,,«††&§§§@ @§§§&††«,,
,,«††&§£## ##£§&††«,,
,,«††&§£@# #@£§&††«,,
,,«†&§£@## ##@£§&†«,,
,,,,,,«††§ §††«,,,,,,
,,,«††††§@ ,,,,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,,,, @§††††«,,,
,,«††&§£## ,,† 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..... ,«, @§&&†,,,,,
,,,,,,«†§@ ,,,,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,,,, @§†«,,,,,,
,«††&§£@## ##@£§&††«,
,,«††&§£@@ @@£§&††«,,
,,«††§£@## ##@£§††«,,
,,«††&§£@# #@£§&††«,,
,,,,††††§§ §§††††,,,,