Fires Of The Past

(Currently Incomplete; five of twenty planned parts have been posted.)

In the time of the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India, a man named Ashoka ruled with an iron fist. He had built for him a great, lavish palace, the facade so striking it hid the evil designs for which it had been created.

Only nineteen summers old, young Avinasha and her father have just moved to the great city of Patliputra, capital of the Empire. Due to a unfortunate turn of events, she has found herself locked inside this palatial hell, forced to suffer unthinkable misery at the hands of Ashoka's private executioner, Girika. The only rule of the place is that none who enter shall leave alive, and so Avinasha becomes accepting of her fate, fully expecting to die in this hell on earth.

Flash forward over two thousand years into the future, to the modern-day city of Nice, on the southern coast of France. Twenty-one year old Lisette DuBlanc has been sent an ancient, crumbling diary by her relic hunting aunt from her recent expedition in India. Unable to read the ancient Hindi script, she seeks out someone who can, and together they uncover the story of Avinasha's torment.

Flipping back and forth from past to present, "Ashoka's Hell" explores the darker side of life in ancient times, when morals were pushed aside for personal gain and pleasure, shattering the innocence of two girls ages apart in the Earth's history. Can Avinasha survive the agony she's been forced into, and can Lisette discover the reason why images of Avinasha's suffering invade her dreams at night? Or will all questions be crushed with a single, devastating blow?