.,=†=£@@##                                          ##@@£=†=,.
.,=††††=&@                                          @&=††††=,.
.,=†=£&@@#                                          #@@&£=†=,.
.,=†=£&@##                                          ##@&£=†=,.
.,=†=£££&@                                          @&£££=†=,.
.,=†=£&@@# ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... #@@&£=†=,.
.,=†=£&@@# .,†            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.....            ,=. @£†,,.....
.,=†=£££&& ...,,,††††††††††††††††††††††††††††,,,... &&£££=†=,.
.,=†=£&@@#                                          #@@&£=†=,.
.,=†=£&@@#                                          #@@&£=†=,.
.,=†=£&@@@                                          @@@&£=†=,.
...=†===&&                                          &&===†=...
....====&&                                          &&====....