It was 1206 AD, and Europe's Fourth Crusade had just ended. The people of Venice had begun to settle down after their men survived their attack on Constantinople and returned home to their families. Some had decided to remain in the once Byzantine capital, but Christiano Veneziano, a young man of twenty-five, returned home to his empty mansion. During the war, his parents had both died from some mysterious disease that the doctor had called "The Black Death." The doctor had only seen a couple of cases once before. Christiano met with the doctor once he returned from the war and was told that a fortune teller had said to him that the men who returned from the war were cursed that the punishment would be the Black Death… but the doctor only joked about this and gave Christiano his condolences.

It was the evening when Christiano had just sat down from dinner when he heard a knock at his door. He thought it was strange that someone had come to his home at this hour. He got up from his table and went to the front door. One of his servants told him that they heard the knock and had yet to open the door. Christiano opened the door to see that a letter with a red, wax stamp was on the ground. He picked up the letter and looked around, wondering who had delivered this letter; surely, the stamp would tell. Christiano returned to his dinner table and opened the letter, unable to recognize the stamp. He began reading the letter. He gasped. The letter had come from one of his friends he had made during the war, Noah Belmont, from what would later become Vienna, Austria.

"I have become bedridden, my friend, and I need you to visit me right away. The season is in our favor—the kindness of late Spring—so I am hoping you may travel North in good health."

Noah's ancestors had fought during the earlier Crusades, Noah following in the tradition. He fought back-to-back with Christiano, saving his life during one battle. Christiano could not help but to accept his invitation.

He would make his way to Vienna to see his friend, taking the first steps towards his fate.