Elias Sparta, The Oracle of the Three Suns, Volume 1: Elias Sparta

By Agnes Ruiz

Elias Sparta is struck by lightning while the sky is clear. By the will of Zeus, the god of thunder, he finds himself in Ephoria, a strange and unknown world. As soon as he arrives, he is confronted with the disagreeable Antares, the king's son, but also discovers Sandros, who will become his friend. Elias goes from surprise to surprise when he learns that he is one of the three chosen ones, just like Sandros who has a rather special gift and Auxane, the apprentice priestess. Zeus's chosen ones will therefore have to accomplish the oracle of the three suns and restore sight to the ancestral dragons.

Agnes Ruiz is the author of several bestsellers, which sold over 370,000 copies. She was a huge success with her first novel "Ma vie assassinée". She writes for adults as well as for young people. His news on the investigation of Detective Rachel Toury is also very successful in Europe and across the Atlantic. Several translations of its titles are available. She is originally from Normandy (France) and lived for almost 20 years in Canada. She is married and has three children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Jul 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781667407333

Book preview

About Agnes Ruiz

Agnes Ruiz is the author of several bestsellers, which sold over 370,000 copies. She was a huge success with her first novel Ma vie assassinée. She writes for adults as well as for young people. His news on the investigation of Detective Rachel Toury is also very successful in Europe and across the Atlantic. Several translations of its titles are available. She is originally from Normandy (France) and lived for almost 20 years in Canada. She is married and has three children.

Bibliography Agnes Ruiz

Novels

Ma vie assassinée, tome 1

Ma vie assassinée, tome 2, Et si c’était ma vie ?

L’ombre d’une autre vie

La main étrangère

Oublie la nuit

Hôtel du bord de mer, Normandy (The Seaside Hotel, translated by Sarah Sharman)

Hôtel du bord de mer, Gaspesia (Seaside Hotel, Gaspesia, translated by Samar Mansour)

Clous et marteau, c’est toi qu’il me faut (Nails & Hammer, YOU are all I need, translated by Sarah Sharman)

Demain, cappuccinos, bikinis, #love (Tomorrow... Cappuccinos, Bikinis #love, translated by Jacquie Bridonneau

Meurtre à la course (Murder in the Course, translated by Felix Lai)

Double meurtre dans les beaux quartiers (Double Murder in Attractive Districts, translated by James Wung Zeh)

Le mystérieux parapluie d’Arthur Shipwall (Alain and Agnes Ruiz)

Dernier frisson avant la mort (Alain and Agnes Ruiz)

Un vent de liberté, tome 1

Un vent de liberté, tome 2

Short Stories

Assassinat d’un prêtre (Death of a priest, translated by Kirsty)

Un cadavre sur la plage (A Body On The Beach, translated by Felix Lay)

Un striptease de trop (One striptease too much, translated by Natalie Paige Jenkins)

L’assassin de la gare (The Station Killer, translated by Kirsty)

Mort sur le Saint-Laurent (Death on the Saint-Lawrence, translated by Louise Lochner)

Mon petit écureuil suivi de Flocons de neige (My little squirrel, followed by Snowflakes, Translated by Cheryl Witchell)

L’amour est dans l’ombre (Love in the Shadow translated by Naomi Hanlon)

Le laveur de vitres de Trifouilly-les-Oies (The Window cleaner from Trifouilly-les-Oies, translated by augustine nwokedikko)

La belle naufragée (The Beautiful Shipwrecked Lady, translated by Fombang Lord Brink

Le cadeau de noces (The wedding Present, translated by Fombang Lord Brink)

L’indomptable Molly suivi de Le voyage de Colonel (Indomitable Molly Followed by  Colonel’s long journey translated by Chantal Nkongho)

Mélodie en mémoire,

Trois pâtisseries

Les jeunes mariés (The Newlyweds, translated by Ilia Scortariu)

Pur sang (Racing Blood, translated by Lauren Broom)

Les âmes vertueuses et Brume dans le métro

Mr le Président et Eugénie au pays des merveilles

Jour de pluie, jour de rêverie et L’anniversaire de Guillermo

Question d’apparence, Le triomphe de la république et Mon bien-aimé

Le conducteur poète, Le joueur de saxo, Lumière et S’accrocher

Les aventures fantomatiques de Lord McSpirit et de son valet O’Ghost (The ghostly adventures of Lord Mc Spirit and his valet O'Ghost, translated by Edib Beširević)

Practical books

J’apprends l’alphabet avec mes amies les lettres

52 pensées positives pour réussir ses études (Agnès et Alain Ruiz) (52 positives thoughts for successful studies)

52 pensées positives pour devenir un sportif de haut-niveau (Agnès et Alain Ruiz) (52 positive thoughts to Become an Elite Athlete)

Youth books

Mon affreux maillot beige

Poppy Rose, mon journal intime (Poppy Rose, my secret diary, translated by Cheryl Witchel)

Le petit pois (Album illustré)

Pom-pom girls

– Une équipe du tonnerre

– Le secret de Brittany

– Coup dur

– Tous les coups sont permis

– Concert ou championnat

– Gardiennes intrépides

Elias Sparte (Elias Sparta)

– L’oracle des trois soleils (The Oracle of the Three Suns, Volume 1)

– Les œufs sacrés

– Le sanglier de Calydon

– La chasseresse de la nuit

Dedication: To my three suns, Valentin, Laurayne et Kimberly.

Prologue

Ephoria is a land which, from here, is faraway, overlooked, unknown. It is a land which comes from the depths of time. It was here yesterday; it is here today and it will still be here tomorrow... without a doubt.

It is a hidden place and one which knows how to remain silent... Our myths about the world are full of its stories. Some religions have even taken some rituals and integrated them with their beliefs. If you pay close enough attention, you can recognise their true origin.

But all that gets lost over time...

1

THE GRASSLANDS

Elias Sparta has recently been living in a village close to Athens. He had celebrated his twelfth birthday two weeks before the tragic accident, which caused the death of his parents and turned his life upside down. His grandfather, Kristos, took him into his solitary and silent world. When the old man spoke, it was mostly only to slander and malign Elias’s parents, his mother especially! He did not hesitate to criticise Elias for his hair either, which he claimed was too long!

Anxious to avoid his grandfather, the young boy preferred to wander the plain where the olive trees stood alongside the vines. The peace and the solitude that he found there calmed his mood. He often made a detour after school to spend some time there before returning home. That day, he stayed longer. From his flat backpack, he took out a wooden shield which he had made himself, patiently polished and carved, in the centre, his initials: E.S. The rim was embellished with twelve circular hollows. Elias liked to feel the smooth curves under his fingers. He had put all his heart into it, all his free time, but the result was worth it! This shield was the only tangible memory of his former life. Today, he had presented it to the pupils in his class for a presentation about the medieval era.

Refusing to let tears overcome him, Elias let his overflow of emotion out as he pitted his shield against an invisible opponent. The pleasure of the game was not long in coming; Elias Sparte had become a courageous and invincible warrior...

The sun started to drop below the horizon in the blue sky of the end of the afternoon. Elias knew that he should not stay longer or he would miss the evening meal. He was hungry especially because he was hardly plump. Some would not hesitate to call him puny, like Andreis’s gang, for example!

Elias hurried, his shield held in his arms by its leather strap and metal handle. He kicked a stone without thinking and watched it rise, sweeping up a cloud of chalky dust and falling heavily onto the verge. At almost the same time, he heard a noise coming from a bush. Voices, or rather murmurs. Intrigued, he approached, slightly crouched. Elias knew he shouldn’t, that it was none of his business... but he couldn’t help it!

While he was approaching the bush, the sound of footsteps behind him made him turn around. He had just enough time to catch a glimpse of Andreis before he pushed him into the thicket. Two of his cronies laughed out loud. Victim of their mocking, Elias tried to extricate himself from his awkward position, using his shield for support.

He was hardly standing back up again when the blue sky suddenly darkened. A huge black cloud, followed by a most unusual purple cloud, flooded the sky. A wavy line sprang up without warning and crossed the vault of heaven. Mouths open, Andreis and the two other boys were propelled several metres back, falling heavily. The point of lightning, meanwhile, hit Elias. His hand still on his wooden shield, he was lifted up above the bush for several nanoseconds then disappeared under the bewildered gaze of Andreis and his gang...

* * *

Yelena, the high priestess of the city of Ephoria, walked towards the Grasslands. Her bare feet, wet from the morning’s rain, glided over the generous grasses. In her right hand, she held a long braided golden rod topped with two superb wooden sculptures: an eagle leaning against the sacred serpent. On her crisp white tunic, Yelena wore the engraved gold plaques of the gods and goddesses she served. The sumptuous jewel was held at her shoulders by two golden fibulas bearing the effigy of the serpent and the eagle. A triple gold ring in the shape of a snake wrapped around the top of her right arm. Her thick silvery hair fell freely to her waist. Sometimes a few strands seemed to rebel and shoot up into the air, for no apparent reason.

In their ochre tunics edged with gold thread, four wise men with long beards walked after her, also barefoot. A young girl with a frail body and a face of an almost spectral pallor closed the morning procession. On the occasion of this ceremony, Auxane's head was crowned with violets, the flowers created by Zeus himself. The teenager with long, sleek, white hair was eleven years old and had been a student of the High Priestess for a year. It would take time for him to try to match Yelena's extraordinary powers and knowledge. An immense knowledge that the latter sometimes lavished on her in secret so as not to frighten the population, always fearful in the face of a certain form of magic... When Auxane was worried about not being up to the task, Yelena reminded her that she had been chosen by the gods of Olympus.

Auxane remembered her first meeting with the High Priestess; she had come to seek her in the Icelands, following an oracle of Athena, goddess of wisdom and of war. It was the third day after her parents' funeral. There had been offerings of salt, cakes and fruit, libations of milk and wine in pierced vessels in order to allow her parents to continue living underground. A shiver ran through the young Auxane. Her grey gaze blurred for a moment at the thought of that memory.

A large white crow flew over the group insistently. Yelena felt transported by this omen. Apollo, the god of light, harmony and divination, manifested his presence through his favourite companion.

The procession arrived on Mount Tamaros, near the village of the Grasslands and away from the city of King Drakeon. Now towering over the vast kingdom, Yelena embraced the lands of Ephoria, noticing everything. The palace stood in the heart of the nine lands: a massive work of white stones, sometimes built with the blood of the people. The High Priestess often sensed Drakeon's presence. He prowled around, lingered, without however daring to openly attack Yelena...

The High Priestess knew she had to remain vigilant, for the king's abilities as well as wealth grew over the years... Should she show any regret? His powers remained much more powerful, but for how long? And there was also Antares, the king's son. He took pleasure in exercising his tyrannical authority over the population. Yelena regularly consulted the elements and the gods... Ephoria's power balance was threatened. The Ancestral Dragons no longer dispensed their wisdom or protection in the Lands, and that seemed to suit Drakeon very much.

The Oracle of the Three Suns had revealed that today would mark the coming of the missing chosen one. Yelena knew that this month was favourable. The day before, ten birds had flown from the mulberry trees near her house towards the three rising stars, bringing light to the world. The high priestess had followed the path of the rook crows for a long time.

It was the start of a cycle in Ephoria. All the forces of nature came together. The gods visited the inhabitants in their own way. Time and space, the world of the visible and the invisible, entered into communion.

A lavish banquet had celebrated the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. The citizens of the Grasslands had reaped the last harvest, brought back the herds and paid tribute to King Drakeon, who had shown himself to be greedier than the previous year. A few had opposed him. The most reckless had paid with their lives, the others had suffered lashes...

Serenely, the high priestess continued to chew a special herb made by her care. The grass caused discoveries and prepared for the coming of the gods. The four wise men regularly raised their arms to honour the