When the last remnants of the Norse world were absorbed by Hades, the origin of the World Tree and Narcissus was not completely turned into nourishment.
It was like an immortal seed, condensed into nothingness under the residual power of the [Plant] divinity.
On the throne of Chaos's Hades, Hades slowly opened his palms.
A handful of ashes lay quietly in his hand.
Within the ashes, an inconspicuous green sprout pulsed tenaciously, like a newborn heart.
Hades vanished from Hades, and the next moment he found himself on the earth of the Greek world, upon the sleeping body of Gaia, the Earth Mother Goddess.
He chose a valley with the greatest life force.
Hades knelt on one knee and dug a small pit in the fertile soil with his own hands.
His movements were gentle and solemn, not like the King of Hades in charge of death, but rather like a pious gardener.
He carefully placed the handful of ashes, bearing the last traces of Narcissus and the World Tree, along with the newly sprouted green shoot, into the earth, and then gently covered it with soil.
"Mother, from you," he spoke softly, and this voice reached the deepest depths of the earth.
"Today, it shall be returned to you."
He had received the disguise of 'Orphos' and the [Plant] divinity from Gaia, enabling him to walk in the sunlight, understanding withering and purification.
Now, he combined this power with the last life of the ancient world tree from another realm and returned it to Gaia.
This was done to repay the favor of past protection, and also to conclude the cycle of cause and effect with Gaia.
The moment the soil was covered, a strange change occurred.
That small green shoot broke through the earth at a visible speed, and it was unlike any known plant.
Its stems were silver, like starry veins, and its leaves were like compacted jadeite, with pale golden halos flowing along the veins.
The earth where it took root, and the surrounding plants, seemed infused with extraordinary life force, becoming greener, flowers blooming more vibrantly, and even the air filled with a refreshing fragrance.
Hades did nothing more, just carefully studied the plant, as if imprinting its form in his heart.
Then, his figure slowly sank into the ground, like a drop of water dissolving into the ocean, and returned to his Underworld.
In the depths of Hades, Hades made an unprecedented move.
He began to rebuild the gods who had fallen before Ragnarök.
This was not a simple resurrection, but a method akin to 'reincarnation', intertwining their souls with the laws of the world of Chaos, allowing them to exist in this new world.
Týr was the first to be reshaped.
When he quietly emerged from Hades's regeneration pool, he saw Hades on the throne of Hades and Ares beside him.
Týr felt a familiar yet unfamiliar power within his body, and a faint connection to the new world. He was silent for a moment.
The principles once upheld by the God of Justice and Oaths seemed so pale in the face of absolute power and the reality of a 'second life'.
In the end, he knelt on one knee and said quietly: "I shall obey the decree of the King of Hades."
This was an acceptance of the status quo.
Hades immediately assigned the Valkyries, who had also been transferred under his command, as a comfort from the old department for the former war god.
Baldr's body of light condensed again, but his face no longer held the radiance of its former glory.
Infinite guilt nearly crushed him.
"Because of me... If not for my death triggering the chain reaction, if not for my naivety and arrogance..."
He muttered, blaming himself for the roots of Ragnarök.
No matter how others tried to persuade him, he remained mired in self-blame.
And Hödr, the blind goddess of darkness, her 'rebirth' seemed to have completely freed her from paranoia.
Her possessiveness towards Baldr did not diminish, and she almost always followed her brother, completely ignoring Baldr's nominal wife—Nanna.
Nanna tried to care for her drowning husband, but was repeatedly met with Hödr's cold and sharp words.
A strange field of tension formed around Baldr.
As for the surviving Vanir, they accepted the fact that 'Narcissus' was Hades and their new master with surprisingly calm attitudes.
For most Vanir gods, one who could lead them to survival and grant them peace or advantage was a qualified king.
Hades had demonstrated power and wisdom surpassing Njörðr's, and had even saved them to some extent; that was enough.
Hades did not imprison these resurrected Norse gods in Hades.
He made a gesture of freedom and allowed them to leave Hades and go to the land of the Greek world.
These exotic gods, with their unique divinity, memories, and sorrows, like drops of water flowing into the sea, were quietly scattered across the boundless sky and earth.
They would need time to adapt to a new world with completely different rules, and their existence would inevitably bring unpredictable variables to the Greek world.
Why did Poros inexplicably become stronger?
The most striking among them was Freyja's approach.
She had managed to save a part of her brother Freyr's soul that had escaped in his final moments.
However, this goddess of love and beauty, perhaps to atone for regrets or to seek the ultimate connection, made a shocking decision—she did not seek to reshape Freyr's divine body, but carefully introduced Freyr's weak and pure soul into her own divine body and conceived it in her womb.
"Then we shall never be parted, my dear brother."
Freyja caressed her lower abdomen, with a slight complexity and tenderness, even a somewhat mischievous smile on her face.
Freyr would be 'resurrected' in an unprecedented way, becoming her 'heir' by blood.
The ethical entanglements and stories that might arise in the future could only unfold with the passage of time.
Hades observed all of this.
He regarded these resurrected gods as 'specimens' for observing the integration of another world's laws with his native world, and also as chess pieces that might be used in the future.
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