The Calligrapher

All nineteen-year-old Hisae wants is to find her sister. The sister who was ripped out of her arms during a vicious attack when she was only twelve. The attack left her physically and emotionally crippled, but she endures in the slums of Onibi, where her sister was kidnapped.

Every morning she trudges to her stall in the market, where she paints words that possess the ability to bend the mind and will of those who see them. She is a master calligrapher, and, with the money she earns at the market, she bribes her way to neighboring settlement, Frauholle, where she believes her sister was taken.

Her treks to Frauholle take on greater urgency when dead bodies begin piling up in the streets of Hanging Dog, the neighborhood connecting the two settlements. Rumors swirl that a blade tester has taken up residence in Frauholle and has begun testing his creations on the townsfolk in both Onibi and Frauholle. Hisae ignores the warnings until she witnesses the violent murder of one of her close friends.

While the rumors may have been true that a blade tester is on the loose, they leave out the manner in which he slays his victims: By using his sword to pull the souls from their bodies.

With only her wits and her ability to weave spells with her calligraphy, Hisae must either put an end to the blade tester's reign of terror or escape the slums with her sister before she or her sister becomes his next victim.