Yaebi's PoV

We had been walking for hours, and now we were setting up camp for the night. Shara and Vanessa were sitting on a hill bank, talking about bees that could make steel. Cupa was with Andr and Steve, setting up a makeshift hut out of trees we had cut down earlier. They always made me laugh when they were together, how Steve didn't seem too worried that his way of life was extinct, let alone his species…

Stephanie was talking with Cindy, it seemed they finally had time to just sit down and relax. I should relax too, I thought. Maybe I should just…

Suddenly I heard a noise behind some tall grass. There was a whispering voice, then silence. I couldn't shake the feeling we were being watched. I went over to the others and explained what happened. Everyone except Steve and Cindy were asleep by now, and they went with me to see what it was.

''I don't see anything.'' said Cindy.

''Maybe it was just a false alarm, there are animals around here.'' said Steve, pointing to some sheep nearby.

''Do sheep whisper, Steve? My sources say no.'' I said back as we went back to the camp. I jumped into a bed, and then I noticed it was next to Stephanie's bed and Steve's was next to Cupa's. It was adorable how Stephanie slept. I smiled, someday I would have to tell her how I really feel about her, but that's for another time…

The next morning, we kept moving toward the Ender Kingdom. Cupa was looking at an old engine blueprint, and then at Vanessa. What she was thinking, I'll never know. Then, a few chunks ahead, Steve, who was leading the way, stopped. He seemed genuinely worried.

''Uhh, you guys…girls and guy… you might want to see this.''

We looked out and couldn't believe our eyes. There was a city, right in front of us, that wasn't on any current map. Everyone was gazing in wonder, all except Stephanie and Vanessa, who just sat there in disbelief.

''I never thought I'd see this place again. I thought I'd never have to.'' said Stephanie, looking at her sister, then turning away. I sat next to her, and the others gathered around.

''Something tells me you know more about this place than any of us, so why don't you fill us in?'' Andr asked.

''This…This…This is my home.'' Stephanie finally said.

''This is all that's left of Arachnoss City.''

Cupa's PoV

We all went into the city a few minutes later. The place was a mess, twisted masses of metal and stone that had once stood as the tallest skyscrapers in the entire Spider Kingdom, now reduced to rubble. The streets were pulverized with craters and cracks, there were holes in the sides of whatever buildings that were still standing. The area at ground level had been looted clean; lava and sand were in odd places as well. Steve took a close look.

''This is a griefers handiwork. They are the worst kind of scum.''

There was a computer monitor in the centre of a park of dead grass and died dirt. We walked up to it, and it booted up.

WELCOME TO ARACHNOSS CITY. it said on the screen.

POPULATION: 3,566,294. WARNING, OUTDATED INFORMATION. UPDATING…UPDATING…UPDATING… UPDATE COMPLETE.

WELCOME TO ARACHNOSS CITY. POPULATION: 0

As soon as she saw this, Stephanie sat on the ground and started crying. Vanessa tried to comfort her, but she just pushed her away. I didn't know what to do. Just then, we heard a noise, A crash, then some shouting.

''What part of be quiet do you not understand, Arvin?

''Sorry, Izzy, but your explanations are so terrible that I didn't know what you were saying in the first place!''

''You two! Shut it now! They've already heard you by now!''

There was nothing more to be heard after that. ''We were confused and scared, what if they were spies sent to keep an eye on us by Valerie and Willow? I didn't want to let them look out for us any longer. I walked up to the voices. Steve tried to stop me, but I told him I had this.

''Aright, we know you're there! Show yourselves now!

''Okay! Fine! We'll come out! This was the voice that had been identified as Arvin.

''I'll talk to them.'' This was the third voice, calm and reassuring. ''Come out everyone, they know we're here.''

''Five people appeared from the junk on the street. One, a boy wearing a black, green lined hoodie, made himself known, then left. The remaining four introduced themselves. The first was a man in his twenties, he wore patchwork style clothes and an old hat, we had a small beard, but otherwise was clean-shaven. He said I should call him Fayruz, and told me he was the leader here. With him were two girls. Both were around seventeen, and the first one had bright red hair, a red and black horizontal striped top and black shorts, and grey boots. The second girl had sweet blonde hair and freckles, and was dressed to look like some kind of steampunk engineer. She also had a black bandana around her head. The last boy was about sixteen, had a fair amount of muscle and liked to show off. He had on a sleeveless black top and jeans, as well as hardwearing rubber boots that really didn't suit him.

The red haired girl said her name was Isabella, the other girl was Sera, and the boy was Arvin. The boy that left, they told me, his name was Rat, or at least that was his nickname. I introduced them to my friends, and they took us to the ''guest quarters'', which was apparently a crumbling hotel. On the way there, I saw a road sign that had been painted over with the words ''I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE'' on it. As we moved on, I saw more of these, reading things like ''WHY WASN'T IT ME?'' or, ''I MISS YOU!'' There was also the same word being repeated over and over: ''NOVA.'' To be honest, it scared me. When we reached the hotel, we all got into nice comfortable beds, and I tried my best not to think about the weird messages…