Eclipse - Act 4 - Cycle's End

Chapter 1 - St. Fall Day

Pyrrha

25 years have passed since Salem was killed by Cinder Fall...

And a new Age of Peace was born.

In her home, a matured Pyrrha Nikos sat down with her breakfast, and picked up her remote controller, switching the television on, and watched the live show that was playing all over the world right now.

On this day, St. Fall Day, a large crowd stands before a large stage where a woman clad in a dark blue suit and with dark blue hair tied back in a ponytail stood before them all as she spoke. Her voice was powerful, showing a great degree of authority in her presence, the microphone making her voice echo through the streets of Vale.

Her name was President Amara Zure.

"Twenty-Five years ago today, the greatest evil Remnant has ever known was slain by a great hero. Someone who once was also an enemy. Like many of you, I was not born when Cinder Fall was once our enemy, a woman full of scorn, and a hunger for power, who tried to bring down Beacon Academy a long time ago." Amara said, gripping the podium before her. "But when you listen to her words back then... it shows how far she came in the decade since that day, to when she gave her life to destroy Salem, once and for all."

She turned to a beautiful bronze statue of Cinder that was erected a few years after Salem died, and she gestured towards it. "A woman who was dying from a sickness given to her from the mistakes of her past, long after she became a new woman. A cruel irony that she knew she couldn't escape. And when the time came, she acted and sacrificed her life to the Relic of Destruction to ensure Salem's death. Therefore, we named today St. Fall Day... for none of us would be here today, if it weren't for the bravery of the Fall Maiden who gave every last bit of herself to Remnant... and her daughter." Amara said, gripping the podium once more as she spoke.

In the crowd, many of the people here were younger, all paying their respects to the Fall Maiden, all grateful for her sacrifice, and giving them all an existence they never would have had if not for her. But amongst them were people who not only would have been children during Salem's Rule, but there were those who no doubt were adults back then, and maybe even fought against Salem.

"But Cinder was not the only brave soul who gave her life. Many, many more... thousands of brave people gave their lives, fighting against beasts that have been long extinct. And we have some of them stood here with me today." Amara turned, holding out her hand to a collection of individuals.

Dutch was the first, and the past twenty-five years are very present on him, with his grey hair and wrinkled skin, now in his sixties. Yet even now, he continues to hold his promise to make sure that the corruption of the Black Gallows would never return, and that so many sacrifices were not in vain.

Winter was here as well, alongside Joanna, May, Fiona and Marrow.

In the quarter of a century, things have changed for all of them. Fiona and Marrow were now married, and Winter wore both her engagement ring and wedding ring on her finger when she married Eryka.

And stood beside them was Oscar Pine, and he held the Long Memory down against the floor, his palms resting upon its pommel. And Penny was here as well. Her model had been updated to look a little less young and matured, even if at heart she was still just as bubbly as she always was. She looked so much happier than twenty-five years prior, and like many others on stage, she had a wedding ring on her finger.

"Brave Huntsmen and Huntresses, who, despite how we treated them when living underneath Salem's rule, they took up the fight for us. And inspired so many to fight with us... an honour we must never forget. And furthermore... we must never forget the dark times that are now written in our history books." Amara stated, stepping aside as a large holographic image showed Beacon Academy, thirty-five years ago, back when it was still standing.