My Laughing Coffin [SAO fan-fiction]

Chapter 11: Spectre

For some reason, at 3am, sleep wasn't the first thing on my mind. My sleep schedule was all out of whack since the start of Sword Art Online. I glanced back at the two snoring friends sleeping behind me. Apparently not everyone was effected by this. I couldn't tell if Nomad was drunk or not, but Lavander definitely was, and they both slept like it too.

I ran a hand through my unkempt hair and stared out our room's oval window. A thin layer of fog draped itself over the town of Vania, with the thick water droplet cloud and the canopy of stars hanging over the town, I couldn't help but return to my infinitely unanswerable question. "What's the point of Sword Art Online?" I asked the darkness.

Silence. It would have helped if someone could answer me, but I knew that asking nothing for something just wasn't going to happen. I laughed a bit at my question and stood from the desk. I quietly exited the room, being sure to lock it before making my way to the waiting room of the Dancing Bee Inn. Only one player sat in the dining area, it appeared to be a female player. Her hair was long and was a shade of umber brown, similarly colored eyes stared down at a tankard of a honey extract, commonly referred to in SAO as Bumble Beer. Not my choice of name, but majority rule and all that.

I walked over to the entrance of the inn, but when I interacted with the door I was met with a notification reading Area Not Available.

"The hell?" I muttered.

The girl glanced over at me then returned to her drink. "Servers are under maintenance." She said.

I cocked my head at her and slowly made my way into the dining area of the Dancing Bee. "How can they do server maintenance? I thought SAO was supposed to be flawless."

The girl slightly turned her head towards me and gestured for me to sit across the table. Accepting the invitation, I slide myself into one of the rough booths and immediately found myself uncomfortable. I shifted around till I found a softer spot on the nearly rocky surface.

"Do you check your inbox often?" I shook my head. "Well there was a message sent out that players would be required to stay indoors from 1am to 6am for server maintenance." She said.

"What would happen if you were outside?" I asked.

"Kiyaba is a bastard, but he isn't pure evil. Any players that were outside were teleported to nearby inn's, blacksmith areas, shops and other such places. I happened to be coming to this inn anyways, but the rooms are full so I can't get one." For a brief moment I considered giving her my room key. This girl was beyond gorgeous and having an attractive ally could prove fruitful in the future. But my clumsy idea was put to the side when she continued. "I didn't plan much on sleeping anyways."

I stared at her eyes while her's almost refused to make contact with mine. Under her umber iris was a tint of purple splotches. She seemed to need sleep more than she wanted, or liked to admit.

"Anyways," She continued. "Since this floor was only recently cleared, some players might've gotten lucky, and were teleported to a nearby and undiscovered town. Of course, if that's possible then maybe some players got unlucky and were teleported into a dungeon." She said.

I nodded. It was an interesting theory. One that could easily be worth discovering. "So, what's your name?" She asked.

"I'm Grimm, part of the Wandering Bunch." I said sticking my hand out.

"I'm Esther, is that a guild? I've never heard of it before." She frowned.

"No. Its just a group of people in a party. All we do is wander the game and occasionally clear a floor. We joined together about two weeks ago, after going through some horrible stuff." I allowed my mind to teeter at the memory of Spyde.