After three long years in the Third Crusade, Dante comes home expecting warmth, reunion, and the embrace of Beatrice, the woman he loves most. Instead, his house is silent, his servants lie dead, and his father has been brutally murdered. The final blow comes when he reaches Beatrice’s room and finds her dying from a stab wound. Holding her in his arms, Dante hears her accuse him of breaking his vow of loyalty, even as he insists he never betrayed her. Her life fades, and her spirit rises toward heaven—only for Lucifer to snatch her away and drag her toward Hell’s gates.