The Thief of Time

We found a time capsule dated 1975, but the items inside were from 2025. The man responsible for finding it is William Sweet, the new assistant archaeologist. Upon locating the capsule in the middle of the California desert, he instructed the team of nine workers to take the heavy iron capsule from the pit that they had dug it out of and bring it into the large grey tent where his boss, Vivian Redwood, was waiting.

Vivian was standing by a steel table smoking a cigarette and looking at her thin black phone. When they entered, Vivian slapped close her phone and tossed the stubby cig onto the ground. "Here, now," she snapped, pointing at the table. They had done as she instructed while she pulled on a pair of bright red rubber gloves that matched her bloodred lips and her bright red heels. Unlike the others, who were expected to wear drab grey uniforms, Vivian always wore the highest of fashions. The black trench coat she wore looked like it cost more than a house and her Versace sunglasses had real gold frames. Sometimes William thought she looked like a vampire witch, with her short black hair and extremely pale white skin.

"What is this?" Vivian said at last. They had all been staring at the capsule in bewilderment for five whole minutes. Their hitech Time Travel radiation detector had led them to this capsule, but they couldn't figure out why the Time Traveler had decided to bury these specific objects. The capsule contained a brand new iPhone, a state of the art laptop, a shiny flute, and Stanley cup of all things. There was also a pack of Pokemon cards in a ziplock bag that was equally as confusing.

"What is this?!" Vivian repeated, and William suddenly realized she was addressing the question to him.

"Um, well," William started nervously. "It looks like...a bunch of stuff from this year."

"But whyyyy did the Time Bandit take these specific things back in time and leave them in a capsule in the desert?!" Vivian hissed like an angry snake. William couldn't see her eyes behind the overpriced sunglasses, but he still felt like her gaze was piercing him.

"I will personally assess these discoveries and find all the information I can," William promised in a hurry.

Vivian stared him down for another minute before taking out a fresh cigarette and turning to wall out the back entrance of the tent. Her cigarette was lit and she puffed it angrily once before disappearing into the cool night air.

The rest of the workers eventually left as well, standing outside to chat, stare at their phones, or look at the stars. William Sweet sat at the table sorting through the objects--and one by one placing them inside a luggage bag.

Eight years ago, someone broke into a top secret government bunker and activated the Time Machine that they confiscated from Nicola Tesla after assassinating him. No one knew how to activate it and it was theorized that there was a missing piece, but somehow this unknown stranger got it to work and disappeared before any guards could stop him. Then President Obama created a small strike force called Shadow Squad to look out for any trace of the time traveller and hired Vivian Redwood to lead the team, as she was a highly decorated CIA spy that had led a dozen successful operations before.

But Vivian didn't know that the Time Bandit was right under her nose.

William Sweet was a fake name. His real name was Sweet William and he wasnt human, he was an extra dimensional being, also known as a Fairy. When Nicola Tesla created his Time Machine, he accidentally summoned Sweet William from Elfland into his living room. Frightened, Sweet William ran out of his home, and when he returned Nicola was already gone and so were all of his inventions, confiscated by the government.

At first, Sweet William enjoyed living in the human world. Everyone loved him instantly, and how could they not with his curly golden brown hair, hypnotizing blue eyes, and incredibly soft cinnamon skin. He danced and flirted and worked as a bartender at the most happening club in town. But eventually he missed his own people and wanted to return to the everlasting green and perpetual sunshine of Elfland.

But, alas, it wasn't that easy. For years, Sweet William traveled the world looking for a portal to Elfland. However, the governments of the world had built giant statues, buildings, and other obstructive devices to block the natural gateways into extra dimensions. Apparently there was a conspiracy to keep extra dimensional beings from entering this world and destabilizing the absolute control of the corrupt Elites.

After some time, Sweet William had given up and resigned himself to a life as a London barista, making art on the side and playing the flute for tips in the town square. He had almost forgotten he wasnt human until he read in a news blog that the US government had taken Nicola Tesla inventions after he "mysteriously" died. Sweet William had literally jumped for joy and booked the first plane back to America, only using a tiny bit of Fairy magic to make the TSA agents ignore his expired passport.

He had tracked down the location of the Time Machine , broken in using a little bit of finesse and a sprinkle of magic, and hopped in the machine. What the US government couldn't figure out was that the machine only worked if you believed it would work, and they hadn't tested the machine using any subjects that truly believed it was operational. However, while the machine was building power and Sweet William tried to slip through the vortex into the In-Between World aka Elfland, he was instead sucked into the past by an inescapable force. Perhaps it was because he was thinking of his past memories in Elfland and perhaps it was because his shoes were vintage loafers, he could only guess.

Incidentally, he had brought along a Gucci backpack of some of his prized belongings: a laptop that he did all his poetry writing on, his favorite pink Stanley cup that he won at a carnival game, his precious iPhone with all his favorite pictures, the flute that had been with him since he left Elfland, and the Pokemon cards that he had been diligently collecting over the years. Sweet William was sad, but not defeated. He knew where the time machine would be and if he stayed alive long enough then he could find it and try again.

So he buried his 2025 memorabilia and took on the trade that he had been practicing all this time as a barista at the local tea and coffee shop. He kept to himself, discreet, quiet as a mouse, so as not to arouse suspicions. Of course he had a nightcap with a young lady or a young man every once in a while, but he never let anyone too close or they would notice how "lucky" he was, how he could make people do whatever he wanted, how a runaway horse suddenly stopped and changed direction when it almost ran over him, and how he never seemed to age. He was forever youthful, energetic, charismatic, and such a good lover. Anyone who met him thought he was the happiest person alive, completely unaware of the brewing anxiety that hid underneath.

Sweet William waited until the time drew near that the base would be built that would house Nicola Teslas time machine. He waited and waited, trying not to be too eager and ruin any chance of finding it by breaking in too early. And he couldnt very well just barge in like a wild buffalo like he did last time, no this time he had to be more delicate. So he devised a plan to become a high ranking government agent by dazzling and hypnotizing anyone in his path that could hire him and get him a promotion.

That's how he found himself on the Shadow Squad, by hypnotizing the CIA Director to give him a job with clearance to the Tine Travel bunker. In an unexpected turn of events, they were ordered to go searching for traces of Time Travel radiation and wouldn't return to the top secret bunker until they had found something. Which is why Sweet William made sure he was the one holding the radiation detector and purposefully led them to exactly where he buried his 2025 capsule.

But the moment he saw all of his old treasures, Sweet William grew impatient. He decided instead of waiting to go back to the bunker, he would leave immediately with his belongings. To heck with being patient! He had been patient for too many decades! He would blow apart the bunker if he had to to get to the time machine! To heck with Earth, to heck with Humans, and to heck with--!

"And what exactly do you think you're doing...?"

Sweet William was halfway to the front tent flap when Vivian returned from her separate personal tent. She pulled off her sunglasses in slow motion and looked Sweet William up and down, more pissed than a wet cat. Her eyes were pale green, the color of new leaves.

"I was, um...well..." Sweet William was skittish at first then he remembered who he was and stood tall. "I'm not afraid I you Ms Redwitch. Yes I called you a witch. Just be gladded I didn't call you the other word that rhymes with witch and starts with B. I'm leaving now and if you try to stop me you'll be terribly sorry." As he spoke, Sweet Williams eyes widened and glowed intensely, filling the tent with a wash of neon blue light.

Usually that scared humans, but Vivian just smirked and crossed her arms. "So, you were here all along, right under my nose. I've been looking for you little Time Thief."

Sweet William was shocked that she wasn't scared and he was confused how she knew he was a Time Thief based on anything he had said or done in the last few minutes.

"I couldnt detect you before because you were suppressing your magic, trying to hide, but now I see you are the missing Fairy," Vivian said, smirking even wider.

Sweet William was too stunned to speak, his mouth hanging open.

"I am Fairy Queen Mab," Vivian continued. Her green eyes sparkled brightly and a tall dark shadow grew behind her, growing up the wall of the tent and covering the ceiling. "I am a distant cousin to Fairy King Herne, the ruler of the realm that you lived in. He sent me to snatch you up because he knew that I would enjoy the challenge and he didn't want to leave his people unprotected. Now come along. I want to get back to my castle in time for the annual dragon fighting competition."

With those words, Fairy Queen Mab turned around and stepped into her own shadow, and disappeared into thin air. Sweet William was only frozen for half a second before he ran forward and jumped into the shadow portal, reappearing in a sunny meadow in Elfland. Queen Mab smiled at him as two horses galloped across the fields towards them, a white one and a black one.

Sweet William jumped on the White horse with tears of joy running down his face and Queen Mab expertly mounted the black one. She was now wearing a long black lace gown and a silver crown and her short black hair was now hanging to the ground in a rippling fountain of midnight silk. Sweet William himself was now wearing all powder blue Medieval clothing and a matching blue cape that flapped in the wind as they rode away over the hills.

Behind them stood a lost looking man holding a coca-cola can. It was one of the archaeology workers in his grey outfit and sturdy boots, twitching and jumping at every sound and movement. By a twist of fate he walked through the shadow by total accident "Where am I?" he muttered, seeming to ask Elfland itself for an answer.

In response, a beautiful cinnamon brown man approached him, wearing nothing but a brown loincloth and brown sandals, his shapely muscles shining in the sunlight. A long, luscious mane of shining gold brown curls fell over his shoulders and a pair of huge antlers grew from his head. "I can help you get home, if only you help me destroy Teslas time machine before the humans figure out how to work it," the mysterious Fairy man said. "You have a clearance badge and you can help me get in unnoticed. What do you say to that?"

"Who are you?" the worker stuttered, looking half scared and half curious.

The antlered Fairy man grinned. "I'm like an apple. I'm Sweet." His blue eyes sparkled mischievously.