#@¶§*††=~, ,~=††*§¶@#
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§*†==~,,,, ,,,,~==†*§
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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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