In the world of Terra, it had been a little over a year since Dante's disappearance.
Faelyn, Sylas, and Soren—the warlock's previous party members—were considered rebels of the church for showing insubordination to the goddess' orders.
Since the trio focused on researching the means to look for Dante, they completely ignored any direct order given by Goddess Aelara. As a result, angels, holy knights, and priests were sent to hunt them down.
Fortunately, the warlock's party was wise and powerful enough to escape from the goddess' minions while searching for the information they needed.
During their quest, they found a crucial piece of information that talked about an ancient catalyst that could be used to force open the convergence, and noticing that it wouldn't require them to kill an innocent Sacred Beast, they decided to look for it.