07-18-2019, 05:00 AM
Read the Final Chapter of The Sinking City’s Hero Origin Story
<div><div class="media_block"><img src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TheSinkingCity_BaseGame_SuperHeroArt.jpg?fit=940%2C528" class="media_thumbnail"></div>
<p>Hi everyone! Last week we shared part one of <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><em>The Sinking City</em></a> hero origin story and we heard you liked it. If you missed it, you can still read it <a href="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/06/28/part-one-origin-story-the-sinking-city-hero/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><em>The Sinking City</em></a>, you play as Charles Reed, a 1920s private investigator tortured by his past and seeking to salvation while exploring a strange flooded city. We finally could make sense of Charles’s scattered notes, so without further ado, please enjoy the second part of our <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><em>The Sinking City</em></a> short origin story!</p>
<p><strong>Journal of Charles W. Reed, 1918</strong></p>
<p><strong>Chapter Two</strong></p>
<p>It happened again last night. I woke up next to this flooded narrow hole in the ground, a hundred meters away from the USS Cyclops debris… and the decaying bodies of my friends. Judging by the dirt under my nails, I tried to dig my way into it. What’s so important down there, I wonder?</p>
<p>That hole was the first thing I saw after I was washed ashore this god-forsaken island. I think it’s been two weeks, and I haven’t seen a single soul since then, well, living soul anyway. I buried some of my crewmates, the ones I managed to carry to their improvised graves anyway… I haven’t eaten anything aside from the rotten shellfish I found on the seashore when I woke up. I can barely move, but strangely enough, it seems like I magically gain a lot of strength at night if I’m able to sleepwalk all the way across the island from my comfy cave to that stinking pit.</p>
<p>That hole is not the only foul thing here. This whole place smells like death, there’s something in the air that I cannot escape. I carry the gun I found on one of the bodies, but even though there are bullets in the clip, I have no use for it. It’s not like I can go hunting for food. The whole place is dead.</p>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone size-medium wp-image-121148" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TSC_Exclusive_Screenshots_XboxWire_Chapter2_1.jpg?w=569" alt="The SInking City" width="569" height="320"></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-121148" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TSC_Exclusive_Screenshots_XboxWire_Chapter2_1.jpg?w=569&resize=569%2C320" alt="The SInking City" width="569" height="320" data-recalc-dims="1"></p>
<p>It’s been three more days. I’m pretty desperate. Have to do something, because otherwise I’ll just starve to death. I’m going in that hole. What’s the point of being a Navy diver if I can’t dive in a hole in the ground?</p>
<p>I crawled into the pit. The water was lukewarm and thick like blood or oil. I held my breath and dived, trying to push my body down as fast as I could. Who knows how deep this is, but I don’t think I’ll die here. I survived the shipwreck, ended up on this island, with this hole calling out to my sleeping self. It’s all happening for a reason, and I doubt that reason is for me to drown in this cesspool. Wouldn’t be poetic.</p>
<p>When I finally reached the bottom, I saw a glimpse of light ahead. I rushed toward it, and emerged into what seemed to be an underground cave. Trying to catch my breath, I looked around. Something caught my attention, the same unnatural ruins that I saw in my dreams on the Cyclops. Now that I can see them clearly, they looks like some sort of a lair, with two diagonal rocks facing each other. I want to touch them.</p>
<p>Agonizing pain shot through my palm the moment I land it on one of the rocks. They lit up, emitting strange glowing into the air, yellowish marks started to appear on them. They seemed like a gate to another dimension, it was like someone or something was about to come through it. I looked up and suddenly saw the skies – was I not in a cave this whole time?</p>
<p>I caught a glimpse of a slimy black worm burrowing into my hand. I tried to shake it off, but it was gone in a moment. Sudden clarity came upon me, I was on my knees staring at the gates, finally I saw an enormous shadow in it… No, there was nothing.</p>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone size-medium wp-image-121146" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TSC_Exclusive_Screenshots_XboxWire_Chapter2_2.jpg?w=569" alt="The SInking City" width="569" height="320"></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-121146" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TSC_Exclusive_Screenshots_XboxWire_Chapter2_2.jpg?w=569&resize=569%2C320" alt="The SInking City" width="569" height="320" data-recalc-dims="1"></p>
<p>“Wake him up!” a voice penetrated the silence, their hands were shaking my restless body. When I opened my eyes I saw a few men standing around me, military, judging by their uniforms. When they were carrying me to their boat, I looked around. I saw a dark silhouette, pointing in the direction of the flooded hole. I knew I was the only one who saw it. “It’s okay”, I thought. “I know what I saw. I know there’s something out there, and I will find it”.</p>
<p>“Sir”, I said and one of the soldiers looked at me. “Get the bodies on the beach, please! Their families must learn what happened to them”.</p>
<p>“Bodies?” he asked looking puzzled.</p>
<p>“Bodies” I repeated suddenly becoming annoyed. “You must have seen the debris of my ship, and the rotting corpses too. Ring a bell?”</p>
<p>“Look, pal, I have no idea what you are on about. There’s no bodies here, no debris, no nothing. You seeing things or something?”<em> </em></p>
<p>The end. Well, the end of that story, which marks the beginning of <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><em>The Sinking City</em></a><u>,</u> our adventure and investigation game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Play as Charles W. Reed, private investigator, to uncover the truth of what possesses the half-submerged city of Oakmont, right now on Xbox One!</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><strong>The Sinking City</strong> is available now</a> on the Microsoft Store for Xbox One. <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab">Click here for purchase details</a>.</em></p>
</div>
<div><div class="media_block"><img src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TheSinkingCity_BaseGame_SuperHeroArt.jpg?fit=940%2C528" class="media_thumbnail"></div>
<p>Hi everyone! Last week we shared part one of <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><em>The Sinking City</em></a> hero origin story and we heard you liked it. If you missed it, you can still read it <a href="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/06/28/part-one-origin-story-the-sinking-city-hero/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><em>The Sinking City</em></a>, you play as Charles Reed, a 1920s private investigator tortured by his past and seeking to salvation while exploring a strange flooded city. We finally could make sense of Charles’s scattered notes, so without further ado, please enjoy the second part of our <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><em>The Sinking City</em></a> short origin story!</p>
<p><strong>Journal of Charles W. Reed, 1918</strong></p>
<p><strong>Chapter Two</strong></p>
<p>It happened again last night. I woke up next to this flooded narrow hole in the ground, a hundred meters away from the USS Cyclops debris… and the decaying bodies of my friends. Judging by the dirt under my nails, I tried to dig my way into it. What’s so important down there, I wonder?</p>
<p>That hole was the first thing I saw after I was washed ashore this god-forsaken island. I think it’s been two weeks, and I haven’t seen a single soul since then, well, living soul anyway. I buried some of my crewmates, the ones I managed to carry to their improvised graves anyway… I haven’t eaten anything aside from the rotten shellfish I found on the seashore when I woke up. I can barely move, but strangely enough, it seems like I magically gain a lot of strength at night if I’m able to sleepwalk all the way across the island from my comfy cave to that stinking pit.</p>
<p>That hole is not the only foul thing here. This whole place smells like death, there’s something in the air that I cannot escape. I carry the gun I found on one of the bodies, but even though there are bullets in the clip, I have no use for it. It’s not like I can go hunting for food. The whole place is dead.</p>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone size-medium wp-image-121148" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TSC_Exclusive_Screenshots_XboxWire_Chapter2_1.jpg?w=569" alt="The SInking City" width="569" height="320"></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-121148" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TSC_Exclusive_Screenshots_XboxWire_Chapter2_1.jpg?w=569&resize=569%2C320" alt="The SInking City" width="569" height="320" data-recalc-dims="1"></p>
<p>It’s been three more days. I’m pretty desperate. Have to do something, because otherwise I’ll just starve to death. I’m going in that hole. What’s the point of being a Navy diver if I can’t dive in a hole in the ground?</p>
<p>I crawled into the pit. The water was lukewarm and thick like blood or oil. I held my breath and dived, trying to push my body down as fast as I could. Who knows how deep this is, but I don’t think I’ll die here. I survived the shipwreck, ended up on this island, with this hole calling out to my sleeping self. It’s all happening for a reason, and I doubt that reason is for me to drown in this cesspool. Wouldn’t be poetic.</p>
<p>When I finally reached the bottom, I saw a glimpse of light ahead. I rushed toward it, and emerged into what seemed to be an underground cave. Trying to catch my breath, I looked around. Something caught my attention, the same unnatural ruins that I saw in my dreams on the Cyclops. Now that I can see them clearly, they looks like some sort of a lair, with two diagonal rocks facing each other. I want to touch them.</p>
<p>Agonizing pain shot through my palm the moment I land it on one of the rocks. They lit up, emitting strange glowing into the air, yellowish marks started to appear on them. They seemed like a gate to another dimension, it was like someone or something was about to come through it. I looked up and suddenly saw the skies – was I not in a cave this whole time?</p>
<p>I caught a glimpse of a slimy black worm burrowing into my hand. I tried to shake it off, but it was gone in a moment. Sudden clarity came upon me, I was on my knees staring at the gates, finally I saw an enormous shadow in it… No, there was nothing.</p>
<p><img class="lazyload alignnone size-medium wp-image-121146" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TSC_Exclusive_Screenshots_XboxWire_Chapter2_2.jpg?w=569" alt="The SInking City" width="569" height="320"></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-121146" src="https://news.xbox.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/TSC_Exclusive_Screenshots_XboxWire_Chapter2_2.jpg?w=569&resize=569%2C320" alt="The SInking City" width="569" height="320" data-recalc-dims="1"></p>
<p>“Wake him up!” a voice penetrated the silence, their hands were shaking my restless body. When I opened my eyes I saw a few men standing around me, military, judging by their uniforms. When they were carrying me to their boat, I looked around. I saw a dark silhouette, pointing in the direction of the flooded hole. I knew I was the only one who saw it. “It’s okay”, I thought. “I know what I saw. I know there’s something out there, and I will find it”.</p>
<p>“Sir”, I said and one of the soldiers looked at me. “Get the bodies on the beach, please! Their families must learn what happened to them”.</p>
<p>“Bodies?” he asked looking puzzled.</p>
<p>“Bodies” I repeated suddenly becoming annoyed. “You must have seen the debris of my ship, and the rotting corpses too. Ring a bell?”</p>
<p>“Look, pal, I have no idea what you are on about. There’s no bodies here, no debris, no nothing. You seeing things or something?”<em> </em></p>
<p>The end. Well, the end of that story, which marks the beginning of <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><em>The Sinking City</em></a><u>,</u> our adventure and investigation game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Play as Charles W. Reed, private investigator, to uncover the truth of what possesses the half-submerged city of Oakmont, right now on Xbox One!</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab"><strong>The Sinking City</strong> is available now</a> on the Microsoft Store for Xbox One. <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-sinking-city/bx65p18fs0h9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab">Click here for purchase details</a>.</em></p>
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