You walk along the furthest pier from the center of the Dock. Overhead, you notice the clouds clearing, and the sky shifting into a more natural light-blue color.

With your eyes pointed upwards, you fail to see what is rising from below until the planks below your feet splinter apart, rent by rising spires of rock. You stumble backwards, yelping in surprise, as the sea around dries up, leaving a wasteland.

You sprint back from whence you came as the rock continues to rise, but soon the rest of the pier fades into a dirt path, and canyon walls rise up around you. You turn around to see that your destination, or what you assume to be your destination, has appeared.

It vaguely resembles the magic academies of the world above, but carved from ancient stone by powers unknown.

The bulk of the structure is a great plateau, in which a massive stone acts as a gate, but above lies more ornate buildings and towers, stretching towards the heavens.

You arrive at the gate, but find it immovable. A raspy laughing alerts you to the presence of a man, leaning against the side of the rock.

Sure enough, it's the hermit from the Lighthouse Dock. If he is so frail, why does he venture from the Dock to you?

You begin to ask how he arrived here before you as well, but you swallow your curiosity. Surely, he is a mage of some sort.

"The gate is locked, Explorer," He says, shaking his head. "Hopefully you are not too shocked from this place's arrival to find a way around?" You shake your head.

"Maybe this was an opulent domain, in the past, ruled by powerful mages..." He sighs. "But now it is simply a collection of Rotting Stones."

"The knowledge of the ancient Mystics has all but faded away... Save for their sad history, etched in the very rock."

"Some still seek their power," He smiles at you and points back to the dirt path back to the pier, and to the Dock. "As should you."

You follow the path back to the center, and contemplate your next move. The fell domains of the Ruins are interconnected... perhaps there is another route...

Your explorations take you elsewhere in the Aeon Ruins, and eventually you find yourself in the Icecrest Passage, where a warm side-tunnel catches your eye.

You climb through it, hearing skittering sounds further within. The tunnel is pitch dark, and the ground seems to be covered in a thick rope-like substance, which you slog through irritably.

The tunnel turns a corner, and exits into a huge, ruined library. Not a single book lines the immeasurably tall shelves, some of which have collapsed onto silky white mounds that cover the floor.

Light comes from huge skylights, illuminating the wreck. It doesn't seem like you're in the Aqueducts anymore... and as you turn to look at the other end of the library, it becomes obvious why.

A huge stone gate lies before you, with a massive lever next to it. A mighty pull, and the gate retracts into the earth, exposing a rocky wasteland, and a path back to the Lighthouse Dock. You smile, satisfied at your discovery.

You've discovered the way into the Rotting Stones, into this strange set of Paper Caverns. But, you feel movement around your feet, and look down to see the ground covered in gigantic insects!

You stamp on one with your foot, but the others click and swarm, emerging from their paper hives. You back away from them, onto a shattered staircase, and focus on the feeling of heat... you hold out your hand expectantly, and FWOOSH! A floating flame appears in your hand, as a magical extension of your spirit. You've shied away from magic during most of your time here, but you've learned some Pyromancy back at the Dock, just in case.

You toss a few fireballs into the swarm, but to your surprise, they halt in mid-air, instead spiraling into the maw of one of the insects, who grows in size, eyes gleaming with hunger...

You sneak by legions of massive guardians, great animated armors who roam the empty halls of this place, and manage to slip through a misty veil, into a dim section of the library.

To your surprise, there are still some books on the shelves here, though the ceiling is low and the books are without title. Countless pages lay on the floor, emitting a mystic glow from their undoubtedly weighty text.

They lay, almost arranged, around a large glowing symbol on the floor that exudes foreboding. Between those, you get the sense that perhaps this area was a forbidden place, or at least limited to a select few.

A Magic Eater skitters between your feet and makes a beeline for the shelves, but before it touches even a single book... two lumbering steps shake the ground, and a massive blade falls on its neck.

Another sentinel, hidden in the shadows between shelves, has revealed itself, stepping into the light from below. But... it seems different somehow. Its body twitches as it retracts its blade, and you faintly see another one of the baneful bugs, running in and out of gaps in its armor.

And as it notices you, stepping closer, you start to see its irregularities in more detail: rather than a helm, it has a swollen Magic Eater's head, clicking and spitting, and wherever its armor chinks aren't holes from whence insects come, it is clogged with some sort of excretion.

For a moment, you almost pity the thing: a Mystic Knight, still trying to serve its dead masters after being made into a moving hive for the creatures who now infest this place.

And yet, it hefts its sword masterfully, even waiting for you to draw your own weapon before advancing. It may be hollowed out, and filled with writhing vermin... but it's clear to see who's really in control...

The sky is dark as you complete your ascent, finding yourself on the wide plateau of the Rotting Stones. The great citadel above lies before you, but in front of it is a series of chasms that the ground slopes into.

You step inside, the walls and cliffs towering above you, but it isn't long before the chasm is cloaked in mist. Though indistinct, you see the image of bodies, fused into the clay of the crevice... and shadowy humanoids, shimmering in the fog.

But then a more solid humanoid comes into view, crouched down, and robed in the cloth of the ancient Mystics. You reach out a hand in greeting, but he turns, and you see the face of a skull, the forbidden glyph carved upon his forehead.

He raised his arms and cackles madly, exposing the runes scratched on his bones, bleeding a bright green liquid. The humanoid figures whirl into the air, before vanishing into the cliff face.

The figures in the clay break out of their earthy prisons, crawling towards you, tumbling off of cliffs to get to you. The Lich himself teleports in a flash of green to an upper cliff, commanding his legions of dead from above, as the clay flakes off their bones...

You ascend to the Hall's tallest tower, and traverse a blanket of mist into a room that crackles with magical fury. Immense stone statues ring the room, with concentric walkways raised above the ground.

But in the center lies a being you can only recognize as a deity. It has no face, but a star-field can be seen within his head, infinitely swirling.

It seems to have thousands of writhing arms, each making a sign or holding some talisman. And on its body are only pristine white robes, that constantly flutter in the air.

With a gesture of great magnitude, it retracts its endless arms, and throws them outward, releasing a wave of energy that pierces your shield, pierces your armor, and wounds your very Soul...