Secrets of the First School by Tendai .L. Huchu
The narrative of Secrets of the First School begins with the startling realization that the protagonist, Ropa Moyo, is dead and has been cast into the Other Place, a bleak realm in the astral plane reserved for wayward spirits. This dimension is characterized by jagged rocks, formless deserts of slag, charcoal-hued clouds, and a constant ultraviolet light that permeates the atmosphere. Ropa experiences a numbing cold and a gnawing hunger, discovering her hands look like dehydrated husks. It is in this wilderness that she is found by Sir George “Bloody” MacKenzie, the seventeenth-century Lord Advocate she previously exorcised, who saves her from being devoured by ether demons massive, tentacled Cthulhu-like creatures that feed on lost souls. MacKenzie takes her to a cave where she is reunited with the spectral form of her father, Makomborero Moyo. The Secret History of Ropa Moyo In the cave, Makomborero reveals the horrific truth of Ropa’s origins, which shatters her understanding of her life. He explains that Ropa actually died during childbirth at the Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments clinic twenty-one years prior. Driven by a bright, burning rage and a refusal to accept mortality, Makomborero used dark magic to bind her soul to the …