Ham-Ham the Wandering Black Hamster
Book 1: Journeys
Arc: Journeys in the New World, Chapter 7: Training, Comrades, and Quests
Following Sache's words, Ham-Ham traveled east until he reached the town of Elderan. This town was much livelier than the town of Tippen as the roads were bustling with people and markets lined some of the roads. This was the perfect time for Ham-Ham to restock on supplies. First off he went to buy some hand gloves for his stave. Then he went to some shop to restock on his camping supplies as well as provisions.
Once he was all done, he went to the outskirts of the town and headed north into the forests. There he set up camp and began to train once he found a small clearing. Ham-Ham trained with his stave for the remainder of the morning. From the book that he bought earlier, he looked at the finer points of how to use his walking stick. He learned the bottom and the upper strike along with the thrust.
In the afternoon, Ham-Ham tried to refine the flow of his energies. He tried to control how strong his lightening is from a small shock to causing a small crater. It took most of the afternoon for him to figure it out, but he made steady progress until he succeeded. He could even sustain the lightening for some seconds after all his practice.
That evening, he began to do the exercises that the Elder told him to do. He did 50 push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and numerous laps around the clearing. Although Ham-Ham was no slouch from years of foraging, even his workout tired him out. After his exercises, Ham-Ham went to sleep.
The next day, ham-Ham went back into the town and straight to the first tavern he saw. At the quest bulletin, there was a quest that was urgent more than the other quests. This quest required people to go into Razgriz territory and retrieve an herb. The herb is called Echinacea and it cures most illnesses. Ham-Ham thought that whoever issued the quest must be desperate since the herb is incredibly rare and Ham-Ham only heard about the herb from his grandfather once. Although the reward didn't specify an exact reward, Ham-Ham decided to take the quest anyway since he wanted to see the fabled herb out of curiosity. Following the papers directions, Ham-Ham went to the outskirts of the town. There, he saw numerous others who also had decided to take the quest. Each of the individual hamsters looked tough and strong as was expected since they were going into Razgriz territory.
The group made it so the village of Beron in a day because of the carriages that were prepared for them. They disembarked at the northwestern most part of the village. Awaiting them was the town's mayor. There the mayor addressed them,
"Good, now that you're all here, the herb is for the current mayor of Elderan. Recently, he got sick and the doctors can't cure him, so this herb may be his last hope. The herb is said to be in the Razgriz area near one of the camps, but I'm not totally sure. Good luck and May the Godly Hams be with you."
From there, the twenty-some odd hamsters went on the road and to the rocky hills. However, Ham-Ham went with the previous path that he found earlier. Once he reached the bushes, he walked over the hill to the other side. Unknown to Ham-Ham at the time, one of the hamsters from the group followed him. His name was Rai who is a biologist that wishes to study all of the plants and animals of the New World.
From afar, he could see a camp made of many tents. He presumed this to be a Razgriz camp. Therefore, Ham-Ham planned out his path by spotting various bushes and scattered trees that he could hide in. Although there were quite a few places to hide behind, Ham-Ham still thought that he could be easily spotted by the lizards. So, he tried to do something with the flow. He tried to manipulate the flow so that he could meld into his surroundings. As he concentrated, slowly but surely, he started to meld into his surroundings.
With Ham-Ham's new ability, he quickly and quietly moved to the various hiding spots that he saw earlier. Suddenly, he heard someone yelp behind him. He saw a hamster trying to fend off against two Razgriz. Despite realizing that he was following him, he quickly moved to help him. While Rai was fending off one of the lizards, Ham-Ham intercepted the other one from attacking him. With Ham-Ham's new training, it was easy for him to knock out the Razgriz. He swiftly avoided the Razgriz' swipes and jumped onto its head and proceeded to zap it into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, Rai was busy fighting the other Razgriz. He deftly moved around it and sliced its legs until it dropped. The moment the Razgriz dropped, Rai struck its head with his sword.
Ham-Ham turned to Rai and asked,
"Why were you following me?"
"Well it looked like you knew what you were doing, so I followed you. By the way, my name is Rai, decent swordsman and future zoologist/biologist."
"I am Ham-Ham a wandering hamster," replied Ham-Ham
"I must thank you, since now I can get to study a live Razgriz. No one has ever managed to get close to a live one look at them. I get to be the first, muahahahah."
"Okay….."
The bewildered Ham-Ham brought his mind back to the task at hand. He started to meld again and left Rai to his machinations. He soon noticed that as he got closer to the camp, there was less greenery. Once he got to the small hill, he could see some Razgriz fighting the band of hamsters in one of the plains not far from him.
Deciding to help them later, he continued to a dry patch of land. There at the end of the small hill were some flowers. As he got closer to the flowers, he finally found the fabled Echinacea. Like in the stories, the flower was a near-spherical brown center with purple petals surrounding it on the sides. With utmost care, he began to pick up a few of the plants and placed them in his pouch. Ham-Ham slowly walked out of the flower bed since it was literally next to the Razgriz settlement.
As he backed out, his back hit something. He looked up and saw a Razgriz. Thankfully he was still melded so the Razgriz was quite confused as to why there was nothing in front of him. The pause was all Ham-Ham needed to use the Razgriz' arm and fling himself up onto his head and shock him into unconsciousness.
Silently and quietly, Ham-Ham made it back to the hill and looked for the group that he came here with. It seemed like the group started to move back to the trees as the Razgriz moved forward. While the two groups continued to fight, Ham-Ham proceeded to climb up a tree so he had suitable height over the Razgriz.
On the tree branch, he spotted Rai with the group, who looked quite fresh compared to the others. The group itself was quite disheveled since every one of the hamsters has injures on them. A few of the hamsters looked like they needed emergency treatment to Ham-Ham. While the other hamsters retreated, only Rai remained to cover their escape.
Ham-Ham finally decided to act when the Razgriz rushed forward. He brought up his right hand and shouted,
"Black Lightening."
The black lightening from his hand shot toward the closest Razgriz on the head causing an instant knockout.
The other Razgriz saw this and realized who they were up against, an Elder. However, Ham-Ham is only a trainee, well perhaps even better than a trainee, nevertheless the amount of power he had was at least on par with a master level. The lizards did not know of these facts so they ran out of there.
AN: Elder – Council of Elders, elder – being trained in the ways of the flow
Rai shouted out, "Thanks for the save again. You should've told me you were an elder."
"You never asked."
The two of them walked back to the village and saw the other hamsters being treated. The mayor saw them and greeted them.
"Thank the great Hams you two are safe. At least no one died in the group. However, it seems like there is no hope for Elderan's mayor now."
Ham-Ham wanted to brighten the day and replied, "Hehe, well I managed to get some so here you go."
Ham-ham took out some of the flowers and showed them to the mayor.
"You have the flower! Oh My GREAT HAMS, bless you child," and then the mayor of Beron fainted in shock, happiness, and awe.
When the group heard the mayors shout, some were jealous, and some were in awe. Despite this fact, Ham-Ham's words made the group feel better and only helped increase the words that would be spoken about the Wandering Black Hamster.
"Actually I sneaked around until I reached the Razgriz camp and managed to get the flowers. You guys helped since you people managed to distract most of the warrior lizards."
While the other hamsters were resting, Rai and Ham-Ham boarded the carriages back to Elderan. Before the two fell asleep, they studied one of the Echinacea flower. In the mid-afternoon, the carriage reached the town.
They went the mayor's building and saw the state that the mayor was in. His body looked comatose and only his shallow breathing could they tell that he was alive. They saw the doctor and gave him some of the Echinacea flower.
"Is this it, the fabled flower, I'll go make a cure!" the doctor dashed out of the room.
The mayor's wife came in,
"Oh, thank goodness you made it in time, both of you may take one item from my husband's study as a reward."
"Thank you ma'am," replied both of them.
In the room were various books, objects, and other items. Rai went to the plants and animal section and picked out a book titled, Rare Aerial Animals of the New World. Ham-Ham however had no idea on what to take. As he was looking through all of the books, he found a black book with golden embroiders on it. It was the Tome of Thunder. Realizing that this book could help him with his training, he took it.
As the two walked outside, the mayor's wife stopped them. She told them that the medicine that the doctor made helped the mayor considerably.
They went into the nearest tavern and paid for a room and went to sleep. The next day Ham-Ham and Rai meet up at the west gate.
"So Ham-Ham, where are you off to now."
"I'm thinking of going west to Foret, I heard of rumors of a plague and one of my friends said that he was going there."
"Very well, I shall follow, since I'll probably see more wonderful plants and animals, oh the precious information."
Little did ham-Ham know that the Tome of Thunder would be beneficial to him in the days ahead.