In the year 536 AD, a major global event saw the world plunged into darkness and despair. Temperatures plummeted, crops failed, people starved, and the colder climate became the perfect breeding ground for disease. Modern scholars have called 536, not just a terrible year in human history, but perhaps the worst year to ever be alive. It began the coldest decade in 2500 years and its effects were still felt over a century later. Prior to the year 536, life for the average citizen in Europe, the Middle East or Asia was already a struggle. Toiling in the fields day and night, they had to contend with almost constant warfare and disease rampaging through their villages.