,,,,,,,,,^ ^,,,,,,,,,
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,,,,,,^«†† ,,,^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^,,, ††«^,,,,,,
,,,,,^«††£ ,^† 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..... ^«, £††«^,,,,,
,,,,,,^«†† ,,,^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^,,, ††«^,,,,,,
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