The Story of Kalista
In life, Kalista was a general of the Blessed Isles — the paradise of nature magic that would one day become the Shadow Isles. She was betrayed by those she trusted: people she had served with honor stabbed her in the back to protect their own power, and their treachery triggered the Ruination that destroyed everything she'd dedicated her life to protecting.
In death, Kalista became something the living created: an armored spirit of vengeance, called into existence when someone binds their soul to her with a solemn oath. When the betrayed make their oath — swearing on the thing they love most that they will see their betrayer face justice — Kalista hears it. She appears. She hunts. She does not rest until the betrayer has been brought to account, at whatever cost that demands.
Her own vengeance is unfinished. The person who betrayed her, whose act damned the Blessed Isles and everyone on them, is still out there — connected to the Ruination, to the Black Mist, to the endless hunger of the Shadow Isles. Kalista hunts betrayers across the threshold of death. Someday, she will hunt the one she most needs to find.