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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. ,,,,,,.~††
$††~.,,,,, ,,,,,.~††$
¤$††~.,,,, I STILL CAN'T REACH THE LEVERS FROM ,,,,.~††$¤
#¤$††~.,,, WITHIN MY CAGE. LOOKING UP, I TRY TO ,,,.~††$¤#
@#¤$††~.,, MAKE OUT THE CEILING, BUT IT'S ALL A ,,.~††$¤#@
#@#¤$††~., WHIRLING SEA OF COLOURS. BELOW ME GLOWS ,.~††$¤#@#
@#¤$††~.,, THE HELLFIRE OF THE FACTORY WALLS, BUT ,,.~††$¤#@
#¤$††~.,,, VERY FAINT. I SIT DOWN, CURL BACK UP, ,,,.~††$¤#
¤$††~.,,,, BECOME STILL. ,,,,.~††$¤
$††~.,,,,, ,,,,,.~††$
††~.,,,,,, †† ,,,,,,.~††
†~.,,,,,,, †† †† ,,,,,,,.~†
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†~.,,,,,,, †† †† ,,,,,,,.~†
††~.,,,,,, †† ,,,,,,.~††
$††~.,,,,, ,,,,,.~††$
¤$††~.,,,, A LARGE CLUNK SHAKES MY ENTIRE BODY, ,,,,.~††$¤
#¤$††~.,,, AND SNAPS ME BACK INTO REALITY. I'M ,,,.~††$¤#
@#¤$††~.,, BACK AT THE FACTORY FLOOR, BUT THE ,,.~††$¤#@
#@#¤$††~., STAIRS ARE STILL MOVING SLIGHTLY, ,.~††$¤#@#
@#¤$††~.,, CLICKING IN PLACE, CARRYING ME THE LAST ,,.~††$¤#@
#¤$††~.,,, FEW CENTIMETERS. I CAME FROM BELOW, ,,,.~††$¤#
¤$††~.,,,, SOMEHOW. THE CHAINMAIL IS RETRACTED, ,,,,.~††$¤
$††~.,,,,, AND I SLOWLY DISMOUNT THE STAIRS. ,,,,,.~††$
††~.,,,,,, ,,,,,,.~††
†~.,,,,,,, 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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