Preface from The Companions, by Head Scholar ZuanBing of the Fallen Star Pavilion

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The story of the Companions is well known throughout the land in various shapes and forms. Every child has heard tales of the Companions, for not only do we celebrate their achievements during the Festival of the Hero, we also have the Sun as a daily reminder of their greatest gift. Alongside oral tales and chiseled records, it is perhaps one of the few verifiable tales with origins from before the Eternal Night.

But as with all events that happened during the Eternal Night, it is difficult to separate facts from myth.

We do know that they are perhaps the first Titled Ones. Each and every one of their Titles are monikers earned after their legendary exploits against the demons, culminating in their fabled opening the Stairs to Heaven. There, they asked the Gods to create the Sun in order to banish the demons and put an end to the Eternal Night.

This tradition of Titles has carried on throughout the centuries, and even to this day we find ruins with mosaics or runes written in the Old Tongue detailing the legend of the Companions.

But the exact details of the individuals have also become murky over time (with the one exception). For example, the few surviving records we have from the Lost City of Mur refers to six people total that traveled together. This directly contradicts the inscriptions found in Hjornheim and the oral tales from the Formosa Isles, which both pin the total amount at eight.

The prevailing theory on the differing numbers may be due to a mistranslation: given the songs that have been passed down in the Formosa Isles, the Companions contained nonhumans as well. Perhaps the people of Mur referred to the human count as being six. Yet, we only have these Titles:

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* The Hero. Name and gravesite unknown.

* Vareon the Sage, also known as the Prodigy. Gravesite unknown.

* Diyah the Mursa. Gravesite in Mur.

* Torri the Anima, also known as the Mother. Gravesite in Hjornheim.

* [redacted], the Red Emperor. Gravesite in [redacted].

* [redacted] the Wanderer. Gravesite unknown.

The Red Emperor, being one of the Companions, was the last known person to have firsthand knowledge of the Companions. However, he has never spoken of nor written about his time with the Companions, and so the theory of two missing names or Titles remains unproven.

His reluctance to speak of the experience remains a subject of much debate. A Head Scholar from six generations ago noted his answer then: "They believed our work was done when we created the Sun. I alone believed otherwise."

This study is broken into the following parts based on reconstructed chronological events:

* The Lights in the Night

* The Meeting of Companions

* The Castle in the Sky, a Moving Fortress

* Who Leads? Who Follows?

* They Fight Legions

* Battle for the Stairs

* Ascending Heaven

* Creation of the Sun

We begin with the story of what life was like during the Eternal Night.