Tag: Bixi

Dowser 4: Bixi, aka ‘doom crosses our footsteps.’

I came upon this scene while putting together Bixi’s biography and it made me laugh. Flashback to Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4)!! Click here for the reading order of the Adept Universe. Bixi most recently appears in Awakening Infinity (Archivist 0).

“Earthly delights.”

*side eyes Warner*

LOL!!!

Book cover by Elizabeth Mackey Graphic Design

A jet-black cat sauntered through the far archway. Its casual gait was insufficient cover for the cunning betrayed by its yellow eyes. Its sleek fur shone among all the gold of the decor, not a hair out of place. 

Warner, still frowning at me, followed my gaze. Then he went utterly still and pale.

“A black cat in the heart of the guardian temple,” he murmured. He reached for a weapon that he didn’t actually have, then held his hands before himself, wary. “Doom crosses our footsteps.”

I snorted out a laugh. “What century are you living in?”

Spicy dragon magic — all apricots and smoky syrup — gathered around the cat along with a haze of golden light. The creature transformed amid a wash of intense magic, as the shapeshifters did. Then Bixi — doing her best Cleopatra impersonation — stood before us. White dress, gold armbands, heavily kohled eyes and all. She obviously didn’t have to stash extra clothing everywhere like Kandy did when she changed back from her wolf form.

Logically, I knew Bixi wasn’t actually Cleopatra, since she was supposedly only around seven hundred years old. But still, I wondered if there wasn’t some deep ancestral connection going on with the guardian of North Africa. And again, when did ‘seven hundred’ become an ‘only’? It was also interesting that the guardians seemed to decide what physical age suited them best. Suanmi was technically younger than Bixi but appeared to be a youthful forty-five. Bixi looked to be about my age at the most. My father Yazi, the third-youngest of the guardians, appeared to be thirty-five.

Warner dropped into a deep bow beside me.

“Hello, warrior’s daughter,” Bixi said, completely ignoring Warner.

“Hello, guardian.”

“What earthly delight have you brought with you this time?”

Warner started coughing — no, choking — beside me.

I reached into my satchel, fished around, and pulled out a simple yet modern, yellow-papered Sirene chocolate bar. As far as I knew, this was the only bar that the newly established company produced out of Victoria, on Vancouver Island. It consisted of a tasting pair made from 72 percent Ecuador and 67 percent Madagascar cocoa. It was a new purchase I’d acquired downtown last weekend at Xoxolat — a mecca of earthly delights that carried a vast selection of single-origin chocolate bars from around the world. I hadn’t even tried a single square of the Sirene yet, and I’d really been looking forward to it. Normally, I tried to distract chocolate-questing dragons with cupcakes or cookies, but in my haste to get Warner sorted out I’d forgotten to pack a box.

Bixi came just short of snatching it out of my hand. “I enjoy your visits, alchemist,” she said. Then, pressing the bar to her nose and smelling it through its wrapper, she sauntered off in the direction she’d come. Her thin, gold-strapped sandals made no sound on the stone floor.

Dragons had a strong sense of smell and great taste in chocolate. Though regrettably, they never seemed to have any around.

– Excerpt from Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4)

Adept Universe Bible: Bixi

Bixi – guardian dragon. Aka one of the Nine. Territory: North Africa. Great-great-great-grandmother of Dusk. Looks like Cleopatra. Wears a lot of gold chains. Dark hair. Olive skin. Dark eyes. Maintains the appearance of a twenty-something but has been a guardian for approx. 700 years (over 800 years old in Archivist 0). The third oldest guardian. Accepted the mantle of ‘She of All Forms’ when she was unknowingly pregnant with Darius (Archivist 0). She’s a shapeshifter, can take any and all forms. Such as the black cat in Dowser 4. In Dowser 5, Warner suggests that she is the only dragon who remembers their true form. Claims that Desmond is ‘one of hers’ in Dowser 3. According to Jade, her magic tastes like apricots and smoky syrup.

Resides in the nexus where she keeps a sarcophagus containing a deadly soul sucker as a coffee table (see Archivist 0).

Bixi first appeared in Dowser 2, and Dowser 4, uncredited in Dowser 6. Featured in Awakening Infinity (Archivist 0).

Pronunciation: BIC-SEE or click to listen to the audio.

Bixi. Dragon. The Guardian of North Africa. Capable of taking any and all shapes, human and animal, including strolling around the nexus in the form of a black cat. Has a nose for good chocolate, a grand sense of entitlement, and a memory stretched by time. Sketch by Memo.
Bixi. Dragon. The Guardian of North Africa. ‘She of All Forms’. Third oldest guardian dragon. “Then Bixi — doing her best Cleopatra impersonation — stood before us. White dress, gold armbands, heavily kohled eyes and all.” – Dowser 4. Dusk’s great-great-great-grandmother. Sketch by Memo.