Folkloric Fictional Fantasy

I’ve been working on a book for the past 3years Writting on and off, but came back to it these past few week. I would love some feed back :) I do apologies for my lack of knowledge in the layout.

CHAPTER 1: Wheels on Fire!
Red tail lights sway in an erratically highspeed fashion down a dark street, printing their trail in the sewer steamed night. An array of colored lights flood the dark and empty street, warm tones of orange and red prevail over the cool emerald greens and sapphire blues.

A red cheeked, middle aged man gracefully flicks his slightly fallen glasses into place and waves his goodbyes as he stumbles out of a Chinese diner. The owner and waiter James Fong waves back, with a cheeky grin that reveals a golden tooth, knowing that his last customer will be regretting his last cups of baijiu tomorrow morning.

The small diner is snuggled between two stores. Towards the right a fruit shop, whose owner was a flamboyant Khuumei1 singer, and who years later would win the first prize on the TV show “The Real Deal: Voice” leaving the store to his mother. On the other side is a liquor store run by James Fong´s cousin Kevin. Several times a week the two cousins get together and have dinner together at the diner. James prepares Sichuan dishes taught to him by his grandmother and Kevin supplies the entertainment of BaiJiu and old tales of their youth in the land far to the east.

1 Mongolian throat singing

All of a sudden reality starts to have its own little hiccups and convulsions, as small sparks of blue start to flicker into existence joining the sway of red tail lights. Revolving around the red tint the blue sparks start to change colour while emitting a small hum...

Stopping for a quick breath, the middle aged man stretches his tired back in a rude posture, which is met upon by a startled old lady glancing down out of her window. The middle aged man opens his eyes and sighs at the successful setting of his now not so aching spine, when from afar he spots a cloud of sparks moving down the street.

Engulfing the red lights the sparks start to gain speed and grow in size, as clouds of grey and brown emerge whilst the small humming sound turns into crackle.

The Red tint turns to pink.

The street lights start to gently flicker and the wind starts to pick up as the sparks begin to call out like a flock of furious crows.

Pink to white.

The street windows begin to shake under the force of an invisible force. Something starts to open up within the green and brownish cloud, as the screeching sparks start to gain an ear shattering pitch. The sound grows louder and louder, until a thunder shattering explosion breaks the realm of existence. Launching forwards a huge green van covered in all kinds of wooden boxes tied and bound together by all coloured ropes screams out onto the street. Its wheels are blazing blue fire and its red tail lights are beaming a fierce crimson red as the vehicle tries to keep its balance. Towards the back one of the two doors has a huge freshly made hole, still bearing a ring of molten metal.

“KEEP GIVING IT MORE JUICE!”, a voice screams within the van.
“There's non left, what the fuck do you want me to do?!”, snaps a second.
“Kill the shroud then!”
“The shroud? Are we talking about the same shroud, that we JUST FUCKING BLEW!”, screams the copilot in shock of the perceptive awareness of the pilot.

Back on the sidewalk, the middle aged man is seriously starting to regret the last glasses of baijiu, scratch that, his stomach is starting to regret the appalling decision. The nausea soon drives him to his knees projecting his remorses into the gutter in front of him.

The initial fear of the pilot was soon drowned out by pure fury. “That was the shroud?! I swear I'm going to choke that shitty mechanic when I find him.”
“Would you just forget about him! What are WE going to do if anyone sees us?”
“We’re going to get off the street that’s what. Just thank your Gods that it’s dark out here”
Suddenly the copilot spots the middle aged man puking in the gutter. “Don’t be dancing just yet...11 o'clock Mór, we've got a spewing Jolly”.
“Aw crap, belt em up will you”, snaps Mór as she opens the glove compartment of the van with one hand.

The copilot reaches in and takes out an old revolver, it’s glowing rounds lighting the interior of the van. He starts to roll down his window, “You could have gone with a newer model”, grunts the coopilot frantically cranking the lever as he is welcomed by a cold slap of wind to the face.

“You could at least TRY to keep her steady!”, he snarls.
“We’re driving on three wheels, that’s as steady as she's gonna get, my friend” Mór pivots the van, skillfully shifting its weight to assist the shot.
“You better take the shot Kei, It would suck if you missed”, Mór worries.

Kei sticks out his left arm through the window, gun in hand. The street lights reveal the pistol's true form, a frankenstein of a weapon made up of various different pieces decorated with carved symbols. Cocking it with his thumb, the glow from the round gives his face a grim look. Down the street, the middle aged man, still on his knees, hears a low but powerful hum and raises his head in curiosity. Merciless, Kei takes aim and squints to see his target better.
“Thank god I’m a leftie” he thinks to himself as he squeezes off a round. The hammer strikes the primer of the bullet sending it flying as it hits the poor dazed man square in the forehead and explodes into a grey cloud. As the unconscious man lands motionless on his back the cloud starts to cover him and camouflage him from sight.
“Sweet shot”, confirms Mór.
“Superb driving”, responds Kei.

Their mutual admiration is cut short as a red light on their radio starts to blink.
“Warning, location being tracked” chants an electronic voice as a small red light appears on the dashboard. Mór flicks a switch to the right of the steering wheel and the van's colour shifts from a dark green to tropical turquoise color. Kei throws the pistol back in its place and shuts the compartment hard while cursing under his breath. Still blaspheming in a foreign language, he unbuckles his seatbelt and in one swift movement flings himself to the back of the van passing through a beige curtain divider. He starts rummaging through various containers, dropping heavy objects to the floor as others are thrown to the ground in anger.

“Dude. Kei. Be careful man!”, shouts Mór.
“Just be quiet and get us off the road quick. Remember YOU got us into this and I’M getting us out”, responds Kei as he continues to rustle through the darkness.

The small diner is now far back in the distance, together with the claustrophobic assortment of cramped buildings. Dark alleyways and half built vacant lots start to thin out the horizon giving the skyline more room to breath. Mór knows that with the shroud gone they need to get out of the street fast, she can still hear Kei tinkering with a possible solution.
“LOCATION ACQUIRED!” chants the electronic voice, as a blue indicator flashes in parallel with its red brother.
“Aw SHIT! Kei get up here and help me!”, screams Mór.
Kei pops his head out of the dirty curtain divider and takes a quick glance of the terrain in front of them. He quickly scans the streets and sticks his arm out pointing at an old metal fenced gate to the left.
“Run through that and park it at the bottom”, snaps Kei as he retreats back into the darkness.

Mór reves the van up and hits an old chained metal fence at full force, the chain lashing out against the hood of the van before exploding into three parts. The gates fling open and slap the side of the fence furiously, trapped there as their hinges are permanently bent out of shape. The van descends a poorly maintained cement ramp, swiftly driving through mounds of dead leaves and old newspapers, Mór quickly understands where they’re heading. A hallway of cement with its two walls cut in a symmetrical angle greets them as they keep descending. Mór is sure that her parents talked about a movie with a car race in a similar scenario once. The van finishes its descent, Mór continues a few more meters and stops the van.
“Keep the motor running”, Kei whispers while rustling through what seems to be wooden boxes.
“I do hope you know what you’re doing man, I really fucking do”, Mór replies.

Mór steps out, the wheels dim blue flames guide her as she strolls towards the back of the van. She turns her head up towards the night sky and its glimmering stars, wondering if she's ever going to see them again.
“A sheanair, glèidh agus treòraich mi”, she whispers to the dark sky. The stars are still, but the wind starts to pick up, brushing Mórs red hair behind her shoulders. Dried leaves begin to blow their way as the wind grows stronger. About fifteen meters in front of them a small orange circle appears under the old rusty bridge that towers above them. The circle instantly starts to multiply, growing in diameter.
“Aw Shit, Kei! They’re…”, the orange seal shatters open, cascading to the floor hundreds of glass like shards, before Mór finishes her sentence. “...here”, she mutters. A small ship hovers through the opening, its metal body is a junkyard of burnt and rusted metal pieces, fused together by some sort of glowing orange meld. It hovers towards Mór at an alarming rate, to which she takes a step back as it skids sideways and stops towards the back side of the van.
“Kei now would be a good time to do something”, Mór hisses. The ship stops a few meters away from the van, lighting up the dried up river channel with its orange tint. The laches from the ship's top and side doors open. Grey smoke creeps into the night as three figures start to emerge from the ship. They are shy of a meter tall all dressed alike, in dirty jet black leather overalls with grey turtlenecks. Strangely the three appear to be barefoot, clearly showing how large their feet and hands are compared to their small body. Their huge grins expose two rows of sharp teeth that take away the humor, especially when their mouths occupy a third of their face. Their small beady black eyes turn to Mór, as the creatures start shouting and pointing their weapons at her. Guns that seemed to be very much similar to the revolver Kei had used previously, however the meld is the same color orange as the ship.
Mór spots and recognises their orders sigil tattooed on one of the small creature's neck, a small white star with a flame.

“Wo ist unser stein, Miststück”, screams the creature with flaming star.
“I really don't understand little man”, Mór shows that her hands are empty. ”I really want to help but, um you wouldn't have a translator would you?”, Mór smirks her nervous smirk, maybe not the smartest thing to do when you don’t have a gun.
The creature squints his eyes and stares at her angrily, slowly without losing eye contact he draws a symbol with his finger on his neck. The symbol glows for a moment and sinks within the creature's skin. He clears his throat and once again speaks towards Mór, in a cold and slow tone, “Tell me where it is, you thieving half breed bitch”.
Mór simply stares at the creature, with eyes of burning rage, her hands now fists at the side of her. “You really need to work on your interpersonal skills man, drop the gun and let's start this from the top”.
Starchild whistles the signal for his comrades to charge their weapons. “Kill her, if it’s not in the van it's in the trading log”.
Suddenly the van's back doors burst open, revealing various golden medallions set evenly around the van's interior, joined by a thin blue aura. The creatures step back, with their beady eyes wide open, “Scheisse!”, screams one of the creatures recognizing the artefacts. Kei stands behind the blue web brandishing his revolver armed and ready, this time the rounds glow a cool blue.

“WILLKOMMEN!”, screams Kei from the top of his lungs as he fires the first round, hitting one of them in the leg.

The web of blue aura starts to shoot at an alarming rate as the other two creatures start returning whilst fire darting back to the ship. Kei lets the web do its job as he lays back, crouched behind a metal crate in a defensive position as he covers himself from shots. He can see and hear the wounded creature screaming in a foreign language, as blue goo emanates from its wound and starts to cover him in a cocoon like prison.
“Don’t fight it, you’re going to need the oxygen!”, Kei shouts from behind cover. He quickly realises that the poor guy might not understand him as he can see him punching the blue goo with his heavy fist as his weapon is out of reach, Kei chuckles at the thought.

The other two are dodging the web shooters' hits effectively as their agile little bodies dart out of the way, however their shots are not as precise straying past the van and hitting the floor. Kei curses to himself as he follows one of them, honing in on it’s movements as it dodged the shots. The web shooter fires a web directly at the creature, missing it by fractions as it darts to the side. However Kei’s trained eye predicts where he would move and fires his pistol, it shrieks as it’s struck in the torso. The third and last creature reaches the door of the ship, he turns briefly to check on his comrades. However, the last thing he sees is a blue web coming straight at him, with no time to move it pins his head first against the ship's door.

The night grows silent, the shooting screams have stopped, as the golden medallions stop spinning as Kei holsters his revolver. He holds out and opens a small box while he whispers some words causing the blue aura to disappear and the medallions float back into it arranging themselves one after the other. Closing it and gently placing it on the floor of the van, he jumps out to inspect his captured bounty whilst grabbing some rope from the top of their turquoise vehicle, he walks towards them humming a sweet tune. Approaching the first blue cocoon, he peers through the blue transparent exterior. He stops humming and takes a step back clenching his fist in triumph as he recognises the creature.

“I knew it! Mine Kobolds!”, Kei shouts to Mòr.
He whispers an inaudible word to the piece of rope as it starts to glow and extend itself, growing in length. One side ties itself to the back of the van, the other extremity starts to wrap around the blue cocoon whilst reeling it to the van. Kei whispers another word, and the rope shoots out to collect the other two creatures now fully covered in a blue prison.
“Mór did you hear me?”, he asks.

No response.

Kei snaps his head around at the van but can't see her. He tries to remember the last time he heard her voice, but there is no need as he quickly spots her boots under the left back door of the van. “Why is she on her back?”, Kei’s thought doesn't go far, “Did she get hit?!! Oh no,no,no!”, he runs towards her.

Kei slams the back door of the van hard, and kneels down next to her body. Her head is tilted to the left and covered in blood as is the grey pavement under her. He checks her vital signs placing his index and middle finger on her wrist, and prays that this time his intuition isn't right.
After a few seconds that seem an eternity he catches her pulse, faint, but a pulse nonetheless. Without letting go of her hand he closes his eyes exhaling all of his worries in a short blast, and strokes her hair.

“You really know how to scare me out of my bones Mór”, Kei whispers.
A sharp wall pain comes crashing down on Keis nose, and he can hear a small crack. Kei rolls himself backwards instinctively and tries to look through his now watery eyes.
“Now we are even you dumb son of a bitch!”, Mór screams resting on her left side. “Next time how about you TELL me what you fucking plan is, or at least wait for me to get out of the fucking way!”. “I was improvising there was no time!? Why would you stand next to the doors?”, Kei says in his defence. Both of them stare at each other holding their noses in pain as blood drops on the floor.

Three drops into their staring competition and without breaking eye contact Mór points to the blue cocoons now collected and next to the van.
“Mine Kobolds right?”, she asks rhetorically.
“Yes”
“Zareth’s still looking for good labour, right?”, Mór asks, still staring at him.
“I would assume so”, aserts Kei while looking at the cocoons.
“Great, then you know what to do Kei”, Mór turns around and climbs back into the van.
“On it”, nods Kei as he gets up on his feet.
After shaking off the pain Mór heads to the van taking out her phone from one of her door’s compartments and starts dialing. She can hear Kei grunting in the distance as he starts to rearrange the top part of the van to make space for their new friends. As the phone starts ringing, Mór looks through the back mirror to see Kei bathed in red brake lights, staring at the three cocoon prisons like it was tetris, she chuckles just as the call connects.
“What’s so funny my dear?”, says a voice from the other line.
“Oh nothing Mr.Zareth, I was lost in thought. My deepest apologies”, Mór forcefully restrains her tone.

Kei throws the first Kobold on to the roof...thump.

“What is it that you want, Mór. We both know if you’re not swearing away like a drunken sailor, it's because you want something”, Zareth replies sharply.
“I am most profoundly offended by the accusation to which you charge me, Sir Zareth”

Kei throws the second...thump.

“Mór stop acting like a child and GET to the POINT.”, he snaps.
“Currently I am in possession of some very fine skilled metal labourers”, she boasts, raising an eyebrow.

Kei throws the last...thump.

“...Race?”, says Zareth bluntly.
“Kobolds of the Mine”, responds Mòr, adding a smile to her already raised eyebrow.

Kei opens the door and gets into the van, Mòr placing her index finger on her lips tells Kei not to make a sound. Kei closes the door slowly as he looks to the ceiling of the van and sighs. Exhausted, he closes his eyes as he rests his head against the tattered headrest, folding his hands on his lap.

“I’ll give you three black mani’s”, Zareth breaks the silence.
“FOR EACH?!”, Mór can’t contain her excitement, thinking how this will cover their expenses for the next few weeks. Kei turns his head towards Mór with an eyebrow raised in an approving gesture. “No, for all three of them”, Zareth pauses for a moment, “That would be if Kei forgot to toss a fourth Kobold on your van”. “Hi...Zareth”, Kei responds dully. “We’ll head to your usual drop point. If by the time we get there, I don’t see two grey shiners in my account…”. “Two grey Mani’s?! You really must be…”, Zareth snaps in protest.
“...we’ll just sell them to your brother”, Kei finishes, unmoving from his comfy position.
As the conversation goes silent, Mór looks at Kei with a mixture of anger and pride.
“Very well. Send them over, I honestly hope these are as good as their cousins”, sighs Zareth.
“Ok”, Kei signals Mór to hang up. Still holding her phone and with her index finger ready to press that hang up button, she looks at Kei with a rascal smile and brings the mic to her lips.
“Fret not my dear, they shall be indeed, enjoy your grey poupon!”, she screams as she hangs up laughing.

Kei roars with laughter as Mór begins to snort, tears start to roll down their cheeks. She starts the van up, the blue flame around its wheels now extinguished starts to move as they head back to the main street. They both clean their tears as they assess each other's damaged face, Kei says, still laughing.
“You’ve got to get yourself some life insurance”

Thank you all so much for reading :)