It was the day! Rebecca had been floored that I didn't have to pack some huge amount of clothes or anything else. I figured – I told her: “They will be giving us what we are going to need. I usually wear a uniform at work.” She laughed. “It is probably going to be some man's games.” I could tell she was nervous about what was going to happen – well so was I. But she was excited. Dawn, her new BFF, was going to come over. They were going to go shopping together in Milwaukee today during school. Tomorrow, she and Dawn were going to take the kids to downtown Chicago. They were going to come back and stay at Key Lime Cove. Then, they would return for Sunday night. I wasn't going to be back until Monday evening.

I walked into the building. It started as yesterday. There was yoga – I heard Jacob grumble at that. There was more abs and cardio, as usual. At eleven, we sat in the classroom. Frank walked in. Frank talked some more about the many opportunities at Fashionable and the departments that we might find ourselves in. I tried to focus on everything he said, but I was anxious and it seemed that he talked on and on. Finally it was noon. We continued on to lunch. It was a half hour alone at our individual tables. At 12:30, Frank walked in again.

“Alright, ladies. From this point, you will return to your lockers. It will be up to you how you pass your time from now until we call you in for the final test. Goodbye until later.”

It wasn't long until I was sitting on the bench in my locker room wondering what now and what should I do. Time seemed to pass very slowly. At first I thought to pass the time with my imagination, but I was more nervous than imaginative at this point. Instead I stood up and began to move into downward dog. And from there I found that my body and mind relaxed and I was able to step outside of myself. I don't' know how long I was at it, until Gary walked into my locker room. “Michael, it is time. I am leaving this black silken robe on this hook. Strip from your clothes and put this on. He also threw down some silky slippers. When you are ready, step out and we will make our way. “

We walked down the hall and to what appeared to be a dead end at the hall between the classroom and the gym. Suddenly a door appeared out of nowhere at the end. Steps led us down from there. The steps went down to a basement floor, but it seemed that we went down several floors. At last we stood before a heavy door. Gary looked at me, seriously, then spoke: “I must ask you if you wish to continue. I don't want to scare you. You will not get hurt in there. You will make it out one way or the other. But if you wish it, you can leave now. You will have at least five years of pay with Fashionable at the agreed upon salary.” I shake my head. “No, I want to do this.” Gary smiled. “I hoped you would say that.” He pushes open the door. Then I walk inside.

I walk down what seem to be a stone cellar corridor. I could reach out my arms and touch the walls. But suddenly things come to an end. Before me is an archway, but it is closed off. I touch the smooth stone archway. I touch the cement that seems to close the entrance. I remember what Victor said. “Remember the yoga forms.” I relax my mind, and moved into mountain pose. I took a deep breath and relaxed. I closed my eyes. I slipped into downward facing dog. I stepped into warrior, and I forgot what I did from there.

At some point, I felt some kind of shift, and I opened my eyes. I discovered that I had moved to the other side. I wasn't turned around. I understood that I had moved beyond not because the rocks had moved. No, I had passed through. It felt very supernatural. It was my own first personal experience with it. It send shivers up my spine. It was another reminder that there was something other-worldly about the cryx and the changes that associates experienced when they wore the cryx.

Somehow I knew that this was the moment. This was the real beginning. I stepped into a cavern with three open archways. I step up to the one that has a Roman numeral one at its corner. Then, I step through. I look down at myself. I am in my own body, but a younger version of myself. I am wearing my sister's clothes. Yes, I did it as a child. I had cross-dressed. Why do you think I was here to begin with? I remember those moments, sneaking into my sister's room, getting her clothes and then waiting for night. Now, I was dressed up all frilly. When I tried to look into a mirror, I didn't like what I saw. It was frustrated and irritated. My mind said, “Take off the clothes. Let go and relax. You will be okay.” I take off the clothes. Hide them away so I can put them away correctly tomorrow. Then, I get into my pajamas, and move into mother's sitting room. I begin the yoga moves relaxing and losing myself.

I find that I am through the first archway. I stand and think about that for the moment. First, that was a strange thing to bring to me at this moment. But then I had a sudden flash of insight. I had been unhappy, even then with myself as a guy, and my dress-up experience hadn’t made me look any better. It was brought to my mind because I needed to be at peace with the past. I needed to know that it was okay. “I am okay,” I said out loud.

Then, I stepped up to the second open archway. I step through. Now, I am standing in a version much older than I was as a kid. In fact, I remembered this time – last summer. Rebecca and the kids had left for a long weekend for her mother's. I was wearing some female clothes – not many because I didn't want to purchase too much. I had movies and books and my computer. I was dressed up and ready for an evening of erotic activity. I could feel my excitement. But it felt wrong. This was not the way I would use my semen – now that was dedicated for my wife and for the use of the cryx. Yes, I would be engaging in such erotic activity, but this wasn't the time or place. I take off the clothes. I move down to our open basement and move into yoga steps. I relax and calm myself.

I am through the second archway. I shiver as I work through my feelings and emotions about wanting to be a woman. I even smile as I think about what I could do now, even without the cryx. I could probably pass. I could apply the make-up. I could put on a wig. I could dress and pad and pass as a woman in public. But even that wasn’t necessary. I was going to be a woman. One more archway would make it all mine!
I walk up to that last archway. I am about to walk through when I look to the center of the room. Somehow the strange stone archways are connected to a dais at the center of the room. There, glowing in the center, is the makings of a cryx. I see it glowing, so close, within my grasp. I could already grab it. I could take a short cut. I could walk right over to the dais, take the cryx and avoid the third test. But something tells me that this path is dangerous. So, I slow my breathing down. I close my eyes. I immediately move into my relaxation techniques. I breathe and step from form to form.

Somehow, I find myself in the third archway. I am still a man, walking again up to work. But this time I am going in at the associate entrance. I enter and walk through security. It seems I had passed the test just last week. One of those guards in black speaks mechanically – it seems through the mask : “You have clearance for floor two. Proceed.” I knew that, but I didn't argue. I step up onto the escalator. It goes up until level 2. Others proceed past me to the next escalator going up. I proceed to a door and present my card. I walk through.

I am walking down a white corridor. There are doors on the left and the right with ladies' names on them. I make it all the way to the end of the corridor, but I have not seen my name. I start to feel frantic. I look behind me. I look left then right. I look at my company card, but that only has a barcode and numbers on it. Then, I remember what Victor had said. “Remember the yoga forms.” I relax my mind and move into position. Suddenly, I stand before one of the doors. I take my ID card and scan it. The door opens. I walk into a locker room just like the room I had as a trainee. I put my clothes into the locker. I comb my hair back and open the door ahead of me that leads out. Naked I walk into a chamber. There on a table in a jeweled box is my cryx. The table is at knee level. I reach down to take it, but an invisible glass window seems to be there. I push, but I am unable to touch it.

Again, I surrender my thoughts and emotions – I empty myself. I come to peace. I feel the cryx, come to life. It goes from dull silver to a bright moon reflecting silver. It talks to me. I open my eyes.

I am no longer in the archway, but I stand before the cryx. I had passed through the final archway. And there is the real thing. It lays before me, glowing. There are gloves to its right and left. There is writing in front of it in a color that dazzles. It says:

Congratulations, sister. If you are reading this. You have made your cryx. But do not touch it yet. Put on the leather gloves. Then grab the silver chain carefully, making sure it doesn’t make contact with your skin. Then, carefully walk the cryx back to the entry.

I follow instructions. I put on the leather gloves, and walk back the way I came. The cemented closing is gone. I walk through that archway – nothing happens – and am back at the great door. I knock timidly and Gary opens wide. He sees the cryx in my gloved hands. He pulls out a jeweled box. “Put that in here for now. There is more to do.” I follow as instructed. He closes the jeweled box and hands the box to me. “This is yours. You can carry it. But remember this needs one more thing before it will work.”