PROMPT:  By @WattpadTimeTravel   Your main character is definitely not the good guy in this story. Your MC decides to take something back in time that shouldn't appear for decades or perhaps centuries. They will give the thing they take back to an unsuspecting individual. Tell the story of what happens.

Randall rubbed his hands together in anticipation as the glow of the time machine started fading from around him.

This scheme had taken nearly a full four years to pull off.

It had taken two years to gain enough knowledge of the speech, culture and history of Early Britannia to disguise himself as being from the time so he'd be able to carry out this most perfect of plans to cause chaos.

He'd had to suffer through life in disgusting 875AD for a full two years, eating coarse bread and wearing scratchy clothes, ingratiating himself up and down the isle with brewers, most importantly those who supplied the royal court.

By supplying the brewers with iodine pills, he made the water they used purer and better tasting, which made their mead, ales and liquors more popular. Before travelling back in time, however, he'd laced the pills with a deadly slow-acting poison.

Every brewer was outfitted with several thousand iodine pills that would last them for several years. Enough to severely decimate the population of roughly two million - including taking out the renowned King Alfred who, in the history Randall knew, was instrumental in turning the tides on establishing the military might and cultural impact of England.

Randall snickered. The brewers had been like playdough in Randall's manipulative hands.

Now he was only seconds away from seeing the results. It was almost too much excitement!

The last of the glow disappeared and the time machine door unlocked itself.

Randall pushed it open and gazed out.

Stepping forth, he saw buildings of a design he couldn't quite pinpoint the cultural origin of. Signs were written in a strange script he couldn't read. The people walking by him were speaking a language he couldn't understand.

"Yes! I've succeeded!" he crowed with delight.

From behind him came an inflection that he understood. A question being asked.

Turning he saw a tall, blond man who carried himself with the unmistakable air of an authority figure. His clothing looked like some type of uniform and the long stick he was pulling from his belt could only be interpreted as a weapon.

The man spoke again, gesturing to Randall.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand. But I'm a quick study! I'll learn your language in no time."

Without warning, Randall's hands were seized and bound by someone behind him.

All the way to the prison, Randall told them they'd made a mistake. Instead, they silently marched him into a solitary confinement cell and slammed the door.

Hours later, when they brought him a plate of thin gruel and water, he gulped the glass down, but before he began eating, he felt the burn of poison working its way through his system.

WORD COUNT: 486