.&.. .»† This Place We Called Our City: -†» &&&.&.&&&.
&&.&&&&&.. -†» Wavy And Fractured, With Each †-» ..&&&&..&&
.&&....&.& †-» Courtyard On A Different Height, †»- .&...&.&..
&.&...&&&& †»- Roads Becoming Roofs Becoming »†- &&..&&&&..
&&&..&.... »†- Drains. And Some Places, Like »-† .&.&...&.&
..&.&&.... »-† The Spire, Nobody Had Accessed -»† &&&&..&&&.
.&&&.&...& -»† For Many Years. Once Its Walls -†» ...&.&..&.
&..&&&..&& -†» Are Just Too High, And The †-» ..&&&&.&&.
&.&..&.&.. †-» Internal Routes To Labyrinthine, †»- .&...&&.&&
&&&.&&&&.. †»- A Place Among Others Is Easily »†- &&..&.&&..
..&&...&.& Ƞ- Overlooked. -Ƞ .&.&&&.&.&
.&.&..&&&& -»†»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»-†» &&&..&&&&&
&&&&.&.... -†» So, Basically, That Summer The †-» ..&.&....&
...&&&...& †-» Four Of Us Snuck And Climbed And »-† .&&&&...&.
..&..&..&. †»- Crawled For Weeks, Searching For »†- &...&..&&.
.&&.&&.&&& »†- A Secluded Place To Do Drugs And »-† &..&&.&.&.
&.&&.&&... »-† Play Music On Our Handhelds. -»† &.&.&&&&&.
&&.&&.&..& -»† Instead We Found Vast Lungs -†» &&&&....&&
.&&.&&&.&. -†» Drained Of Their Catalyst †-» ...&...&..
&.&&..&&&& †-» Sludge, And A Birds-Eye View To †»- ..&&..&&..
&&.&.&.... †»- Make Sense Of Our Roamings For »†- .&.&.&.&.&
.&&&&&...& »†- Years To Come. »-† &&&&&&&&&.
&....&..&& »-†»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»-»† ........&.
&...&&.&.& -»† A Central Spine, A Staircase -†» .......&&&
&..&.&&&&. -†» Around It, The Seven Toroidal †-» ......&...
&.&&&...&. †-» Lungs Stacked Outside, And The †»- .....&&..&
&&..&..&&& †»- Control Room On Top. The Sockets »†- ....&.&.&.
.&.&&.&... »†- For Its Eyes. The Smaller Spires »-† ...&&&&&&&
&&&.&&&..& »-† For Radiating Consciousness -»† ..&......&
..&&..&.&. .»† Invitations. -†. .&&.....&.
.&.&.&&&&. ...---††††††††††††††††††††††††††††---... &.&....&&.
&&&&&...&& &&&...&.&.
....&..&.. ...---††††††††††††††††††††††††††††---... ..&..&&&&&
...&&.&&.. .-† In Twenty fourteen, The Tower Is †»- .&&.&....&
..&.&&.&.& »†- Toppled And Eaten By Machines. †-» &.&&&...&&
.&&&.&&&&& †»- After A While, Something New Is -†» &&..&..&.&
&..&&....& †-» Conjured In Its Place. It'S A -»† .&.&&.&&&&
&.&.&...&. -†» Tiny Maw At First, Shorter Than »-† &&&.&&....
&&&&&..&&& -Ƞ Us, And We Let It Be. Our Ƞ- ..&&.&...&
....&.&... »-† Journeys Still End At Its Feet. †»- .&.&&&..&.
...&&&&... »†-»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»†-» &&&..&.&&.
..&...&..& †»- But Then We Are Betrayed. The -†» ..&.&&&.&.
.&&..&&.&. †-» New Tower Eats Us. Others Are -»† .&&&..&&&.
&.&.&.&&&. -†» Sucked Inside. New Buildings Are »-† &..&.&..&.
&&&&&&..&. -Ƞ Manifested Overnight, Only To Ƞ- &.&&&&.&&&
.....&.&&. »-† Disappear In The Evening Fog. †»- &&...&&...
....&&&.&. »†- For A While Its Some Kind Of †-» .&..&.&...
...&..&&&. †»- Timeshare Scam. Goons Are Placed -†» &&.&&&&...
..&&.&..&. †-» Outside, And We Get Beaten Up A -»† .&&...&...
.&.&&&.&&. -†» Few Times, And Stop Going. »-† &.&..&&...
&&&..&&.&& -»†»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»†- &&&.&.&...
..&.&.&&.. »-† Iirc It'S Currently Owned By †»- ..&&&&&..&
.&&&&&.&.& »†- Some Energy drink Baron Who Uses †-» .&....&.&&
&....&&&&& †»- It To Hold All His Fourty Eight -†» &&...&&&.&
&...&..... .-» Cars..... -». .&..&..&&.
&..&&....& ...---††††††††††††††††††††††††††††---... &&.&&.&.&&
&.&.&...&& .&&.&&&&..
&&&&&..&.& &.&&...&.&
....&.&&&& &&.&..&&&.
...&&&.... .&&&.&..&.
..&..&...& &..&&&.&&.