..~†$£#@@# #@@#£$†~..
...~†$£#@@ @@#£$†~...
....~†$£#@ @#£$†~....
.....~†$£# #£$†~.....
......~†$£ £$†~......
.......~†$ ......††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...... $†~.......
........~† ..† THE SPIRE ~†. †~........
.........~ ~†.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†~. ~.........
.......... †~. ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A †.~ ..........
.........~ †.~ BENEVOLENT SPIRE, TOWERING WELL .†~ ~.........
........~† .†~ ABOVE OUR TALLEST TREES. IT WAS .~† †~........
.......~†$ .~† 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 .~† $†~.......
........~† .~† FOR MANY YEARS. ONCE ITS WALLS .†~ †~........
.........~ .†~ ARE JUST TOO HIGH, AND THE †.~ ~.........
.......... †.~ INTERNAL ROUTES TO LABYRINTHINE, †~. ..........
.........~ †~. A PLACE AMONG OTHERS IS EASILY ~†. ~.........
........~† ~†. OVERLOOKED. .~† †~........
.......~†$ .~†~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.†~ $†~.......
......~†$£ .†~ 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 ~.† $†~.......
........~† .~† US, AND WE LET IT BE. OUR ~†. †~........
.........~ ~.† JOURNEYS STILL END AT ITS FEET. †~. ~.........
.......... ~†.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~†.~ ..........
.........~ †~. BUT THEN WE ARE BETRAYED. THE .†~ ~.........
........~† †.~ NEW TOWER EATS US. OTHERS ARE .~† †~........
.......~†$ .†~ SUCKED INSIDE. NEW BUILDINGS ARE ~.† $†~.......
......~†$£ .~† MANIFESTED OVERNIGHT, ONLY TO ~†. £$†~......
.....~†$£# ~.† 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 .†~ $†~.......
........~† ..~ CARS..... .~. †~........
.........~ ......††††††††††††††††††††††††††††...... ~.........
.......... ..........
.........~ ~.........
........~† †~........
.......~†$ $†~.......
......~†$£ £$†~......