Ham-Ham the Wandering Black Hamster

Book 1: Journeys

Arc: Journeys in the New World, Chapter 8: Lands of Plague

Four days later, Rai and Ham-Ham arrived to the village of Foret. What they saw was totally unexpected. Instead of a nice village, they saw a darkened village full of misery and despair. As they walked through the town an old hamster came up to them.

"What are you youngu'uns doing here, lately we have been getting few travelers because of this plague."

Both Ham-Ham and Rai were intrigued and responded, "Plague?"

"Yes, about a week ago or so, a plague suddenly came upon this village. Since then the wildlife has been dying and more and more people have been getting sick. Not only that but also some of the food has been decaying. The village is doomed I tell you, doomed!"

Bewildered by the old man, the two hamsters decided to explore the town. As they looked at the stores and the hamsters, they realized that the old man's words were right on. Whatever the plague is, it was not an ordinary one. The buildings were starting to decay just like how the ground was already almost dark brown.

"Ham-Ham, you're at least a trainee right, then what do you feel about this plague?"

"I've never heard of a plague that could decay buildings or of any of this magnitude in so little time. Also the very ground itself seems to be dying although I can still sense the flow. The very land itself feels like its crying out in pain like something or someone is harming it."

"It looks like the things are getting interesting already; say where is that friend of yours?"

As the two of them continued to walk, they eventually reached the medical pavilion that was set in the town because of all the plague victims. There, Ham-Ham saw a familiar face. Shoutaro has been in the village since Ham-Ham and he separated ways healing the injured and trying to discover the source of the plague.

"Hey, Shoutaro!" shouted Ham-Ham.

"Wah, oh my Hams, Ham-Ham what are you doing here?"

"Well I've heard of a plague here so that's mainly why I'm here although I wasn't sure if you would still be here."

"Ah, anyway the plague is really bad; it just claimed its 11th victim. I've been helping the village since its resident doctor was the second victim and the nurses don't have the right knowledge yet. Who's your friend here?"

"Oh I almost forgot, Shoutaro this is Rai a biologist/zoologist and Rai this is Shoutaro the Scholar."

Rai and Shoutaro both shook hands and said, "Nice to meet you." At that point Rai came up with an idea.

"Ham-Ham is it possible for you to seek out the source of the plague?"

"Yes why….oh I see, so we can see if we can learn more of the plague."

Shoutaro was confused by Rai and Ham-Ham until Rai realized that Shoutaro didn't know.

"Shoutaro, Ham-Ham is an elder."

Wide-eyed, "Aaaaah I see now, he probably became one sometime after we met. You do know how to make medicine right?"

"Of course, since after all I will be a future biologist/zoologist extraordinaire."

"Rai, I think with my knowledge and your skills, we'll get along just fine."

While Shoutaro and Rai were easing the victims' pain as the plague was decaying their bodies, Ham-Ham went west to the village's border.

To the west of the village was a great expanse of land that the villagers used to plant crops among other items before a massive forest. At the opening of the meadows, Ham-Ham sat down and began to concentrate. He tried to feel the flow, but he could start to feel the flow wavering around the lands as the lands wilted even more from the plague. Pushing that thought aside, Ham-Ham began to expand his senses forward until the trees.

All that he felt was the land crying in pain. He knew that he would have to expand his senses forward into the forest. Ham-Ham realized that he was reaching his limit, so he quickly pulsed him awareness forward into the forest. Somewhere at a moderate distance into the forest, he felt a presence. This feeling that he felt shocked him. The presence felt like the Black Shadow's except for less powerful, chaotic, and evil.

Despite the diluted presence, Ham-Ham wanted to be prepared. He suddenly remembered the black book. Quickly, he took out and opened the Tome of Thunder. As he read the first page, it mentioned that when one gained mastery over the flow, one could become a sage other than their desired aspect. Deciding to ask his Sensei Sache when he saw him again, Ham-Ham continued to flip through the book. Some of the things in the book took too much time to practice and looked like gibberish so he flipped past those techniques. About halfway through the book, he found something that he could use.

The spell was called Lightening Armor, which basically involved channeling lightening around your body. In his meditative position, he began to draw on the flow. Once the flow moved throughout his body, he converted into lightening. Instantaneously, lightening covered his body in a whitish-yellow color. The armor wasn't too stable, but Ham-Ham felt good that he did it on his first try.

Going back to the book, he saw why his lightening armor wasn't black like his lightening technique. Black lightening took more power and it was harder to control. Ham-Ham resolved to fix it another time and went back to Rai and Shoutaro to report his findings.

As Ham-Ham walked back to the medical pavilion, he saw more victims of the plague being carried inside before he entered.

"Shoutaro, Rai, I found the cause!"

"Wah… oh Ham-Ham you're back, Rai and I were just tired from treating all these people, especially since we got this new batch of people to help."

Rai: "Ham-Ham what did you find?"

"Whatever is causing this is in the forest west of here, about a good distance, but not too far in. This plague isn't normal; it is slowly causing the land to die. I can hear its pain almost. As for the people it infects, it's like its draining the people of its life force."

Realization struck Shoutaro at that moment, "Ham-Ham it's not like, the plague that's exactly what it is doing! The plague is actually draining the life out of those it infects. We have to stop the source, wherever it is inside of the forest."

"Alright, let's go to the mayor and round up a group."

Shoutaro: "Haha….umm, yea that could be a problem, since the mayor sort of hit the bucket. He was the fourth or fifth one to die."

Rai: "What about any other influential people in the village?"

Shoutaro: "Well, there is the mayor's son Grim, but he's not really available right now."

Ham: "Let me guess, he's either dead or he's not in the town."

Shoutaro: "Yeah you're right on the last part, Grim went on an entire month honeymoon with his wife over two weeks ago"

Both Ham-Ham and Rai's eye were twitching at this information until they heard the old man's shout outside.

"Our young'un Grim is back!"

The three of them went outside to see two hamsters come out of a beautiful white carriage with white ponies. There, Shoutaro pointed out that the male one is Grim since he seen a picture of him before in the mayor's room.

Grim wanted to know what happened to the village while he was away since the way the village current status is a shadow of its former self. He talked to some of the villagers until the old hamster that Ham-Ham and Rai met came up to him.

"Ah young'un, why'd you come back early?"

"Hey Old Man Bozo, I heard that there was a plague in my village so I rushed to come back, what has happened?"

"The plague hit hard over a week ago, but so far only eleven have died. However, many more lay dying as we speak."

"What can we do about the plague; surely the doctor can find a cure. What about my father?"

"I'm sorry to say, but your father and the doctor are two of the eleven deaths."

"WHAT, no it can't be, that means that the town is basically leaderless."

"Yes, with the death of the mayor and doctor, the town has lost practically all hope."

"Old Man Bozo, what of the victims, we don't have any nurses with the right knowledge."

"Oh, well we were lucky on that part, a traveler entered our village shortly after the plague hit. He has been taking care of the victims since the doctor died. Also two other travelers came today. There right over there, they might be able to provide you with more answers than I could."

With Bozo's words, Grim began to walk towards the group of three outside of the medical pavilion. Little did Grim realize, that his actions would cause him to see the beginning of the old era of peace in the New World finally begin to end.