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The air in the grand hall was thick and heavy, tasting of money and floor polish. It was the kind of manufactured reverence you find in places that have forgotten what true reverence feels like. Chandeliers dripped light like frozen tears onto the assembled crowd below, a sea of dark suits and shimmering dresses, their murmurs a low, self-satisfied hum. Flags hung from the walls, stiff and immaculate, their colors deep and solemn under the calculated lighting. This was the Governor\u2019s Hall, and this was more than a ceremony; it was a performance of power, a carefully staged ballet of rehearsed patriotism and political grace.<\/p>\n
At the arched doorway, almost swallowed by the shadows, stood Daniel Harris. He was a man out of time, a ghost from an era the people inside only spoke of in gilded speeches. He was a retired Marine, and his eyes, weathered and quiet, held the kind of stillness that comes only after witnessing the world\u2019s deafening chaos. His Dress Blues, the uniform he had earned the right to wear for the rest of his life, were meticulously clean, but the fabric was thin, the deep blue faded by decades of sun and careful storage. It hugged his frame not with the crisp authority of a new recruit, but with the soft, worn familiarity of an old skin.<\/p>\n
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