Long ago, no one is certain when, a huge lion terrorized the countryside. Every day a villager went missing.

There was also a king who had no heirs to his throne, only a soft spoken daughter.

The king called for any brave soul to slay the beast, and that whoever succeeded would marry his daughter and become king.

Seven men answered his call, but quickly they learned that the beast was not easily felled. It's hide was thick, and it's mind was as sharp as it's fangs. It kept itself hidden in the thick brush of the forest, always evading them. One man tried to poison the beast by rubbing foul herbs onto some meat, but the beast never took it. Another dug a pit and erected spikes at the bottom, but the beast walked around it. Many other attempts were made, but all to no avail.

Finally, after six days of hunting the beast, they had cornered it in a cave. Six brave men waited at the mouth of the cave, all of them eager to strike down the monster and win the crown.

However, it was the seventh man who would become king, for he knew he could not kill the beast with a spear, or a sword, or an arrow. Instead, he placed his faith in the cleansing flame and set fire to the forest.

The beast was dead, along with the other six men, the forest would grow back eventually, and the seventh man was crowned king.

He was a cruel husband, demanding and hurtful in every way. He did not lighten his blows when his wife became with child, and thus their first baby was still born. He blamed her weakness for the death of the child and ignored her for several weeks (taking many mistresses to bed).

Distraught, the soft spoken girl wandered into the charred forest, where life was just beginning to return. She lamented her lost child and wept profusely. She thought her tears might never stop, until she heard a voice.

"Tears will not solve your problems," it said. "Tears cannot save you from that monster."

She saw before her a great dark lion, with six skulls perched in the burned branches that grew from its head, and its tail was engulfed in flame. It spoke to her, it promised to free her from her husband's tyranny and she gladly listened.

The next morning she begged her husband to walk with her in the woods. He agreed and followed her through the charred trees to the mouth of a cave.

"This is the place, is it not? The very place where that lion died?" She asked.

"Indeed it is."

"And the place where your six rivals died?"

"A necessary sacrifice," he answered.

"I would have to disagree" said the Burning Lion, and before the king could reply he struck with a mighty paw and the king's head was torn clean off.

Eventually the soft spoken queen found a new husband, and had many healthy children, and all of them knew the story of the Burning Lion.

Story is still kind of a work in progress, but you get gist of it.

Dietrich Zollinger is a descendant of the cruel king, of course his family took over Mitternacht castle many generations later during the Crusades.