Forever X2

By: Merritt Graves

Narrated by: Jay Myers

In San Francisco’s pulsing neon haze, Chris Somberg, is an e-sports prodigy past his sell-by. Strung out and couch surfing after software behemoth, PraetorLogic, axed his signature game, he’s reduced to peddling his nervous system to anyone with a pulse and a credit card, doubting every life choice he’s ever made. But from the code-scarred depths, salvation emerges from PraeterLogic’s competitor, Wildcard: a high-profile gig promising to clear his debts—working on an immersive VR version of the once-cherished, genre-defining game, Neverscape.

Reborn as Commander Rive McAuley, following an avante-garde medical procedure, Chris vaults into the volatile world of pharmaceutical espionage, where by dawn, McAuley safeguards Forever X2, humanity's sole treatment to a devastating blood plague. But when twilight falls, he’s submerged in Neverscape’s spectral underbelly, selling illicit drugs and skirmishing with the city’s covert power players—the line between friend and foe ever pixelating.

At first, everything seems like a high-octane homage to past glories. Yet, as he plunges deeper into the intrigue and a sinister new virus emerges, Chris discovers increasingly unsettling connections between Neverscape’s in-game mysteries and Wildcard's real-world anomalies. And to save both worlds, he realizes he must reconcile his identities, confronting his own personal demons before the line between reality and game irreversibly blurs.

©2024 Merritt Graves (P)2024 Merritt Graves