But it broke out in Meir's own ranks. When he started to charge forward, only the mercenaries and a handful of his own men had come with him. Realizing that something was wrong, the men behind Gradas stopped and looked back at the majority of the men and women from Meir, who had stayed where they were. Gradas stopped a second afterwards, and then turned to look back, but the one second difference had him five feet away from the ones who had come with him, and about a foot away from Aurelie, who was standing at the border.

Aurelie crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the tree on which she had made her epic entrance, crossing her legs at the ankles. Her terrifying smile softened into one with humor and more than a hint of smugness.

The opposing army had come in as one unified front, then gradually split into different factions. It was, she thought, kinda like a rocket. It took off as a whole, but then the largest part broke off, followed by the middle part, leaving just the tip to hurtle off into the asteroid belt that was the army from Lejus Village. Her cocky grin grew.

The main part of the army from Meir Village looked at one another with something akin to amazement. The four commanders, who had stayed behind as well, looked around at the number of people who had stayed with them, then looked at the grinning redheaded teenager leaning against a tree, a chill running through them. They had known that she had convinced more people than just them, but had no idea how many. Their estimates had been maybe twenty or thirty more people. But this was over three hundred! They all immediately came to the same conclusion: ‘Aurelie Kanos is not to be messed with.'

Kadaras, as well as his wife, brother, and the Fadan’s, were looking at Aurelie in the same way. To have so many people become neutral in little more than a week, and that too spending only four hours a day in Meir, was incredible. When Aurelie had told them about her plan, which was to tell people that the war was a concept started purely by Gradas Meir and thereby convince them to remain neutral, they had assumed the same thing that Gradas’ commanders had assumed: she would only tell a small amount of people that wouldn’t cripple Meir’s army, but would still help out a bit. This was outside of their expectations, even though they had already known that the girl the children had brought home was anything but ordinary.

Gradas Meir took in the scene around him, particularly how everyone was stealing fearful glances at Aurelie, and turned towards her with a snarl. She took a few steps back and fell into a hunting crouch, the fingers of her right hand tightening on her gun and shaking her left hand so that a knife fell out of the sheath she wore and into her hand. But Gradas didn't cross the border, as he knew full well that if he crossed alone right now he would be ripped to pieces by the awaiting army.

Instead, he turned back and appeared in front of his commanders, having moved so fast Aurelie's eyes couldn't track him. She stood up slowly, but the tension in her body didn't drain. Gradas could flash right back and kill her. And even if Kadaras took revenge for her death, she would still be dead. Instead she slowly backed towards the safety of the Lejus army. Just because she couldn't see him didn't mean that Kadaras, who had the same level of power, couldn't.

Meanwhile, Gradas was yelling at his people, particularly his commanders.

“What are you doing?!? Do you know that by doing this, all of you will be labeled traitors? And traitors will receive the death penalty, no matter who they are!” He directed the last few words to his commanders, who paled, but stood firm.

Abruptly, his shoulders sagged and he looked defeated and depressed.

“Why? Why would you do this to me?” His voice was trembling slightly, and his face gave the impression that he was about to cry. But no one fell for the act, though the eldest of his commanders, a man named Dansel, did answer the question.

“We discovered that the war was a concept started by you, and supported only by you and a select few others. We do not support this fight, so we have all decided that we would remain neutral, helping neither Lejus Village nor Meir Village. Many of us have family and friends in Lejus, and we refuse to fight against them. Years of friendship cannot be destroyed by a single conflict.” Dansel’s back was ramrod straight and looked his leader in the eye. Next to him, Eronie, Embent, and Gladolius, the other commanders, nodded their agreement.

“You fools!! What you heard was nothing more than propaganda against me, started by Kadaras! The one who told you was that fake Elemental, wasn't it? She is an agent of Lejus Village! How could you fall for her lies!” Gradas roared, dropping the depressed act.

Aurelie poked her head out from where she hid behind Kadaras, stuck her tongue out at Gradas, then quickly ducked back to safety.

“We were unwilling to believe her at first as well, but then she showed us proof of her claims. Miss Aurelie, I return the device you gave to me for safekeeping.”

So saying, Dansel reached into a pocket and threw a sleek, thin, black box through the air. It launched over Gradas and the soldiers and mercenaries who had charged and towards the Lejus Army.

Aurelie let out a bloodcurdling shriek and ran forward to intercept it, frantically looking over it to make sure there were no scratches.

Reassured, she turned back and glared at Dansel. “Don't chuck it like that you idiot! What if you ended up breaking it! Phones are both fragile and expensive! If you, or anyone really, ever break my phone, I swear that I will shoot you.”

“What’s a pone?” Farn asked from where he stood.

“This,” Aurelie told him, holding up the device Dansel had thrown, “is a phone.” She emphasized the word due to Farn’s mispronunciation of it. Both Farn and Mellana nodded.