Wil and Saphyre continue waiting in the tavern for another few minutes, and Saphyre is not waiting the most patiently, constantly asking "What about now?" "Can we leave now?" and "The longer we wait, the further away she gets." After what seems like forever to Saphyre, Wil gets up, and says "Let's go. It's been long enough, we should be able to follow the trail without her knowing that that is what we are doing." He starts his location spell and starts following the trail, recasting it when it ends.
After about an hour of walking, they get to a house in the woods, light streaming through the windows, and smoke coming from the chimney. Wil ends his tracking spell and puts a zone of silence around the door. He walks to the door, signaling for Saphyre to come close as well, but to stay quiet. When Saphyre reaches the door, Wil kicks the door down and barges in. He pulls out his staff and says "Sit down. We have some questions for you." The woman promptly sits down, and Wil looks around, but doesn't see any books. "Where are the tomes?" Wil demands of her.
"Gone. You must have seen the smoke from the chimney when you were coming in here. They have all been burned."
Wil just smirks, and conjures up one of the tomes, "You mean these tomes? Probably should have made sure you were burning the actual books, not illusory copies," and hides it away again. The woman snatches at the tomes but Saphyre swats her away, holding a dagger between her and Wil.
"Just… hold on Saphyre," Wil chuckles a little, and Saphyre puts the blade away but continues burning into the woman with their eyes. Wil mutters some more, and a circle appears around the woman. "This is a zone of truth, I assume I don't have to tell you what it does. If you refuse to answer a question, I'll let Saphyre gut you. If I am not satisfied that you told me everything, same thing. Try to escape, same thing. Obviously, you can't lie. Do you understand?" The woman takes a few seconds to internalize, and then nods. Wil points at the ground and mutters something more. An orange light streaks from his finger, and coalesces into an orange bead beneath the woman's chair. "Slightly more defenses, because I really don't trust you. This is a fireball I am holding back. Exact same conditions as before and I will not hesitate to blow you up. Don't worry though. I am an evoker. Me and Saphyre will be perfectly fine. You ready to start?" The woman's eyes widen a little bit, and she nods once again.
"Great. Let's start. First off, why did you want us to grab the tomes of history only to burn them afterwards? Why not just leave them hidden?"
"I wanted you two to grab the tomes because they could have been found eventually. With the city expanding, eventually the library would have been found. As for why I was burning them, had you read the tomes, you would have known; us magic users aren't exactly shown in the best light."
"I didn't read the tomes, so enlighten me. Why are magic users, 'not shown in the best light?'"
"A very powerful magic user destroyed this town long ago. The history was forgotten, but not the grudge. Thats why, even to this day, people with magic are often outcast."
Wil grudgingly acknowledges the truth of her statement, and then continues on with "Why burn them? Why do you care about what is in the history books?"
The woman seems very hesitant to answer, and Wil blows up the fireball, protecting the three of them. He recasts the spell and says "That was a warning. Next time, you won't be so lucky. So, I ask again, why do you care about what is in the history books?"
"Because I am the one who destroyed the town then. I wanted to get rid of the evidence that anything ever happened. Of course, the grudge wasn't as easily forgotten as I originally anticipated, but I'll fix that mistake next time."
"What do you mean, next time?"
"Haven't you been listening? What happened last time? History repeats itself, I am just here making sure that it does. Who are you to stop me?" and she just laughs maniacally.
Wil lets the fireball explode, but this time only protects himself and Saphyre. The old woman screams in pain, but when the fire clears, she is still there, and looking very angry. Wil, panicked, mutters some more, and suddenly, she can't move anymore. She looks surprised, but no less angry. Wil removes his zone of truth but also recasts silence around her so no other spells can be cast. Wil looks over at Saphyre and says "Help me with her. We can't let her escape. I can only hold her here for so long." Wil looks back, and Saphyre is looking a little dazed. When looking back at the woman, she is starting hard at Saphyre. Wil curses and bolts for the door, picking Saphyre up on the way out. As soon as he leaves the house, he mutters a little more, his eyes start to glow a bright yellow, and he gets surrounded by what looks like purple flames. Saphyre, somewhat coming out of their daze, hears a muffled whistling noise.
Looking back, their eyes still somewhat glazed over by whatever spell the woman had put on them, Saphyre sees four bright streaks fall out of the sky, landing on the house, caving in the roof. They can't tell if the ringing in their ears is from the screaming coming from the house or the dull pounding sensation in their head. Flames arise where the house is… or at this point, was… and tiny bits of orange light float into the sky, accompanying the faint popping noises.
Saphyre's vision begins to fade, but the bounce of Wil's running keeps their eyelids at bay until he sets them down against a tree, his orange eyes fading to their usual but equally vibrant colors as he pants from the effort. Saphyre tries to curl into themself but Wil props them up, shaking their shoulders, and they can hear his muffled voice trying to keep them awake.
Wil lays a clammy hand on Saphyre's forehead and begins to mutter. As Saphyre begins to feel a bit of strength returning to their limbs and the cloud fading from their mind, they ask a simple, mumbled "Why?" to Wil. He looks at Saphrye and says "I couldn't let her get away. She was going to destroy the town again. Even though I have no love for the townspeople because of how they have treated me, they have never treated me badly, and I no more want to see them killed than you hurt." After this answer, he softly says "Get some sleep. I'll keep watch." He puts his hand back on their forehead, mutters some more, and Saphyre falls fast asleep in an instant.
When they wake up, Wil is nowhere to be seen, but Saphyre can tell he is still close by. Weakly, Saphyre calls out his name. Immediately, he appears out of the trees from several yards away. "Yes?" Saphyre furrows their brow. "How… how did you hear me?" They hear their voices echoed somewhere, and Wil pulls out his half of the little stone dragon that hangs on his neck. "Sending stones!" He proudly states. "That, and another spell that I have going. I decided that if you need me, I'm here. No matter the distance. Pull out your necklace for a second." Saphyre does so, and when they touch the necklace, they feel it pulsing in their hands. They look up at Wil. "My heartbeat," he says softly, "and I can feel yours too. That way I'm never far from your side again."
Saphyre sits in silence for a moment and then whispers something into the stone, making Wil grin wider and kick them gently. Wil looks at Saphyre and asks, "What now? We got the tomes of history, stopped it from being repeated, and killed an old woman. What next?" Saphyre looks back, bewildered. "What next? What are you looking at me for? You brought down a swarm of meteors on her, I figured you had a plan!"
"My plan was making sure she didn't get away and make history repeat itself. Past that, no plan really. I suppose that we shouldn't tell people what happened, if they didn't see the meteors falling from the sky." Saphyre rolls their eyes. "Sure," they said, sarcasm dripping from their voice, "No one will see the great balls of fire being hurled from the clouds."
"In that case, shall we head back to town, and see the damage? Obviously, no one in town got hurt, but they probably saw the meteors."
Saphyre nods, fidgeting, and slings their equipment over their shoulder as they start on the road towards town. Upon entering the town, they see townspeople waiting at the gate. A familiar figure popped out of the crowd, hugging Saphyre and warily glancing at Wil. "Are you okay?" Vikki whispers in their ear. Saphyre nodds and smiles a little. Before they can explain any farther, more townspeople crowd in, beginning to jostle them. Screams of "Wizard! Meteors!" and other choppy excerpts erupted.
"I know. I know there were meteors, and yes, as you can probably imagine, it was me that called them down. But, if you would let me explain myself, I'm sure we can work it out," Wil says. Saphyre looks over at him and notices behind the mask of calm that he is extremely nervous. He very well can protect himself against the wrath of the townspeople. Whether or not that will extend to Saphyre is his worry, along with the fact that his good will with the townspeople is already stretched thin. The townspeople exchange some glances, and one of them steps forwards and says "So, you called down some meteors. What for? Is it not safe to assume that you didn't just randomly decide to call down for meteors for the heck of it?"
"That is a fair assumption to make. I called down the meteors to try and get rid of a problem. While adventuring we found some tomes of history about this city. We gave them to a woman, who proceeded to try to destroy them. We found her, questioned her, and uncovered a plot to try and destroy the city. I couldn't just let her leave, so after getting me and Saphyre clear, well… generally meteors aren't a very survivable experience."
Vikki steps out of the crowd. "Let Saphyre speak. I don't know about anyone else but I'll believe Saphyre over you." Saphyre nods, saying "He's not lying. This woman, although we don't know why, wanted to destroy this place again." As Saphyre fidgets, a townsperson points accusingly: "He's bewitched his own companion! Look!" The man runs forward, grabbing the little necklace that Saphyre is running between their fingers. The man stares at it in awe. "The necklace is alive! It's enchanted! He's lying!" Chaos breaks out as the people begin yelling.
"Its a sending stone. It is matched to my own heartbeat." Wil says, and then underneath his breath, "This isn't working…" and starts some muttering. His voice booms out "Everyone, calm down. Let me explain myself." Once the townspeople quiet down, he says "First off, the necklace is a sending stone that I made. The beating you feel is my own heartbeat. Second off, they aren't enchanted. Why would I do that to my own sister?" Wil pulls out his own necklace, and the man notices that it is a second half to the necklace he is holding. Wil whispers into the necklace, and the man looks down at the one he is holding, nods, and gives it back.
Out from the crowd, an old, injured woman steps out, and says with a feeble voice "You tried to kill me, and you told everyone. It was a valiant attempt. Unfortunately, they have no reason to believe you on anything else." And both Wil and Saphyre recognise her as the woman who gave them the quest. It appears she was going to be much harder to stop than they originally anticipated as she weakly points to the two of them and hisses "murderers."