Inspirational quote: Whatever you decide to do in life, just make sure that it makes you happy.

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Lauriel had heard what Agent Astera had said however not completely, so what she did was to turn around and look at her, with a baffled expression on her face.

"What did you just say, Astera?" Lauriel had asked her confusingly.

Astera just turned red, before murmuring something that Lauriel couldn't quite understand.

"I said good luck in the test, Lauriel," she lied. "You'll need it. It's really easy. Don't worry."

Astera winked at her straight afterwards, which was when Lauriel started to feel a little queasy.

I mean, Lauriel thought to herself, biting her lip until blood came out. Hopefully Agent Astera couldn't read her mind like her husband could. She couldn't, which made Lauriel rather relieved.

How the hell am I supposed to know if she's lying? She may say the first test is "easy", but what if it's the most dangerous test in the world?

Thoughts like this kept on filling Lauriel's mind for a while, until the girl became so fed up that she wanted to leave.

Forgetting the rule about leaving, as so stated by Dr Kozak way too many times -"leave and you die, Lauriel"- Lauriel turned back, facing Astera.

"I mean..." Lauriel trailed off dramatically, staring at the silver metallic long box that was opposite her, presumably the 'test', "I'm not convinced the test is easy..."

Agent Astera rolled her eyes in disbelief before escorting Lauriel properly back into the test room.

"Lauriel. It will be fine. Honestly." Lauriel didn't even finish listening to what agent Astera had said before she walked away, and was pulled back again by agent Astera angrily because she didn't like it when people had cut her off intentionally before she had finished saying something.

"Just read this poem."

Saying that, Astera stepped out of the way to reveal a poem that Lauriel didn't even know was there before.

As slowly as she could (so that she didn't have to do the test on time), Lauriel read it, the thought of the test becoming even more frightening every second.

Life is the best.
A gift one should cherish.
But if you don't ace this test,
Then you shall likewise perish.

How are you going to stay alive,
Doing the strangest test in the nation?
Are you going to survive,
In this life or death situation?

This test is worth trying,
Although it is spiteful, so conceited.
But will you end up dying?
Or feeling helplessly defeated?

Don't worry, these insects don't bite.
The only major trick is to feed it.
You're probably now filled with fright,
Although good luck - you'll really need it.

Lauriel gulped really hard as she finished reading the poem. It took her two minutes deliberately, and by the time she was done reading it, it was about quarter past four pm.

"I gotta admit, that was kind of a really good poem. Who wrote it?"

"Dr Kozak," Astera answered immediately. "The same person that made up these tests, as well as this building in general seventeen years ago."

What when he was eighty three? Lauriel wanted to say out loud, but didn't. She knew he was 35, but he didn't look 35. He looked 100.

Realising something awkward, Lauriel turned her back to Astera, reading the poem again.

"You never told me that this test was going to involve insects in it!" Lauriel screeched, for the whole of KOZAHKISTAN HEADQUARTERS (all in caps lock) to hear.

Astera didn't say anything for a while or two. Well, she was about to, but then stifled it because she thought of something even smarter to say.

"It's best if I don't tell you everything I know," she asserted Lauriel. "The worst is yet to come. You don't know what the test has to offer yet."

Lauriel was confused.

She had somehow managed to calm down, although the thought of insects really really petrified her.

"I thought you said that this test would be easy?" She brought back to memory.

"It is. Kind of. Don't worry, millions of people survived."

Lauriel wasn't so sure about that.

"About how many people?"

Astera then brought her iPad from her little pocket, how it fitted in there, Lauriel had no idea.

She was then fiddling about with it for a while, until Lauriel could see this week's date on it.

Astera then clicked on the test Lauriel was about to take (and hopefully survive), showing her the statistics for this week, forcing her to read it out loud like Dr Kozak did.

"The Perilous Obstacle Course Test. Fifty people have taken the test this week, as of Monday 6th of March..." Lauriel stopped reading aloud and then dropped the iPad.

Not physically, just removed it from close to her face.

"Yeah... I don't see any statistics," she told her.

"Just keep reading," Agent Astera urged, and so Lauriel did. She put the iPad close up to her face and read out loud for Agent Astera to hear.

"36 people died, 11 survived and 3 people gave up then became beheaded afterwards?" Lauriel was mortified, and annoyed by now. "I'm sorry but there's absolutely no way I'm going to take this test if that many people died, Astera."

Astera didn't reply, until Lauriel insisted that she was leaving. That was when she carried her until Lauriel was fully off the ground, making Lauriel scream.

"Okay, then, you want to leave. That's fine. Time to kill you then."

"No; wait!" Lauriel screamed, Agent Astera finally dropping her once and for all. "I'll do it. Agent Astera, take me to this test."

Agent Astera grinned, vindictively looking like she was about to kill someone as she led Lauriel quickly into the silver metallic long box that Lauriel had seen earlier.

"Pfft. An obstacle course? Please. This is going to be so easy." Lauriel scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Meanwhile, Agent Astera was watching her, shaking her head.

"Lift the box!" She commanded to no one in particular. Although it lifted.

Box lifting. Please stand back. I repeat, please stand back.

So both of them did. And as it was being lifted, Lauriel felt very nauseous.

"Welcome to your first test, Lauriel. Would you like a tour? Let me give you a tour."

Lauriel declined her offer straight away, why? Because she genuinely felt like throwing up.

According to Agent Astera's "tour", there were eight sections in the 'obstacle course' in total.

Section 1: Crawl in a box through life threatening tarantulas...

Section 2: Step on crabs with no shoes or socks on...

Section 3: Use a rope to glide from one place to another with bees surrounding your face in the background.

Section 4: Very ferocious chickens are going to try their best to attack you. Your aim is to not let them do that, one touch from a chicken then you're disqualified and you die, loser.

Section 5: Walk backwards with ants crawling at your legs.

Section 6: Angry Birds (real ones, not the game) are going to be doing number twos in your hair. Your aim, young delinquent, is to try and get out before your whole hair is covered with poop.

Section 7: An elephant will try and step on you, and potentially kill you, so try and escape before that happens...

Section 8: aah. Section 8. Probably the worst one of all. A very gigantic dinosaur (I may or may not have gone back in time via my teleporter to get one) will try to eat you. Try and get to the door with the remaining time you've got left to do that!

-good luck, whatever your name and surname is!
-Dr Demetrius Kozahkistan (aka Dr Kozak by some people, if not then Demetrius).

Was Dr Kozak crazy? How the flip was Lauriel supposed to not perish during this test?

"I'm sorry," Lauriel said to agent Astera after the 'tour' was eventually over once and for all. "But how the hell do you expect me to survive this test and not die in it?"

"It's easy, calm down, Lauriel," Agent Astera lied to her. "Look. There's a line for this test. As you can see, fifty girls are in there. And only fifty girls can be in there at once. You can work together yes, but I can't guarantee that you'll all end up surviving. Take this card, and go and sit in the waiting room over there."

Astera gave Lauriel a card, which said number seventy seven on it.

Lauriel was about to ask her something but it was too late.

By the time Lauriel had looked around again, agent Astera had gone.

Because, just like magic, she had completely disappeared, without letting Lauriel know about it whatsoever.

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Moral of chapter: You learn more from failures than successes.