On the beautiful island of Mykonos, in the days of Ancient Greece, Teraditus, now an old man, lives a life of peace and simplicity. However, great mystery lies behind his eyes, with untold stories and thrilling adventures. As his family members gather for a reunion, a curious daughter-in-law begins to dig into Teraditus’s past, prompted by the appearance of an enigmatic woman-an old friend of Teraditus’s-who seems to emanate a power beyond this world. Little does everybody know that Teraditus’s own gathering mirrors one happening within the Council of the Gods, and that the beings involved-humans, gods, and those in-between-are all divinely linked.

When Teraditus is convinced to share his story, he begins in his home land of Libu (modern-day Libya), where, as a ten-year-old boy, he lived a life of relative tranquility, spending his days fishing with his father and their odd crew, learning survival skills from his big-brother figure, and going on nighttime expeditions with his cousin, Gershom. When one of these expeditions leads them into the claws of faceless men-a darkness the children could never have fathomed-everything Teraditus knows and loves is ripped from his grasp in a single night. When he awakens from this nightmare, pulled back from the brink of death by soldiers in bronze armors and crimson cloaks, he finds himself bound for a future overseas in the Greek city-state of Sparta, where he will become either a soldier or a slave. Having lost everything, his fate now lies in the hands of the gods.

Journey Unknown, the first volume in Travis Campbell’s compelling The Children of Sparta series, is a historical fantasy where readers will embark on a journey that spans from the realms of the gods down to the bloody reality of life as a lost child in a world without a place to call home. With tragedies, victories, and struggles around every corner, readers will not only get a fascinating glimpse into what life was like in the ancient days before the Battle of Thermopylae, but they will be endlessly curious to know of the great destiny-which has come at a great cost-that awaits the young protagonist and his cousin.