By Bella | Engel Kids Stories

King Samuel sat at his throne, twisting his staff in his hands. He had already taken care of his duties for the week and no problems had arisen in his kingdom. This had left him quite bored and lonely, as the rest of his village had to attend to their daily jobs.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and the guards parted their swords to let whoever was there inside. Another guard walked in, dragging a handcuffed man with him. The man looked thin and cold with not much to shield him against the crisp winter air outside.

“I’m sorry to bother you my liege, but this man has been causing quite the ruckus,” the guard said, tightening his grip as the man struggled.

“That’s not true, I-,” he tried to make out.

“Quiet!” the guard interrupted.

King Samuel held his hand up to stop the guard and gestured towards the man to come closer. He shuffled towards Samuel with his head down.

“Tell me your side of the story,” Samuel said.

“I had been searching for food all day and had grown quite weary as well as my fingers turning blue. That’s when I smelled the most delicious fragrance I had ever encountered. Next to me was a restaurant and inside I saw people eating such beautiful lasagna. Although my pockets were empty, I had to have some. That’s when the owner found me rummaging through the trash and called the nearest authority,” the man said quietly.

King Samuel paused for a minute before speaking again. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Rowley, sir.”

“Call me Samuel, please. Now this restaurant, do you remember its name?”

“I believe it was called Larose’s.”

King Samuel gestured for his guard to approach and leaned down to whisper into his ear. He gave Samuel a confused look before quickly leaving the room. He returned a few moments later, un-cuffing Rowley and handing him some warmer clothes.

“Your table is ready, sire.” The guard said to King Samuel. “The food shall arrive shortly.”

Kind Samuel led Rowley into a room to change, then brought him to a rather large and beautiful dining room. The ceiling went up at least 40 feet and the room had lots of beautifully crafted furniture. In the middle was a table with two places set.

Rowley and Samuel each took a seat at the table and waited for the foot to come. The owner and servers of the restaurant brought out two large dishes of lasagna with multiple sides. As Rowley and Samuel began to dig in, Kind Samuel turned to Rowley.

“You were right; this is the most amazing lasagna I’ve ever tasted!”

Once upon a time Buddy and his friends were having a LAN party at his house. It was almost midnight and they were in the middle of trying to beat their parkour times on Minecraft. That’s when Buddy got a notification that someone by the name of The Game Master had sent him a message on Steam.

“Hello, Buddy. Today I thought you and I might play a game together,” Buddy read aloud, raising his eyebrow at the use of his real name.

Eli, Brandon, and Joe all looked up from their game in curiosity.

MrMcDoom: Who is this? Call me MrMcDoom.

The Game Master: In due time, Buddy. In a moment you will see a red light aiming at one of your friends from the window. If you refuse to cooperate, I’ll be forced to give my man perched outside the go ahead to take immediate action.

Buddy raced to the window, scanning the yard for this man. Seconds later, a red laser light appeared directed at Eli’s chest.

“Get down!” he yelled, as the others all ducked out of view.

Buddy crawled back to his computer as more messages popped up.

The Game Master: Now, now, now. I thought you would do that, I just wanted to show I mean business. If you’ll look outside you will see something that I hope will motivate you more to cooperate.

Buddy crawled to the window, poking his eyes up just enough to see outside. He squinted, trying to see through the dark. He could make out two silhouettes standing in the dark, one being much larger than the other.
Suddenly, one figure fumbled in the dark before turning on a flashlight to show who was next to him. Buddy gasped when he saw his sister, Bella, with a rag around her mouth and arms tied. He quickly crawled back to his computer.

MrMcDoom: What do you want?
The Game Master: To play a game of your choosing. If you can beat me, I’ll let your sister go. If I win, you will never see her again.

MrMcDoom: Why?

The Game Master: Why for the fun, of course!

Buddy chose the game Bed Wars on Minecraft, knowing he was an expert. His friends all anxiously gathered around him as he went through the long and grueling game. As teams were eliminated one by one, it came down to just

Buddy and The Game Master. In one quick battle, Buddy knocked The Game Master off the edge and won.
A few moments later there was a knock on the door and they came down to open it, seeing Bella standing there freed.
They were never contacted by the Game Master again, and Buddy had saved the day.