> “A heart heavy with unmet desires, whispering into the night as shadows dance on the rippling water.✴”
— Scene 1, *The Hero’s Stone* ⟁
_Batal Vol.1 · Ep.1 · Scene 1 – Tribal Deputy · Tribal Hall_
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📖 **Excerpt from the book:**
> Deputy: Chieftain! Chieftain!
> Barun: Why all the noise! Did the sky split open, or the earth swallow itself?!
> Deputy: Someone has arrived outside. It’s a strange boy.
> Barun: A stranger? Important enough to wake me from my slumber?!
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