"Welcome to the fire."

Edwin crouched down automatically, fearing a blow from from anywhere, eyes open wide as he tried to locate himself in this strange place they had thrown them into. Were he even in that marine ship anymore?

There was nothing but blackness around, yet he had the feeling that the place was large, his bare feet walking on something soft and sticky. It almost felt as...flesh? Swallowing he forced himself not to focus on the ground, knowing the Fire Spectres it would probably be dead people or something...he really didn't care to let the bastards see him being queasy about that.

"Josh? Henry? Todd? You there?" Despite whispering the question Edwin winced at the way his voice carried through the darkness.

"Yeah I-yech! What's with the ground!?" Came Josh's reply slightly behind Edwin, a squishing sound telling him the man was moving closer.

"Stop whining you cocksucker." Henry grumbled to Edwin's left, the voice shaking only slightly. "You haven't heard me complaining about your fraging smell."

"Wow...and you're supposed to be a noble on your planet?" Josh muttered, his hand coming out to prod Edwin in the side, confirming that they were close. "Your dock-workers must be the most foul-mouthed creatures in the galaxy."

Edwin chuckled at the thought even as he tried to find something out there to fix his eyes upon. "Oh shut up fucker, at least I got some balls left."

"I heard they cut them off later...wanna bet they'll enjoy that with you?"

"Why you fu-"

"Hey guys!" Edwin interrupted the bickering with a gesture, then realised the uselessness of that, they could barely see him when standing right next to him, why would they notice a gesture? "Where's Todd?"

He could feel Josh shrug. "Dunno...why do they call this 'the fire' when there's not even any light?"

On cue gouts of fire as tall as Edwin exploded from the floor, showing that Edwin was right, the floor was covered in flesh, old, rotting, flesh. Wherever the fire sprouted out the old flesh was charred, the new smell assaulting Edwin's senses. The room was large, a hundred meters in width and length, not to mention sporting a high roof. All covered in that disgusting flesh, why would they..."WAAAGH!"

Torn from the disgusting look of the large room Edwin found himself seeing a massive green beast clad in nothing but a pair of torn pants and bulging muscles come rushing at them. It was large and ape-like, bigger then them...and looked utterly fearless as it rushed at them with a raised fist. A distant memory flashed before Edwin's eyes, a strange memory...as if it wasn't his own. Yet it fired him into action.

Exchanging a look with the other two Edwin dropped into a low guard and growled: "Kill the xeno." Xeno...orc filth, death was a mercy...

It came at them, a battery ram of monstrous flesh aimed at the wall of purity ready for it.

Then the fire, and the light with it, faded away.

"What the-" Who had spoken the words was hard to tell, for Edwin suddenly found himself flying backwards as leathery skin containing what felt like pure stone struck him square in the jaw. Ignoring the feel of his back sliding into flaps of flesh he forced himself to roll with the impact, hands coming up in a defensive posture.

"Where is it?" He growled, forcing himself not to breathe too loud so as to hear enemy movement. Not that it was easy with the soft ground...

"I don't know you shi-"

CRACK!

"WAAAGH!"

Diving left Edwin kicked out blindly, and hit something with a crunching sound, a satisfying thump followed. The following cry from Henry was, Edwin had to admit, equally satisfying: "Dammit! Get this lumox off me!"

"WAAAGH!" Came the retort, followed by a meaty sound. "WAAGH!" Another meaty sound, followed by a gurgle...was it pummelling Henry!?

Jumping forth Edwin swept a fist down, only to miss and fall face first, face impacting with the leathery skin of his foe's back.

With an agility bellied by its size the orc twisted around, its left arm coming around to wrap itself around Edwin's neck, cutting off his air supply so quickly Edwin found himself twitching in shock. He tried crying for help, but all that escaped him was a pathetic: "Guh...!"

Then fire lit the place again, forcing Edwin to see the face of the beast mere inches from his own, yellowing teeth bared in a vicious grin, tepid breath washing over him. "Stuntie....die stuntie!" The words were almost comical, except they came from such a horrible beast...and Edwin could hear the sound of his neck cracking as it begun to give from the massive pressure, sudden pain paralysing him.

Then the beast's grip slackened and it whimpered, before Edwin understood what had happened it dropped him and fell to the side, clutching its back. Behind it Josh stood, a smile on his lips. "Guess what? Our blows break bones by now."

Grinning back Edwin got to his feet, hand coming up to rub his sore neck. "Really? How fascinating." Raising his foot he smirked at the beast as it begun to pull itself towards him, its legs uselessly hanging behind him. Then he stomped down on it, crushing its left arm and drawing a howl from it.

Henry snorted as he stepped up between the two of them, his face a mess of purple bruises and cuts. His foot came down straight at the beast's head, crushing it in an explosion of gore. "Filthy xeno..."

"WAAGH!" Before they could enjoy their victory the three turned at the sound, finding a new beast appear, larger then the one before them. Readying themselves the three warriors widened their stances, readying themselves to catch their foes from three sides.

Then the fire once more faded away.

"Oh crap..."

"WAAA-"

CRUNCH!

When the fire illuminated the room once more Edwin found the beast on its knees, bones sticking up from its right knee where the the leg had been broken, and a silent Todd calmly looking down at it. "Well there's the fucker!" Henry exclaimed with a cheer. "Sneaky git aren't you?"

Todd didn't reply, instead his hands came down to coil itself around the orc's neck, a pull and its head turned into a strange angle as its neck gave out.

Edwin shook his head. "We could have used that stealth with the first beast Todd...next time try to act with us." The man looked back without showing a hint of taking the words to heart, eliciting an annoyed sigh from Edwin.

"WAAGH!"

"Oh for crying out...how long will this go on!?"