Chapter 21 –– Premiere Tianming

A few months after I was born, the Holy Monastic came to my house and brought me to the Temple. I was separated from my parents ever since. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t even remember what they looked like anymore.

At the age of 6, I started going to a parochial school near the Temple. Everywhere I went, I was always accompanied by a group of Knights and Sorcerers escorting me until I reached my school. Once I was in school, they stayed in front of the school’s gate and waited for me until I finished school to escort me back to the Temple.

At school, I wasn’t very good at socialising. Ever since I was young, I’d always had ‘visions.’ I always see ‘creatures’ that ‘normal’ people weren’t supposed to see. I also had dreams in which I appeared as someone else, some people that I didn’t even know. Yet, their faces seemed oddly familiar.

Since the kids always saw me with “bodyguards” outside of school, they avoided talking to me. Their parents told them not to mess with me and not to make me angry or whatever, so they minimized their interaction with me. I never understood why they did that, but I just accepted it as reality.

I was lonely, but I thought that’s just how it was for someone like me. I thought I was destined to be alone for the rest of my life.

One day, when I was eating alone at the cafeteria, a boy sat down next to me. He didn’t say anything, and just started eating next to me. After we were finished eating, he then introduced himself to me.

“Hi. I’m Seichi. Nice to meet you.”

He shook my hand and hugged me. That was the first time someone ever hugged me in my life.

Since then, we started hanging out together. Turned out, he was a year older than me, so technically, he was my senior. However, he didn’t consider me as someone younger and kept telling me to call him by his name, without any honourifics.

Three years later, Seichi confessed his love to me. Since I felt the same way, I accepted him and we started dating. Those years were the happiest moment of my life, if I thought about it. We planned about going to the academy together, move to another city, and start a family together.

However, everything changed once I turned 15. Just a few months before graduation, I reached my first Divine State.I communicated with the previous Premier and he told me to “succeed him.” I didn’t know what it meant, so I told my teacher. Turned out, that was a wrong decision.

Some people from the Temple came to my school to pick me up. The first thing they did to me when they arrived was to tell me to do what I just did. Since I had a bad feeling about it, I refused to do it. Yet, she somehow succeeded in forcing her way in getting me into entering that state again. After she confirmed that I could do it, she declared that I was ready to start my training as a Premiere.

At the time, I didn’t understand what that meant. I’d always known I was a Premiere, since they told me that the first time I was brought to the Temple. However, I never really understood what it meant to be one.

They explained to me briefly what it meant to be a Premiere, including not being able to get married. That moment, I finally understood why people were avoiding me. Upon hearing those words, I ran away from them, escaping them. They started chasing after me. I escaped and I hid myself in a place where nobody knew.

Nobody except for Seichi. It was our secret place that only the two of us knew. Seichi asked why I was crying, and I explained it to him.

“It’s okay. Being a Premiere can’t be that bad, can it?”

Seichi pated my head and told me not to cry.

“But that means.....we can’t be together anymore,” I told him.

He was silent for a while, thinking, He then said something that I always remembered for the rest of my life.

“Even not as lovers, I will find a way for us to be together again. I promise.”

He made a pinky promise with me, ensuring that we would be together for all time.

“Promise?” I asked him.

“Promise.”

I kissed him a final goodbye. That was my first and last kiss.

We then came out of our hiding. The Temple found me and brought me to the palace immediately. I began my training as a Premier ever since then.

Ten years later, the Holy Monastic who had been taking care of me passed away. Before she passed, she anointed a successor to take over her place as the Holy Monastic.

The new Holy Monastic came in a carriage to the Temple for his inauguration ceremony. Once he reached the palace, he descended from the carriage to meet me.

He then bowed at me and shook my hand.

“Good day, Your Divinity. It’s my pleasure to serve you.”

After 10 years, we were finally reunited. Not as lovers, but as the Premiere and the Holy Monastic.

Haru then came to his senses and returned to reality. He just saw the Holy Monastic in his vision, together with Premiere Tianming.

“Your Holiness, Premiere Tianming and you.....?”

Haru was surprised. He didn’t know the two of them were that close.

“So, she showed you, huh.”

The Holy Monastic smiled at her gravestone. He caressed it softly with his hand.

“After she was taken away by the Temple, I canceled my plans on going to the academy. I went to the National Monastery instead, in order to become the Holy Monastic.”

In the end, the two of them scrapped the plans they made together in life, separated by fate.

“Because we took our Holy Oaths, we couldn’t be lover, seven though we managed to reunite. Destiny separated us from one another.”

Haru found their story tragic.

“I guess I can’t be the perfect Holy Monastic, since my attachment for her never disappeared even after she’s gone.”

Monks and nuns practice non-attachment to worldly matters, so supposedly, the Holy Monastic shouldn’t be attached to anything or anyone. Yet, in the end, the Holy Monastic was just another human.

Haru then held the Holy Monastic’s hand with his right hand. He then reached out his other hand to the gravestone, trying to communicate with Premiere Tianming once again.

Haru dived into his subconscious once again, trying to send a signal to the past Premiere. His eyes then glowed, shining brightly.

A feminine voice came out of Haru’s mouth. It was Premiere Tianming’s voice.

“I’ve missed you, Seichi.”

Upon hearing those words, the Holy Monastic teared up and immediately hugged her who was in Haru’s body.

“It’s been 25 years, Tianming. I miss you.”

Premiere Tianming hugged the Holy Monastic back. The two reunited after 25 years.

Hearing the Holy Monastic sobbing, Haru asked him.

“Are you alright, Your Holiness?”

Haru returned to his consciousness. The moment he woke up, the Holy Monastic was hugging him tightly.

The Holy Monastic wiped his tears, telling Haru he’s alright.

“Haru, listen to me. I have something to tell you.”

The Holy Monastic was about to tell Haru something serious.

“Haru, you are––”

Suddenly, a loud growl was heard around the area. A ghoul just appeared in front of the two, interrupting their conversation.

The two stopped their conversation half way. Haru immediately stood up, getting prepared to fight against the ghoul.

Haru was fighting against a chimera, a B-class ghoul. The chimera had a lion body, a gazelle head with horns, and a snake tail. Unlike monsters, ghouls couldn’t be fought with fyx alone. They could only be damaged and exorcised by medix.

Unfortunately, Haru was not experienced fighting with medix. He knews how to coat his body with it to protect himself, but he never fought anyone using medix.

Yet, Haru did try to keep the chimera away from the gravestones, to protect them from getting destroyed by it. Since Haru couldn’t deal a significant damage towards the chimera, he focused on defence.

Seeing that the Holy Monastic was left unguarded, the chimera charged an energy blast from its mouth, aiming it at the Holy Monastic. Haru was too late to realise that the chimera had changed its target.

“Your Holiness!”

Suddenly, the chimera got kicked by an invisible being on his chin who sent his head upwards, towards the sky. The energy blast was redirected to the sky, not hitting anyone in the area.

The invisible being then started appearing her form. It was a familiar figure whom Haru definitely knew.

“Yumi!”

Princess Yumi came to the rescue.