And when the All-Father Odin returned to the golden palace, the Divine Queen Frigg looked at him with concern, but after a long silence, he sighed.
"Hel told me about Balder's impending demise."
The Divine Queen, equally versed in the arcane arts and endowed with the power of prophecy, looked at her husband's troubled visage and immediately grasped the dire implications. She couldn't help but ask in astonishment,
"You mean…"
The All-Father, who reigned supreme over the Nine Worlds and all things in the entire universe, could only remain silent at this moment, a trace of bitterness etched upon his countenance.
In the entire cosmos, apart from the wise giant who had imbibed from the well of wisdom and the All-Father himself, only the three sisters of fate and the Divine Queen Frigg could vaguely sense the looming specter of Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods, through their own powers of prescience.
And these few individuals, although deeply troubled by the coming of Ragnarok and making various efforts to try to avert that inexorable destiny, were like insects ensnared in a spider's web, the more they struggled, the deeper they became entangled…
The Divine Queen instantly understood the gravity of this revelation.
This was no longer solely about the personal safety of Balder, the god of light. If Balder's nightmares were a portent of Ragnarok, then… perhaps when Balder truly perished as foretold in the nightmares, it was to be feared that… Ragnarok would truly become inescapable.
"Is there no other recourse?"
The All-Father Odin remained silent for a long while and shook his head. Even he couldn't conceive of any solution.
And the Divine Queen could only remain silent as well, turning to gaze with worry in another direction. There, obscured by the palace, but which the Divine Queen could see directly through the obstruction, was Balder lying on the bed. His once incomparably handsome visage was now furrowed with anguish, drenched in sweat, and deeply mired in the throes of nightmares.
The Divine Queen bit her lower lip, beholding her child currently suffering such torment, and revealed a look of profound reluctance. She murmured,
"Balder, your mother will surely deliver you from this plight…"
And looking at the Divine Queen beside him, the All-Father sat upon his divine throne, silent and appearing lost in contemplation.
…
A mother fiercely protective of her child is fearsome, but what if the fiercely protective one is a goddess?
After making her resolute decision, the Divine Queen displayed a sharpness and ferocity never witnessed before. Within a matter of days, whether giants or gods, flora or mortals, all things in the world received an unyielding decree from the Divine Queen.
"All things in the universe must swear an inviolable oath here to never bring harm upon Balder, the god of light!"
Frigg's stratagem was quite simple. Since it was a matter of life and death, as long as all living beings were forbidden from harming Balder, it would suffice.
The Divine Queen's command was unprecedentedly forceful. If they were gods or giants, she would personally lead the Valkyries and the vast legions of Einherjar to their very doorsteps, with the air of annihilating them on the spot if they dared not comply. As for humans and other inanimate entities, they were compelled through an unequivocal writ to bend to the Divine Queen's will.
All living beings in the Nine Worlds received a personal command from the Divine Queen for the first time.
And naturally, this also included the Great Serpent imprisoned in the abyssal depths.
In the boundless azure firmament above the tempestuous sea, several Valkyries clad in resplendent armor rode their celestial steeds, hovering in the aether. Beside them were countless Einherjar warriors, their numbers so vast as to obscure the very heavens, their legions blotting out the sun's rays and plunging the ocean into stygian darkness.
"Great Serpent Jormungandr! By the inviolable decree of the Divine Queen, you must swear an oath here to never bring harm upon Balder, the god of light!"
The fair maiden Skadi, leading the charge, leaped forth on her steed and bellowed at the sea before her.
As she spoke, her spear and shield in hand assumed a subtly guarded stance, with the utmost wariness as if confronting a mighty adversary.
And Skadi had good reason for such vigilance. In the era when the Great Serpent ran rampant, as a Valkyrie ushering the souls of fallen warriors, she had conducted countless Einherjar and had borne witness to the Great Serpent's terrifyingly immense form that made one shudder in dread. She had an exceedingly lucid understanding of the Great Serpent's puissance. If the Great Serpent truly flew into a rage, even with the combined might of several Valkyries, who were divine beings themselves, and the power of millions of Einherjar warriors, it would likely prove arduous to subdue this Great Serpent…
And in the abyssal depths, the Great Serpent lying quiescent on the seafloor, its body shackled by countless chains, raised its head and glanced at the legion above that seemed to press down upon the very sky. Its vertical pupils seemed to glimmer with a hint of mockery.
"Skadi, Sigrun, Hildr, Gunnr, Gondul, Geirskogul… Half of the dozen or so Valkyries have graced me with their presence this time. It seems the Divine Queen Frigg holds me in quite high regard."
Although the Valkyries were typically said to number nine, there wasn't actually a fixed limit of only nine. Each one of them was a true divine being, possessing immense power, only voluntarily becoming the All-Father Odin's attendants to usher the souls of fallen warriors for him.
Since the Valkyries had manifested, it also signified that this time it wasn't solely the Divine Queen Frigg's will, but had also garnered the All-Father Odin's assent.
And if one looked further up, the Great Serpent could even discern that although the sun seemed to be serenely soaring through the sky, there was a pair of vigilant eyes boring down from above the sun, observing its every move.
If the Great Serpent made even the slightest uncanny movement, the sun would likely directly join forces with the myriad Einherjar warriors to engage it in fierce battle. And there were probably quite a few gods lurking in places beyond the Great Serpent's perception, just like this.
The All-Father and Divine Queen, who jointly reigned supreme over all things in the universe, had made their adamant will exceedingly evident at this moment. Regardless of the cost, even if it meant risking a divine war that could rend asunder the very fabric of the cosmos, they absolutely would not countenance anyone bringing harm upon Balder, the future heir to the divine throne and the god of light.
Such an iron-fisted stance startled not only the giants but even some of the gods.
The Valkyries, leading the legions of Einherjar, rampaged across the Nine Worlds, traversing the realms of the living and the dead, executing the Divine Queen's command to the letter. Wherever they went, even if there were forces of resistance, they were swiftly suppressed and crushed underfoot, stirring up no small amount of rancor.
If not for the lingering might of the four divine wars, which had forcibly brought the entire Nine Worlds to heel under the suzerainty of the Aesir, and if it were not merely a demand to swear not to harm a single god, under any other circumstances, perhaps half of the Nine Worlds would have openly rebelled by now.
Even so, there was no dearth of instances where puissant beings unwilling to bend the knee engaged in titanic clashes with the Einherjar legions.
And the Great Serpent, lying in the abyssal depths, even maliciously speculated that this might be a deliberate ploy by the All-Father and Divine Queen to test the Nine Worlds' fealty to them. If they had indeed been truly brought to heel, naturally they would obediently swear the oath this time. Those obstinate ones unwilling to swear would just be conveniently swept away on this occasion.
Of course, malicious conjecture aside, the Great Serpent, which had surreptitiously placed some eyes and ears in the divine realm of Asgard, also knew that Balder's plight of being ensnared by nightmares was indeed real. Odin and Frigg were genuinely racking their brains out of concern for the god of light Balder's wellbeing, and it wasn't some sort of machination.
"Jormungandr, what is your decision!"
Skadi, after a long silence from the Great Serpent, bellowed once more.
As she spoke, she steeled herself for the possibility of imminent battle at any moment, her beauteous azure eyes alight with vigilance. At the same time, the myriad warriors at her back had also assumed a wary stance.
A faint sense of peril gradually arose.
And after a long while, a low, unperturbed, mocking laughter echoed in Skadi's ears.
"Hehe… I acquiesce."
…
Several months later, all living beings in the heavens and on the earth had sworn inviolable oaths to Balder, vowing to never again bring him the slightest harm. And the nightmares that had haunted Balder for so long gradually receded, as if the crisis had finally been averted.
The hearts of the All-Father and Divine Queen, which had been fraught with tension for a long while, finally slowly settled.
Inside the golden palace, the god of light Balder, having regained his erstwhile glory, sat upon his divine throne, smiling as he accepted the heartfelt accolades from the gods and thanked them for their succor. The All-Father and Divine Queen sat high upon their thrones, watching the harmonious scene before them with benevolent smiles gracing their visages.
Inside the vast palace, a halcyon and joyous atmosphere pervaded.
And in the corner of the palace, behind a pillar, a lone god shrouded in shadows leaned askew against the great column, arms crossed, his back to the gods behind him who were immersed in jubilation, silent and unmoving.
His countenance was obscured in shadow, his mien indiscernible. Although in the midst of the gods' grand feast, he was enveloped in a sense of subtle detachment and solitude that was completely at odds with the festive ambience, seeming entirely out of place in the entire palace.
He simply leaned against the pillar like this, mutely listening to the laughter of the gods a mere few paces behind him. The short distance seemed to cleave them into two entirely disparate worlds.
None paid any heed to him, or perhaps it could be said that the gods were all deliberately disregarding him, ignoring this god of fire and mischief, one of the twelve chieftains who had once earned countless merits for Asgard…