The Legoricon

Mom and I watched the headlights as they rumbled up the long gravel driveway of our home. The fancy silver sedan shut down and a strangely dressed character got out. He approached, straightening his garb and smoothing his long blond ponytail. It was held together with a bejeweled avocado green band. The matching knee-length robe seemed like an attempt to modernize something from a bygone era of wizards and warlocks.

“Good evening,” he said politely, with a voice that seemed too deep for him. “I’m looking for a Donara Vabray. Would I be in the right place?”

She stepped down from the porch and I followed closely behind. “I’m Donara,” she replied, looking him over. The smile she gave was cordial, but I could almost hear her say, Would you look at this fool here? “What can I do for you?”

“Thank you. My name is Destineau. I have been contracted to procure your legoricon.” I felt her tense up even though her dark face betrayed nothing on this moonless night. Why would someone want our legoricon? It was useless to anyone outside of our bloodline. I had just recently turned sixteen and begun the process of imprinting my soul onto it. As the first and only offspring, it was my birthright. “They are fetching a high price these days with certain individuals,” he continued. “Yours alone has netted me twenty thousand dollars just for taking this job.”

Mom’s brow wrinkled as though someone had told her a bad punchline. Then she snorted. “I hope you didn’t spend it all on that pretty bathrobe.” I chuckled but he seemed unfazed. “Our legoricon belongs to this family. Our ancestors made it. And it only gets stronger with each new generation. We don’t sell things like that.”

He grinned. “You misunderstand. I’m not here to buy it. I would like you to give it to me in exchange for leaving you both, uh, unmolested.”

She stared at him blankly for a moment before bursting into boisterous laughter. “This clown coming up to my house talking about some unmolested.” The sight of her forced me to join in. “Man, if you don’t get the hell on-”

With unbelievable speed, Destineau reached into his robe and pulled out a slim black notebook. It looked like one any teenager would take to class. It was worn, but the corners were ablaze with an electric red light that quickly spread over his body. Mom had been ready for him. She shoved me aside, already bathed in her own golden glow, and backhanded the incoming blast of mystical energy back at the car. The dazzling light spread from bumper to bumper. With a snap of her fingers and a look dripping with confidence and contempt, the sedan exploded, knocking him to the ground.

With a raise of her right hand, the Vabray family legoricon faded into this plane of existence. It was a huge leather-bound tome, thousands of pages filled with the magic and history of our family. There was no price that could be put on something like that, but twenty thousand was an insult. She swiped her hand over it causing the floating book to spring open. The pages fluttered as she spoke with a supernatural echo.

I’ll give a warning, but only one

Before I unleash the tears of the sun!

She was amazing to behold. I had watched my mother take on everything from home invaders to a charging bear. The legoricon’s power flowed through her even when she wasn’t conjuring her strongest magic. I hopped to her side ready to do whatever I could to help. “Guess he’s gonna be walking home, huh?”

She gave me a slight smile, eyes still on the mercenary as he got back to his feet. “Yeah, he will. Stand back, Ridge.” I retreated a few feet.

“Now that was style!” shouted a strangely jovial Destineau. “I want to be angry about losing my car, but when it’s done with such flair, how can I complain?” His blond hair was stained crimson. “And your legoricon is so much better than this child’s plaything,” he said, turning his notebook over in his hands. “But at least she didn’t put up a fight.” A disgusting grin spread across his lips. “Not much.”

I clenched my fists, ready to use nothing but meat and bone to put this man in his place. Before I could move, Mom pointed a finger at him and fired three flaming balls of energy. He casually raised his book and absorbed the magic as if she had spritzed him with a squirt gun.

Slack-jawed, I looked back and forth between them. She was visibly shaken and he was chuckling. “Surprised? I’ll make this easy for you.” He held up the notebook. “With this, uh, repurposed legoricon, I can not only neutralize anything you throw at me but I can also use it against you.” It didn’t seem possible, but I had seen it with my own eyes. “So please, just give it to me and I will leave you and your boy with your lives.”

“Don’t listen to him, Mom! You can take this punk!” But I wasn’t sure I believed it, not after what he had said. And the look on her face told me she had doubts as well. But then her eyes narrowed, and she swiped over the legoricon sending the pages shuffling.

With earth’s might and water’s grace

Protect us now with nature’s brace!

Rings of golden light erupted from the ground around us, and I could feel the refreshing energy coursing through my veins. “Yeah. That’s what’s up,” I said, burying my fist into my hand. If we couldn’t use magic against him, we could still use it on ourselves for an old-fashioned beat down.

Her hand halted me. “No!” she said, still eyeing the patiently waiting Destineau. “He’s ready for that. Here.” Our legoricon slammed shut and floated into my arms. “I’m going to hold him here while you get help.”

“But Mom!”

She looked at me. “I’ll be fine. You’re gonna make sure he doesn’t get our legoricon.”

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to help my mother despite her orders. Foolishly, I thought I could protect her just by being there, but more importantly- “If I take it how will you fight?”

“Aww, baby,” she said with a grin, before exploding with her radiant golden glow. “You know mama’s got that magic. Now get moving. I love you, but don’t make me have to repeat myself.”

“I’ve had about enough of this,” groaned Destineau as he opened his notebook. Before he could fire a shot, Mom erected a massive wall of transparent stones that cut across the entire yard. A fireball smashed against it, knocking chunks loose.

“Run!” Clutching the giant book to my chest I sprinted to the treeline. I wasn’t a fool. I knew what she was doing. If that was the last word I would ever hear from Mom, I couldn’t leave it at that. I looked back one last time. This was what I wanted to remember. The powerhouse of a woman standing in front of our home, her body aglow with golden light as she wielded the mystical energies that governed life and death. Winds whipping at the black coils of her glorious mane as she held up a wall to protect me from the magical artillery of a psychopath.

“I love you, Mom.” I retreated into the forest with the image burned into my soul. But as I ran through the forest hugging my leatherbound birthright like a teddy bear, it became something else. The blood-curdling scream of my mother confirmed it was now my legacy.

Tears blurred my vision, but I knew these woods like the beautiful brown face of the woman who had sent me here. It wasn’t the safest way to get to town, but it was definitely the fastest. If only I could have finished the imprinting. I thought back to Mom’s advice after another failed attempt, “Your first spell is one of the most important things you will ever do in your life. You can’t just do it to get it done and show off to your little friends.” She had embraced me at that moment. “It has to mean something to you. Understand?”

The forest ahead of me became an inferno. I slid to a stop in front of a wall of flame. ”I know you’re still out here,” sang Destineau. I ducked behind a tree. To my left, a tree was reduced to smoldering splinters after being hit with Tears of the Sun. “I like this crying sun spell. I’m going to use it to burn this forest down around your ears if you don’t give me what I want!” Another tree went down, this time closer.

I sank to the ground defeated while he raged. The wall stung my tear-streaked face far worse than any words he could have hurled at me. Mom had sacrificed her life so I could escape, and even that had failed. I flinched at the sound of another tree being felled. Sooner or later, either he would find me or the fire would.

“You’ve been made an orphan needlessly,” he called out. “And now here you are. Alone and without your mother’s protection.”

She had always protected me. When I had harassed that flock of birds and they attacked me. When that crab had chased me down the beach. When I ran my mouth too much to the bigger kids. She had always been there to protect me from my dumber decisions. And I needed that just one more time. The legoricon glowed and lifted out of my hands. The pages fluttered and stopped on a blank. My eyes filled with the book’s power as it connected with me, pulling the spell out of my heart and scribing it onto the paper. At last, the book was truly mine.

“There you are,” came the voice from behind me. I stepped out from behind my cover, my legoricon floating open at my waist. “And you’ve bonded just in time to hand it over.”

“I’m not giving you anything,” I growled. “This has been with my people for centuries. If you want it-” I swiped my hand over the book, putting the pages in motion. “You’re gonna have to take it.”

Protection sent from the heavens above,

Nothing is stronger than a mother’s love!

Destineau held his book and flaming fist at the ready, but when nothing came, he gave me a pitying shake of his head. “Another protection spell? How well did that work for your mother?” My face twisted into a snarl. “I guess we’ll see how well your tribute to her stands up.” He leveled his fist at me and fired a single fireball.

Before it could hit me, a golden ghostly image of my mother slid in front of me and backhanded the shot into a large oak beside Destineau. The entire tree lit up like it had been doused in lighter fluid. With a snap of my fingers and a look of twisted satisfaction, the trunk exploded, flinging burning splinters in every direction. He screamed as the shrapnel tore through his flesh. I stood still, the ghost of my mother holding me one last time and protecting me from harm.

I walked over to the mangled mess on the ground. It was a gruesome sight. I wanted to kill him. Maybe I already had. But Mom had raised me better than that. I picked up the notebook that he had used to cause so much pain and the wall of flame dissipated. A quick spell, and rain began to fall, dousing the remaining fires. I headed through the forest to town as it washed the soot from my face and disguised my tears.