Who are you?

  I felt my body materialize, and I opened my eyes to the view of a gray staircase which spiraled down to eternity, and behind me was a brown door with a flickering green bulb above, and a label nailed to the side which reads 'Gray' with a red arrow pointing upwards, and 'Hall of Mysteries' with a red arrow pointing downwards.

'So the gas was the main deal after all, and the pod was just to direct us to the world of Gray.... This isn't a mere game, and the best place to crack it's mystery... Is the 'Hall of Mysteries'.

  I didn't hesitate like the previous time, and quickly made my way down the spiral staircase, to the next floor.

  When I got to the floor below earth's floor, I saw an identical brown door with a bulb above which was flickering green and red light creepily. And beside the door was a label nailed to the wall which reads 'Earth' with a red arrow pointing upwards, and 'Unknown' with a red arrow pointing downwards.

  I decided to check out the unknown floor first before entering the 'Hall of Mysteries', but the moment my foot landed on the first step leading down, I instantly felt like I was hit by a truck on breakneck speed, and got flung back like a ragdoll, and slammed the gray wall behind.

  The pain I felt was overwhelming that I instantly passed and woke up on the floor of my bedroom beside my pod, and began vomiting blood still in overwhelming pains, and passed out.

-

  I woke up after an unknown amount of time, feeling weirdly strengthened and vitalized. I noticed the pool of blood which I had puked before I passed out were all dried up, and everywhere looked dusty.

  I quickly sprang up from the floor which I was sprawled on, and pulled out the smartphone the CIA had given me to check the time. But the phone's battery was dead, which wasn't supposed to be, because it was fully charged when I previously used it.

  I then ran to my reading table and picked up a smartphone which I had bought earlier before I had even arrived at the airport, and tapped it's power button to boot it, because I haven't since I bought it.

  The smartphone quickly booted, and when I checked the date and time, my jaw instantly dropped... I've been out for three days!

  I plugged the smartphone the CIA had given me to it's charger, and ran into the bathroom to take my bath for the first time in three days.

  When I was done in the bathroom, I dialed the 'Mission Report'contact on the CIA's smartphone which was fully charged already, and didn't have to wait long before the call went through.

"Where the f*ck have you been? I've been trying your number for the past three days" A voice said from the other side of the line.

"There's only two missed calls from you" I replied with a raised brow.

"Are you questioning my devotion to this mission? How dare you?... Mission report" The voice said the last part when he didn't get a reply from me.

"No progress have been made. I got kidnapped in-game and couldn't log out for unknown reasons" I replied.

  I couldn't probably tell him that I tried to go down a gray stairs and got nuked to wake up after three days.

"Were they torturing you?" The voice asked.

"Yeah, it was a bloody one at that" I replied with a pained tone.

"Then that's normal. You can't log out during any form of combat, and torturing is counted as one too" The voice said, "Now get back to work and stop whining!!" The voice bellowed and disconnected the call.

*Ring*

  I heard my door bell ring from downstairs, and lazily dragged myself down the stairs, and to the front door. I didn't look through the peep hole to see who it was, and opened the door as soon as I got to it.

"Hi" Isabelle waved at me with a smile.

"Hi..." I waved back in surprise.

"See, I told you he's fine" Claire whispered to Isabelle, but I surprisingly heard it loud and clear like it wasn't a whisper.

"I normally jog through this road every morning, and I noticed that for the past three days there weren't any movement in your house. And since your car was all dusty in the garage meant you were in, so I wanted to check if you were okay" Isabelle said with a smile.

"Ohh, that's caring of you, I really appreciate" I replied with a smile, "Do you wish to come in?" I asked.

"We wouldn't want to bother you. This is my card... You can always call me or chat me up whenever you feel the need to" Isabelle said and handed me a small blue card which only had a logo in front, and a number at the back.

"I wouldn't hesitate to do that" I replied with a smile.

"I'd like to speak with him privately, I'll catch up later" Claire suddenly said to Isabelle.

"See you later then" Isabelle said and walked away with her two female bodyguards.

"What do you want?" I asked Claire with a raised brow.

  She didn't reply and just pushed me away from the doorway, and walked into my house while tilting her head around with a frown.

"Aren't you scared that'll try something 'funny'" I asked in surprise and closed the door.

  She ignored me again and walked around the living room, touching things and examining the dust in my palm. She then headed for the stairs leading upstairs, while tracing her fingers on the dusty stair rail.

"Where do you think you're going?" I ran up to her and grabbed her arm.

  She immediately slapped off my hand which I had used to grab her arm, and quickly turned around and grabbed my neck with an iron grip.

  I was surprised at her speed, and at how her grip was firm and solid. Because it was impossible for a normal young girl with soft hands, to have such a tight grip. And I had the feeling that I wouldn't be able to knock her hand off my neck if I tried to.

"Who are you?" Claire asked with a frown.

"Who are you?" I asked back, with my pistol pointed to her face.