Týr felt dizzy.
He grabbed onto a stone pillar, trying to clear his thoughts. "Three points of light... pregnant... and triplets?"
He suddenly looked up.
"Is this some remnant of the Norse world? Some... existence being reborn with you as the host?"
"I don't know!" Baldr was nearly in tears.
"Týr, I'm scared. What is this? What am I supposed to do? How can a male god be pregnant? What will happen when they're born? I haven't even dared to tell Höðr and Nanna. If they found out, they would—"
"Go insane," Týr finished, rubbing his brow.
"Yes. I can imagine."
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down and analyze. "This issue is beyond our understanding. We need to find someone who knows."
"Who? Who in the Underworld would know how a male god gives birth?"
"Hades," Týr said firmly.
"He is the lord of the Underworld. He absorbed the remnants of the Norse world and personally managed the rebirth of the World Tree. If this matter is at all connected to the New World Tree, he must know something."
Baldr hesitated. "But... it's so embarrassing. Asking Hades for advice on getting pregnant and having children..."
"It's better than being afraid alone," Týr grasped his shoulder.
"Listen, Baldr, this isn't your fault. Whatever happens, we'll face it together."
Baldr looked at the certainty in Týr's single eye and felt a comfort he hadn't known in a long time.
He nodded.
Between the thrones of Hades, Hades was listening to Thanatos's report on recent anomalies in the extraction of revenants.
Metis sat to the side, toying with a crystal ball that shimmered with wisdom in her hand.
When Týr entered with a tense Baldr in tow, both of them looked up.
"Týr, Baldr," Hades's voice was calm.
"What has happened?"
Týr stepped forward and gave a salute: "Your Majesty, we... need to ask about something very unusual."
"Speak."
Týr glanced at Baldr, who had his head lowered, fingers twisting the hem of his robe.
Týr took a deep breath and explained the situation as clearly and concisely as possible: Baldr had gone to the area near the newborn World Tree, three points of light had dissolved into his body, and he had now been diagnosed as pregnant—with triplets.
After the report, an ominous silence fell over the hall.
Hades did not respond immediately.
His deep eyes fixed on Baldr, as if penetrating his body, seeing something far deeper.
Metis set down the crystal ball and raised an eyebrow with interest.
"How intriguing," Metis spoke first. She rose, approached Baldr, and gently tapped his forehead with her index finger.
Metis sensed with her eyes closed for a moment, then opened them, her expression turning serious. "It is indeed a state of pregnancy. Three independent life fluctuations are absorbing his divine power to grow. But the way it's structured... hmm, it's strange. Not ordinary reproductive pregnancy, more like a kind of symbiosis, or perhaps a form of inheritance."
"Inheritance?" Baldr's face paled.
"Not in a derogatory sense," Metis withdrew her hand and turned to Hades.
"My dear, what do you think? You personally tended to that tree."
Hades rose from his throne, his dark robes falling silently around him.
He walked to the center of the hall and reached out to draw aside a curtain of light in the air, upon which appeared an image of the New World Tree.
Though the tree was small, it was lush and leafy, radiating a faint golden and silvery-white glow.
"The essence of the World Tree was the pillar of the Nine Realms, the intersection of fate and life," Hades's voice was low and gentle.
"I combined it with part of the origin of Narcissus, returned it to Gaia, and settled the karmic debt we owed. But ultimately, it came from another world, and even I cannot fully predict what will happen once it takes root in Chaos."
He looked at Baldr: "You said three points of light emerged from the tree and merged with your body. Describe them in detail—what did they look like?"
Baldr tried to remember: "The first was golden, very warm, like... like the spring sun. The second was silvery-white, a little cold, but very clear, like a spring under moonlight. The third was... grey. Somewhere in between, and it had a misty quality to it."
"The colors match certain characteristics." Metis seemed lost in thought.
"Gold, silver, grey... a very familiar combination." Suddenly she looked at Hades: "Could it be..."
A sharp light flashed in Hades's eyes. He waved his hand to dismiss the light curtain, clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly paced back and forth: "The lineage of Loki."
"What?" Týr and Baldr spoke in unison.
"At Ragnarök, Loki was supposed to be buried in fire along with his monstrous offspring." Hades stopped.
"But he was, after all, the god of cunning. In his final moment, he likely scattered his progeny, hiding their essences in the ashes within the deepest part of the World Tree. When the World Tree was transported by me to Chaos and given new life, these essences also awakened, seeking a suitable vessel."
Baldr felt a chill: "So I'm pregnant with... three of Loki's monster children?"
"Not fully," Metis added.
"More precisely, their 'concepts'. Fenrir's devouring and enslavement, Jörmungandr's encirclement and venom, Hel's boundary between life and death—these essences have been purified of their original tyranny and are seeking rebirth in their most primitive form."
"But why did they choose Baldr?" Týr was puzzled. "Baldr and Loki have no direct connection."
Hades looked at Baldr: "Because of your nature as the god of light. At the end of Ragnarök, you were the first major god to fall, and your death triggered a series of tragedies. But at the same time, you are the only Norse god to have been 'completely reborn' in the Underworld—not as a revenant, but reconstructed by me with the power of the Underworld. You bear both the mark of 'death' and 'rebirth', and you were once one of the key gods of the World Tree system. You are the ideal vessel for these three conceptual cores seeking new life."
Baldr covered his face, his voice muffled by his fingers: "So I'm going to... give birth to Loki's children? Three of them?"
"Strictly speaking, they are not 'Loki's children', but three new lives reborn with you as their progenitor." Metis closed her book and approached him, her voice soft.
"They will inherit the essence of those concepts, but what kind of beings they grow into depends on their environment and your influence. This is not necessarily a bad thing, Baldr. It could be a kind of reconciliation."
"Reconciliation?" Baldr lowered his hands, his eyes red.
"With the god of trickery who killed me, who killed Höðr, who destroyed Asgard?"
"Loki is dead," Týr whispered, a mixture of emotions flickering in his single eye.
"Completely destroyed in the flames of Ragnarök. These children are merely the last traces he left in the world. Perhaps... perhaps this is the final gift from the Nine Realms to you, giving you the chance to create new possibilities."
Baldr was silent.
He looked down at his still-flat abdomen, feeling the three faint but real presences within his body.
For some reason, Týr's words stirred a wave in his heart—creating new possibilities.
"Then," Baldr looked at Hades and Metis, his voice trembling but with a hint of resolve.
"What should I do? How does a... a male god give birth?"
This question plunged the hall into silence once more.
Hades and Metis exchanged glances.
This time, even the goddess of wisdom showed a rare expression of bewilderment.
"On this matter," Hades said slowly, "I have no experience."