.,~††£§###                                          ###§£††~,.
.,~††£§#@@                                          @@#§£††~,.
.,~†††††§@                                          @§†††††~,.
.~††£§#@##                                          ##@#§£††~.
.,,~††££§@                                          @§££††~,,.
.,~††£§#@@ ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... @@#§£††~,.
.,~††£§#@# .,†            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.....            ,~. #@#§£††~,.
.,~†††††§§ ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... §§†††††~,.
.,~††£§§§@                                          @§§§£††~,.
,~††£§#@##                                          ##@#§£††~,
.,~††§#@##                                          ##@#§††~,.
.,~†††£§§#                                          #§§£†††~,.
.,,,~†£§§§                                          §§§£†~,,,.