{The sea sprawls out, wild and wide, silver flickering under a sky piled with clouds, dark and restless, like they’re itching to burst. Waves hit the shore hard, growling low, a sound that don’t quit. Reverend Ezekiel Graves plants himself there, right where water meets land, robes snagging the wind, eyes blazing out to where the sea swallows the edge of everything. His voice comes, strong, rolling deep, like it’s pulled straight from the deep itself.} 

“Water’s the Almighty’s pulse, beating fiercely through this world! It pours life into cracked ground, scrubs the wicked clean, tears stone apart slow and sure. It’s His flood, holy and terrible saves you today, drowns you tomorrow! There’s no talking it down, it runs free, cuts deep, carries His will in every drop.”

{He drops to a knee, jerky, hand diving into the tide, water jumps back, skittish, like it’s afraid to touch him, leaving his fingers dry.}

“Gravedigger you slap Valkyrie on your chest, huh? Rowing them souls, oars bending, figuring your the lord of that river. But you’re scrambling, aren’t you? Fighting a current that doesn’t budge. It’s got you pinned, drags you where it wants, and you’re too stubborn to see it.”

{Graves hauls up, boots kicking wet sand, and the tide it freezes, quivers, like it knows he’s more than flesh standing there.}

“That’s the split, Valkyrie. You’re slogging through the dark, pushing dead weight against a sea that doesn’t give a damn. I don’t scrap with it I walk it! Step out, head high, and it holds me, lifts me where you’d go under quickly.”

{Clouds twist up top, storm rumbling faint and far. His voice builds, hot, alive, like a coal catching flame, spilling out fierce.}

“You’ve hacked at dirt your whole life, burying souls, leaving little scratches in the dust. Earth takes it, sure-keeps your work. Sea doesn’t play like that. Wipes it gone, gulps it down, doesn’t leave a whisper of you behind.”

{He catches his breath, ragged, eyes flashing like he’s pulling the ocean’s strength into his lungs.}

“Warzone’s closing in and no boat’s saving you! Your oars? Trash in your hands. You’ll swing, yell, but that tide’s coming steady, the cold is going to yank you down where no light cuts through.”

{Graves spins, staring the sea down, waves twitching like they’re waiting for his next breath.}

“There is no petty payback Gravedigger just the Almighty’s waters, rolling since He called them forth! The river doesn’t hear your grunting, the sea doesn’t care you’re lost and I’m His arm, raised up by His power, walking tall where the deep can’t swallow me!”

{The wind screams, waves tower, answering him. He strides forward fierce, unyielding the water surging beneath, holding him aloft, a prophet aflame}

Fade to Black