Time is Tale in Circle
an excerpt

Finally Ben spat out the words that were running furiously around in his head, “where’s Pyre?”
Abylinda set her knife down, “Pyre? I don’t know.”
Ben didn’t feel hungry anymore, “what do you mean?” he asked hoarsely.
“I killed her you know,” Abylinda sliced her third helping of beef, “putting out her fire like that, if she’s not dead she will be soon.”
“You killed her…” Ben stared down at his plate. He couldn’t accept that, she wasn’t dead, not Pyre. Somehow he’d got the impression she couldn’t be killed, after all they had been through, she’d always come out all right… she couldn’t have just, died…
“Don’t brood on it,” Abylinda said airily, “you’ll get over it, they all do eventually, the sooner you forget the better.”
“Why!” Ben begged, “Why are you doing this?”
“Because it is necessary,” Abylinda replied, “things must get worse before they get better, she died to save the world.”
“She died because you didn’t like the way she saw right through you at Lakeside!” Ben burst out, his rage causing the silverware to rattle, “Askalanon doesn’t want to save the world!”
“You do not know what you are talking about,” Abylinda spoke in a condescending tone, “I am going to re-make the world, not destroy it! But first, it must be cleansed.”
“Askalanon doesn’t care about the world; he just wants to feed on all the pain you can reap for him!” Ben shouted, “He doesn’t want to help you, he wants to use you!”
“You are an ignorant boy who can barely control his own strength much less use it against anyone,” Abylinda slapped her hand down over her fork, Ben’s anger had caused the tableware to drift a few inches off the tabletop, “you have never seen the pain I have.”
“And just because you’ve had a bad life gives you the right to destroy the world?” Ben spat, pulling his power back in and concentrating it into a white hot point somewhere in his stomach.
“It will be like a wild-fire,” Abylinda’s voice became almost dreamy, “when the smoke has cleared and the ashes drift away all the good and green will spring up.”
“It will be like a wildfire,” Ben parroted, “out of control, it will be the Fang-Song wars all over again! And this time there isn’t another race to survive it! Our entire race, all of humanity will die!”
“You do not understand,” Abylinda said again, “you will never understand.”
“Understand what!” Ben shrieked, struggling to keep his power in check, “understand why you can justify cold blooded murder with a story about destroying the world as a service to humanity? It makes no sense!”
“You do not know what I see!” Abylinda hissed, “What I hear! Even in the silence I hear them! The voices of the dead, calling for vengeance, even these very stones are singing to me,” she swept her hand around the room, her voice bordering on hysteria, “telling me what they have seen, blood and pain and death. I will end it! Bring an end to this wicked, screaming, bleeding world, and then I will make anew, create it again.”
“You don’t know what you are setting loose,” Ben said clenching his fists to stay the energy welling up inside him, “you are going to loose a demon!”
“No,” Abylinda ran her finger gently along the rim of her plate, “I will bend him to my will, I will use him.”
“You cannot use Askalanon!” Ben hissed through clenched teeth, “he is evil incarnate.”
“No,” Abylinda said again, “he is power incarnate, power can be used.”
“Power is like poison,” Ben stated.
“If you mean to frighten me you are not succeeding.”