#††††^^...                                          ...^^††††#
#¶@††~^...                                          ...^~††@¶#
¶@††~.....                                          .....~††@¶
###††^^^..                                          ..^^^††###
¶#†~~.....                                          .....~~†#¶
##¶#@††~^. ...^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^... .^~††@#¶##
##¶#@††~^. .^†            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.....             ^~. ...~~~†@@#
#††~...... ...^^^††††††††††††††††††††††††††††^^^... ......~††#
#@@†^.....                                          .....^†@@#
#††~~.....                                          .....~~††#
¶@††~~^...                                          ...^~~††@¶
#@@@†~~...                                          ...~~†@@@#
##¶#@††~^.                                          .^~††@#¶##