CHASTITY

By Tobias Christopher

1515
Rome, Italy

Young Bastian was living the life his dearly departed mother had always wanted for him. When she had died five years ago, she had made her then fifteen year old son vow to follow his dreams and make her proud. So Bastian had trekked to Italy, and through hard work and sacrifice sought out one of the greatest artists and inventors of his time.

Now, here he was, an apprentice to Leonardo DaVinci and dating a lovely young girl that he knew was going to give him the family he’d always wanted. Isabella had caught Bastian’s eye the second he’d arrived in Italy, and soon casual conversations made way to a fully blossoming romance. Bastian and Isabella knew they were meant for each other, and even though she was sworn to another man the two vowed that their first time making love would be with each other.

Tonight was the night, Bastian was going to ask her to run away with him to be married. They’d go someplace where they start would a life together and be free to be who they wanted to be. Although first he had to report to DaVinci’s workshop and inform his master of his plans.  DaVinci had become not only a mentor but a father figure instructing young Bastian in all manners of life, from artistry to love.

“What is that, Master?” asked Bastian as he looked at the prototype that DaVinci had designed. It was an aircraft of some sort, with wings made of cloth and wood.

“That, my young apprentice is a failed work,” replied DaVinci as he shook his hand. “I’ve spent my life designing and building things that this world cannot truly appreciate. Perhaps I am just an old fool for trying to change this world for the better.”

“I think it’s beautiful,” said Bastian as he touched the wing of the structure, afraid that it would break at the slightest touch. “I am honored that you have spent these last few years training me, but I’m afraid that I can no longer serve as your apprentice. I am taking the love of my life away tonight so that we can be free.”

DaVinci smiled at the young man, knowing this was something that he had to do. “Then go, Bastian. Go with my blessing, and may the two of you be forever happy.”

“Thank you, Master,” said Bastian as the two hugged.

As Bastian was heading toward the house of his true love, he heard screaming coming from inside. He’d hoped to get his love out of town before the man she had been sworn to in an arranged marriage realized they were gone. He was a terribly violent man, and if he married the girl Bastian feared for her safety. The thought of his beloved Isabella being forced into a life of fear and violence was something that he would not stand for, which is why he wanted to leave town as soon as possible with her.

As he ran inside the house, Bastian found his beloved Isabella laying on the ground, broken and bleeding. Around her were several men, including the man she had been sworn to. All of them had just finished violating her at the whim of her fiancé, who had wanted to teach her a lesson. He’d discovered she was seeing another man and decided that if she wouldn’t give her virginity to him he’d let everyone in his social circle take it from her.

“No,” Bastian shouted as he rushed forward. Now, Bastian was small for his size and was nowhere the girth of the men who’d just hurt his beloved. “I’ll kill you!”

As Bastian rushed forward to avenge his beloved he was quickly overtaken. The fiancé slammed his fist into Bastian’s stomach as hard as he could and the young man felt as if he were going to throw up as more punches came. As Bastian fell to his knees, the other men joined in, not letting up for even a second.

Then . . . darkness. As Bastian’s blood spilled and he stopped moving, the men still continued to punch and kick at him, wanting to make sure that he would never get up. It was only after a half-hour of solid beating that the group left the young man and his beloved alone to die in a pool of their own blood.

Bastian . . .

Bastian opened one of his swollen eyes as he clung to life. The men had beaten him to within an inch of it, then tried to take that as well. But Bastian refused to die and something knew it.

I can give you what you need to avenge your true love. Together, we can destroy the evil that has taken away what you sought for yourself. All you have to do is say ‘yes’ and all of your problems will be a thing of the past.

A tear fell down Bastian’s face. He knew his true love was dead, lying mere inches from him. When he came in, she was unmoving, laying in a pool of blood. She’d died minutes before he’d arrived, her last thoughts being of Bastian coming to her rescue.

Say yes, Bastian, and you can avenge her.

“Yes.”

Later that night, the men had gathered at a pub to drink to their performance earlier. They’d taught that shrew not to betray the man she’d been betrothed to. Then, as a bonus, they got to mercilessly beat the man who’d caused her to stray. As they drank and cheered, they didn’t realize that something was not far away, getting ready to strike.

The four men walked out of the tavern, drunk and ready to cause more havoc on whoever got in there path. It didn’t matter who, be it a grown man or a little old lady, they were ready to fight something.

“Hey, look up there,” said the leader of the drunken men. He pointed up toward the tower where DaVinci’s workshop was. It was glowing bright red, like a fire was igniting inside of it. “What the hell is–”

The tower burst open as DaVinci’s flying machine flew out, only it was on fire and the wood looked like it had been replaced by bones. In the pilot seat was a rider dressed in robes, his skull visible and very much on fire, laughing fiendishly as it flew toward them.

“It’s the devil!” shouted one of the men as they all started running. As the Ghost Rider flew overhead, a burning noose flew down, grabbing the first man by the neck. As he struggled to breathe between the rope burning his neck and being strangled, the Ghost Rider gave the rope a good whip, separating the man’s head from his body, sending both falling to the ground a great distance apart from each other.

The rest of the men decided to separate, as the demon couldn’t follow them all. The Ghost Rider flew after the closest one, dropping several mortar shells after him. None of them hit the mark, but exploded in a close enough proximity to let the man know that the Ghost Rider was after him. As he started getting tired, the man hid behind a tree, hoping to have lost the demon that was after him. He closed his eyes, waiting and after a few minutes didn’t hear anything. Opening his eyes, the man saw the Ghost Rider standing in front of him.

In the Ghost Rider’s hands was a mortar shell, which he shoved into the man’s chest with enough force to break through the bones and organs. As he turned around to leave, the Ghost Rider only heard the man’s blood curdled screams before the mortar exploded, sending the man’s body parts flying in several directions.

The third man was running through the forest, hoping that the demon’s flying contraption couldn’t make it through because of all the trees and low hanging branches. As he got deeper into the forest, the man realized he was lost, although that meant that the demon couldn’t find him.

Lying down on the ground, he decided to get some sleep. He’d try to make his way out of the forest come sunrise. As the man closed his eyes, he thought he’d heard a branch snapping. Quickly getting up, the man picked up a large tree branch to defend himself. “Show yourself, demon!”

Backing up against a tree, waving the tree branch around, the man heard nothing but silence. “Face me if you dare, coward!”

Still, nothing but silence. As the man stood there, he knew he’d have to stay awake. The second the demon showed himself, he’d be–

CRACK!

The flaming hand of the Ghost Rider had slammed through the tree behind the man, right through his head and through the front of his face.

The last man had made it back to the town. He’d let the demon have his friends while he made his getaway. By the time the demon got through with the others, he’d be long gone. Grabbing what he could, he stepped over Isabella’s body and headed for the door, but upon putting his hand on the handle, he found it to be burning hot. Pulling his hand back in pain, the door exploded in a burst of fire, sending the man flying onto his back as the Ghost Rider walked in.

“You destroyed two innocent souls this night!” the Ghost Rider shouted as he raised his hand, pointing a fiery finger at the man.

“Stay back,” the man shouted as he stood up. “She was a cheating whore, anyway!”

The Ghost Rider lifted the man by his throat, his hand burning into the doomed soul’s throat. With his other hand, Ghost Rider’s hand grabbed the man’s groin.

“You used this to take away her innocence,” said Ghost Rider as he pulled as he hard as he could, pulling it off with a sickening tear. The man screamed in pain as it evaporated into ash in the demon’s hand. “Look into my eyes!”

As the Ghost Rider gave the man the Penance Stare, he saw not only what the man had done to Isabella but too many other women in his life. All the horrors of what he had were revealed as the man’s body became a charred husk as the Ghost Rider let his body fall to the ground.

Picking Isabella’s body up, being careful not to burn her, the Ghost Rider carried her away as the house was left to burn to the ground, destroying a place where a great evil had been done, and two innocent souls had perished. Isabella would be buried not far away so she could finally have peace.

The following morning, DaVinci stared at the remains of his workshop, wondering what had happened. Rumors had been circulating of a demon having been spotted the night before, but no one could prove the story was true. As he looked at the burnt remains of not only his art, but the art of his former apprentice, he prayed that Bastian was well.

“I pray that you are well, my student,” said DaVinci as the door burst open and famed artists Raphael and Michelangelo came in.

“Leonardo, come!” said Raphael as the old man held a pair of sai. “The Shredder has seized control of the Ottoman Empire and we must stop him!”

DaVinci pulled out a pair of kitanas. “Then let us go! Renaissance power!”

Bastian remained at the grave of Isabella all day until sundown, when he knew that he had to say goodbye to her. He was compelled to now go out into the world and use his newfound powers to punish the guilty. He took one last look at the grave as he watched the sun set.

“Goodbye, my love,” said Bastian as he felt the change coming over him once again. Taking on the form of the Ghost Rider, he got into his flying machine and took off, looking to spread vengeance across Italy, as it was all he had left to live for.