CHAPTER 264: 264. AETHERSTREAM

The sun tucked itself beneath the horizon, retreating into its burrow, and with its retreat came an unsettling darkness. The sky dimmed into a brooding ink-black curtain, pierced by eerie stars that blinked down over quiet streets, lights flickering from every household, people already tucked into their homes after the weight of a busy day. And among those homes, Asher sat restlessly on the couch in their sitting room, his foot tapping the floor, chin buried into his hands. Across from him, Sharon sat with a pudding bowl in hand, less anxious than he was, but still unnerved by his energy.

"Don’t beat yourself up so much! I know you’re excited about the birthday present Mom and I promised, but you don’t have to act like a twitching raccoon over it." Sharon muttered, taking a bite from the banana pudding she’d made.

"It’s not the damn present," Asher growled. "The sun’s been down for three hours, and Mom still hasn’t come back."

Sharon scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Maybe she stopped by Ivy’s for a chat. You know how they get. Gossiping witches."

"Yeah... whatever. Let’s hope so." Asher mumbled, but the pit in his stomach wasn’t easing up. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.

He couldn’t even reach Rex. Normally, their telepathic link was always open, but now? Nothing. Not even a trace. He couldn’t feel the beast’s aura, like it had been swallowed whole.

He picked up his half-eaten pudding from the coffee table and began stirring at it absentmindedly. The rich scent didn’t tempt his appetite. He lifted a spoon, but before it reached his mouth, a low, guttural meow echoed from the front door, followed by the harsh scrrrraaaatch of claws raking against the wooded door.

Asher scowled with a roll of his eyes. "Freaking stray cat."

He had bigger things to worry about than some hungry stray.

But the cat scratched even harder this time. The sound grated like nails on glass.

"Geez... how annoying!! I swear I’ll skin this damn cat alive!!" Sharon snarled. She slammed her bowl onto the side table and stormed to the door, already halfway imagining the hissed threat she’d throw at the mangy animal. With a snap, she yanked the door open, ready to launch verbal war, but all she saw was a shadow of black fur vanishing into the dark.

She grunted, already turning to slam the door when something on the ground blinked. A device. Its screen flickered faintly.

She squinted, crouched down.

Just as she reached out, a gust of wind slammed through the space, rustling the trees violently and sending leaves swirling to the ground. The air chilled.

"Meow~" came the cry again—closer this time. And when Sharon looked up...

High on the edge of the wall, perched like a phantom, was a cat. Pitch-black. Its yellow eyes glowed like twin moons, staring straight into her soul. It blinked slowly at her like it knew her before it vanished into the shadows.

"Sharon?" Asher called out from inside. "Everything okay?"

She blinked out of her trance. "Yeah... yeah, it’s just—there’s a weird device out here."

She picked it up, stepping back into the house and shutting the door, then handed it over to her brother. "Isn’t this... one of those expensive magic gadgets Genzai Innovations just released?"

A fantasy-grade phone.

Asher took it, eyeing it warily. "Yeah. It is. Where did you get it?"

"Right outside."

He narrowed his gaze and tapped the side button.

The screen flickered to life and everything in him went cold.

His mouth dried. His throat tightened. His heart stopped.

A picture of their mother filled the screen. She was chained and naked, restrained on a bench that resembled one of those BDSM benches you’d only see in twisted adult films. Asher glared at the picture. His mother’s expression wasn’t one of pleasure. She was struggling. Fighting. Not consensual. Not at all.

"What the fuck is this?" he muttered.

"What?" Sharon leaned in.

He turned the screen toward her. Her breath left her.

"Mom?! Where is she?! Why is she...?!" Sharon snatched the gadget, then shoved it back into his hands as though it burned.

Asher couldn’t think straight. His thoughts raced, clawing for answers.

That device... it was too expensive to be casually discarded. No ordinary person could just leave it at their door.

Whoever had done it was skilled. Very skilled. Asher hadn’t even sensed a single presence of a human approaching.

"What does this mean?!" Sharon asked, her voice cracking. "Is Mom into this shit? Being tied up like a slut and getting fu—?"

"I don’t know!" Asher snapped, flipping to the next picture. "It doesn’t look like she wants it! She’s being forced! This is a fucking abduction!"

"You mean she’s been kidnapped?" Sharon’s voice was brittle. "What kind of freak... who would...?"

Asher’s knuckles turned white around the device. His jaw trembled with barely-contained rage. The urge to crush the device to pieces nearly overwhelmed him. No one touches his mother. She was one of his women. And no one—absolutely no one—lays a finger on his women.

The gadget vibrated in his hand.

It was a call.

He didn’t own one of these, but he understood how they worked because they worked almost exactly the same as phones from his past life. He tapped the answer button.

A voice crackled through.

It sounded smug, and very familiar.

"Enjoying the package I sent you, brat?"

"You bastard!" Asher’s voice cracked with fury. "What the hell is this?! Where’s my mother?!"

A cruel chuckle responded.

"Relax. She’s... alive. For now."

"Max..." Asher hissed.

"Oh, so you recognize me. Thought you would. After all, you’re the prick who stole my girlfriends and paraded them around like trophies, crushing my ego!"

"I don’t give a damn about your pathetic ego!! Let. Her. Go.... NOW!!"

Max ignored him. "You humiliated me at the Noble Court, remember? In front of my mother. Made me a laughing stock. It’s only fair I return the favor. Want your bitchy mother back, untouched and unharmed? Then do as I say."

"Damn you!!" Asher roared. "What the hell are you up to, you bastard?!"

Max chuckled on the other end.

"Oh, nothing much."

"You’re making a big mistake, pal! Let my mother go—now!!"

"Whoa, whoa. So intense. I’m literally shaking in my boots," Max said mockingly. "But unless you do as l say, you’re never seeing your mother again."

Asher gritted his teeth so hard his gums bled. If not for the need to hear him out, he would’ve crushed the damn gadget!

"You think you can just kidnap my mother and make me dance like a puppet?" He stood, his voice low. "You’ve made the biggest mistake of your life. I’m coming to your kingdom right now. If you don’t release her, I’ll burn your palace to the ground."

Max laughed. "Tsk, tsk. Bad move. Not only would that start a war between our kingdoms, but it’d be pointless. She’s not even in the palace. If I were you, I’d hear me out."

Asher trembled with rage until he felt a warm hand tap his shoulder.

It was Sharon, trying to calm him down.

"The hell do you want, bastard?!" she asked coldly.

Max laughed again. "Oho, a listener! Now that’s the tone l want. Alright, Reynolds," Max said smoothly. "If you want your bitch of a mother back, I want you both to walk outside tomorrow, right when the academy crowd hits the streets—naked. With signs on your chest and back that say:

’Touch us wherever you want. We won’t stop you. We’re a family of sluts.’"

Sharon slammed the gadget down onto the table. It didn’t break.

Damn thing was stubborn as fuck!

"You must be insane! Do we look like your playthings, asshole?!" she spat.

Veins popped along Asher’s neck, his fists shaking. He was boiling from the inside out.

"I’ll find you, Max," he said lowly. "And when I do... I’ll carve your name into the stones of your grave. You’ll scream until your lungs fail because your death will be painful. I swear to you... I’ll make you scream."

He was already calculating how to carve Max’s suffering, how to stretch every breath into a scream.

"Should I take that as a ’no’?" Max chuckled. "Shame. I guess I’ll have to get my boys ready."

"Boys?!" Sharon snapped. "For what?!"

"Oh, nothing much," Max said, voice icy and detached. "Just gonna let my boys enjoy your mother. Fuck her like the slut she is. Fill her up. And I’ll stream the whole thing to Eldoria."

Asher’s eyes twitched.

"You wouldn’t dare..."

"I can, and I will. Ever heard of AetherStream? A highly complex streaming spell, usually used in Kingdom tournaments? I’ve got Zephandrian S-ranks who owe me favors, and are capable of pulling this off. We can show your entire kingdom how your mommy moans."

Asher’s grip shook.

"You bastard—I’ll— You wouldn’t dare!!"

Max laughed coldly. "You doubt me? Maybe I’ll have my boys practice on your mom tonight, and show you the stream. Who knows? But remember—none of this happens... if you cooperate."

Before Asher could retaliate more....

Tuu... Tuu...

The call cut.

And silence fell over the entire house, leaving the two siblings in a state of shock, their fists clenched, and wondering if they should cause a mayhem to Zephandria, or do as Max says?

TBC