2. Will thought he had been si0ng in the room for years.

3. He heard a woman whisper to him, Open the door. But no one was there, and there weren’t any doors. There were only walls.
All he could do was sit.

4. Uncle Brandon gave him a dollhouse and told him that it was tradiAon to give one to the new heir. Will remembered how proud
he had been. “I’ll do it,” he said, doing nothing.

5. Was it his imaginaAon, or had the walls moved closer? He could hardly tell. The walls were gray, and the floors were gray, and
there was no light. But if the walls were closing in on him, then what would happen to him? He would wake up before they
crushed him, he told himself. You always woke up the moment before anything bad happened to you.

6. What if you don’t? the woman whispered again.

7. It wasn’t his imaginaAon. The walls were definitely closer. Will had been si0ng close to the middle of the room, but now he was
at a corner. They weren’t anywhere near close enough to crush him, but what if they would be? Will shivered. The walls were so
thin, and winter was waiAng out there—if there was anything out there at all but those great windowless walls coming in to
smash him and the whispering woman. He almost thought he could cry.

8. Don’t give in to despair. Open the door.
“I can’t,” he said, looking around. “There aren’t any doors. I can’t…”
How do you know? You can’t know if you don’t try.

9. The voice sounded familiar. As soon as Will thought it, he looked around. Lily Azure was standing over his leN shoulder, watching
him. How come he hadn’t been able to see her before? Why did she have wings? “Lily!” he said. “Help!”
“I’m trying,” she said. “Are there any windows in here?”

10. “No,” Will said. But he sAll walked over to the wall and held his hand out to touch it.

11. A large plate glass window materialized as he touched the wall. It moved with the rest of the walls.
Lily walked over to the window and looked outside.

12. “Is that really you, Lily?” Will asked. “You don’t look like you usually do.”
She responded with a quesAon: “Are you really in a house without any doors?”

13. “It’s only a dream,” Will said.
“Are you sure?”
He looked around. “I’ll wake up when the walls crush me,” he told Lily. “Right?”

14. “I wish that was true,” Lily said. “You’ll die when the walls crush you, Will.”

15. You’ll die. The walls had contracted again. Will had seen the white molding move. He slumped.

16. “That’s not going to help you,” Lily said. “The answer is moving, not waiAng. Open the door. I know it looks hard. But if I can do
it, so can you.” Lily walked over to the wall and touched it. A door appeared.

17. “The key is around your neck,” Will pointed out.
“Maybe you have one, too.”

18. “Come on. How does that make any sense?” Will asked. “I’m not a Simself. I don’t have any special powers.”

19. “There are different kinds of powers,” she said, one eye closed in what might have been a wink.

20. Different kinds of powers. What did she mean by that? Was he forge0ng something? He tried to remember.

21. A face swam up at him from the darkness, fist raised, no warmth in her gray eyes. “Do you really think that you can stop me from
doing anything I want to do?” she said.

22. Will screamed.

23. “No!” Lily exclaimed. “Forget that. You don’t know that yet. You don’t need it. Put it away.” She reached out to him, and pa]ed
his shoulder, and the cold face was gone.

24. The walls advanced again. Will thought he could hear the sound of them being torn down and rebuilt, compressed into one
terrible moment. “Why are you here?” he asked. “What do you want with me?”
“I’m showing you how to open the door,” she said.

25. Will looked around again, but nothing was there. “There is no door!”

26. “But when you wanted a window, you created one.” She smiled that enigmaAc smile again.

27. “I don’t know what that means! I’m stuck!”
“You have to start somewhere,” Lily said. “Look out the window.”

28. “Why? Just give me a straight answer!”
“I would,” she said, “but you have to see it for yourself.”

29. Will looked out the window and kept staring, enthralled. He could see everything from here. He could see everything that had
happened to his family, that was happening, and that would happen. He saw it so clearly that he forgot about the walls closing in.

30. He saw Winterfell as it had been in his great‐grandmother’s Ame, a simple one‐story shack. He saw his great‐grandmother looking
for work, trying to ignore the sAnk of the room and her growing worry that this was all there would ever be.

31. He saw his grandmother smashing dollhouses and kicking over trashcans, wanAng so much more than this cold world could ever
give her.

32. He saw Uncle Brandon at his podium, delivering a Arade against the laws that kept people down instead of raising them up.

33. He saw his father talking to the mirror to get the last skill point before he would become the first one since Sansa to become
permaplat. When Mal felt Will watching, he gave him an extra large smile, knowledge in his eyes.

34. He looked into the present and saw his house as it was now. He saw his mother si0ng alone at the chessboard, wincing with
every piece she moved forward as the world screamed around her.

35. He saw his uncle standing by the phone, filled with a grief he could not voice.

36. He saw Jan standing in the front room, confident in what she had achieved.

37. A storm gathered around them, with wind strong enough to pick someone up and blow him away. But even when they stood
outside, they did not see it.

38. He looked south to the house he had rebuilt with his siblings at Oldtown.

39. He saw Sabriel raging at a world that did not listen.

40. He saw Arthur smiling as a reflex, not because he was truly happy.

41. A shadow lurked outside their house, clothed in many colors, but as cold as could be.

42. Finally, he looked into the future. He saw a woman punching and kicking something red, her eyes cold and hard as she trained for
ba]le.

43. He saw a man who raised a glass and spoke to a room full of people.

44. He saw a woman who gleamed with power as she walked into the darkness.

45. And the snow conAnued to fall, even when everything else gave way. It fell upon the forests and the rivers and smothered the
land unAl nothing could live.

46. He watched as the snowflakes grew larger than any could possibly grow, and he watched as they began to take form: first a hand,
then an arm, then a woman.

47. He looked into the eyes of winter herself, and then he cried out.

48. “Now you understand,” Lily whispered. “Now you know why your work is so important.”
“Why?” Will asked, not knowing, trapped, trapped.

49. “Because Lady Winter is not waiAng.”
Will and Lily looked at one another. The ta]oo on her forehead rippled with the terrible knowledge of what was to come.

50. There were only a few squares of floor leN now, and the gray walls would catch him before long. They rushed in like a vise.

51. He could see what his tombstone would look like once the walls crushed him. He had never been more afraid.

52. “What happens if I consider it and say no?” Will heard his own voice asking from the dining room table, far away.
His dad answered, “It’s your choice. Whatever you want.”

53. “Now, Will,” Lily said. Her voice shook. “Choose. If you don’t open that door…you’ll die.” He thought he heard her whisper,
“Please,” before she disappeared.

54. He was alone as death reached for him.

55. Will opened the door.

56. Credits
‐ Adapted from the “Bran III” chapter in A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. MarAn
‐ With some inspiraAon from “The Snow Queen” by Hans ChrisAan Andersen

57. So, happy Apocaversary to me! I never imagined that there would be a story at all, much less that it would take the twists and
spins that it’s taken over the year. I embarked on the first wriAng project I had taken on in almost two years with about 20 crappy
pictures covering almost 3 generaAons of gameplay. Now I’m starAng to remember why I liked to write in the first place, and I’m
finally starAng to get the hang of those pose boxes. Who knows what’s going to happen in the next year?
Many thanks to all the amazing new friends I’ve made through Boolprop who have helped me get on my feet!
Happy Simming! 