.&.&&&&&.& &&..&&...&
&&&&....&& &.&.&.&..&
....&...&. .&&&&&&&.&
&...&&..&& &&......&&
.&..&.&.&. ..&.....&.
.&&.&&&&&& ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... &.&&....&&
&&.&&..... .,† 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..... ,~. .&&..&...&
.&...&&.&. ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... .&.&.&&..&
&&&..&.&&& .&&&&&.&.&
...&.&&&.. &&....&&&&
&..&&&..&. &.&...&...
&&.&..&.&& .&&&..&&..
&.&&&.&&&. .&..&.&.&.