Ashe had expected Varkas to react to what he had said, but it turned out he asked a question instead. Still, Ashe did have plenty he wanted to know.

"What happened from the moment after your death?" he asked.

Varkas showed no intention of keeping secrets and replied calmly, "After the Titan Executioner killed me, my soul left my body and was drawn downward by gravity. It felt like sinking into the deep sea, drifting down without awareness. But within that deep sea were layers of filters. As my soul passed through each layer, impurities were stripped away, and only then could it continue descending. After passing through six layers, I arrived at the Continent of Time, where I drifted endlessly without even forming self-awareness.

"But seventy-two hours after my death, a drop of blood within my soul began to erupt and spread. It bound me and simultaneously awakened my consciousness."

Varkas pulled open her black robe, revealing a blood lotus on her collarbone. For some reason, the blood lotus gave Ashe the impression not of a tattoo, but of something that had bloomed from within her body, resembling what Harvey had described to him many times as a corpse spot.

"And then I became the Tomb Keeper Commander."

Ashe blinked. "Wait. Where did that drop of blood in your soul come from? Why would there be blood in a soul?"

"I don't...