Clavitas: Of Memory and Forgetfulness

By J. Deytiquez

The very first Clavitas book which is all about a world where memories and forgetfulness interact in a dream-like manner. This book is about how two persons who met each other in such world must seek the things needed for the Meal of Remembrance while fighting through monsters called "lethes". (This is a story aimed to be a story for a game also.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Deytiquez
• Release date: May 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463790045

J. Deytiquez

I grew up in a sleepy town in the midst of the vast expanse of rice fields in Luzon, Philippines. Though inspired mainly by the simplicity of nature of my hometown, to read and to write, I am also inspired by my experiences in the cold and rainy mountain city of Baguio.

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CLAVITAS: Of Memory and Forgetfulness

Copyright 2022 J. Deytiquez

Published by J. Deytiquez at Smashwords

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Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Summary of the Story

The Story

Epilogue/Post-game Bonus/Secret Ending: The Lily of the Valleys

Foreword

Thank you for your interest in this story. First of all, this is the very first Clavitas story that I’ve ever written, and so the other Clavitas stories are derived somehow from this story, even though some of them took place in an earlier time in the world of Clavitas. (Please consider reading those too!) As for why this was released later than the others, it was because my friends who drew covers for me for those stories, accepted them first than this—I waited until it was given one and one cannot rush an artist, especially when they are your friend and giving you a special discount! (Laughs.) Since my illustrator friend’s busy, I just drew a temporary cover for this. I hope you like it though it is very simple. Now, for those who have bought my earlier Clavitas stories, they may be already familiar with the following words, but I will still repeat them for new readers (for veterans of Clavitas stories, there is a teeny bit of a novelty at the last part):

Why do we read and dream about stories of people, places, and events that may not even exist? Is the reality that was given to us not suffice? These questions, the writer of the famous Chronicles of Narnia series, C.S. Lewis, once asked and answered in his book An Experiment on Criticism. He said that it is because we want to see, not only through our eyes, but also through other eyes, to escape the dark confines of our egos, and in doing so, find our true selves. This is similar to what his friend, the renowned author of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien, wanted to tell us in his celebrated essay, On Fairy Stories: in reading stories, we escape from our self-induced boredom to our world in order to recover and return a fresh way of seeing it: we forget for a while in order to forget. I believe this goodness of stories is not limited in books only. During this time of pandemic, many of us (including me of course) have resorted to books, video games, Netflix stuff, and YouTube videos to cope with the restraints and bad stuff that came along with the virus.

I never looked down on video games, I think they are like those choose-you-own-adventures books out there but on steroids. In FFXV you cruise around amazing places on a dashing car with your friends while trying to reclaim your throne as a king. In Zelda: BOTW, you go on an adventure in a very vast world to save what was left in it, especially the princess who was fighting for you. In Kingdom Hearts you travel different worlds with Donald Duck and Goofy. Like reading a novel, playing games transport one to places with people and events that may or may not even exist in our reality. Like reading a novel, it offers to us worlds where one can believe that he or she can accomplish something, that he or she can fight unto the end. Like reading novels, games enable us to have a glimpse of that something good, true, and beautiful that we cannot yet attain in our present state, like how the sight of faraway deep blue mountain ranges can often set us longing. We remember, for a moment, that there is still hope.

All my life I’ve been a fan of stories, whether in paper or on screens, and in this time of pandemic, I found consolation with video games in particular. And as I have received, I dared to give back, by not only writing stories, but by writing stories that can be adapted into a video game. As I have no resources to turn them into games, I can only that hope someday someone can turn them into one. Believe me, it will make me extremely happy. But as in reading, as in playing, I am happy already for just witnessing and writing these stories. It gave me a sense of purpose during the dark times of my life. Thank you for choosing this book to read, it makes me believe even more the unchangeable truth that nothing is ever in vain.

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(Oh! If you will turn this into a video game, dear reader, please, if you can with your present capabilities, make the song