Sermon of the Ocean

(This is a short story which, like many of the things I write, came to me based on the last fragmentary images of a dream. As some background, I used to be horrified of sea anemones. I'd scream and burst into tears at the sight of something that even resembled them, and to this day I have no idea why. It was simply a fear as natural to me as standing on the edge of a cliff or seeing an oncoming car cross over into your lane. I'm not sure I was ever afraid of the ocean, but contemplating depth like what exists underwater was just impossible for me. It may have been a defense mechanism, but as a little kid, I'd prod myself with these fear fantasies as though I craved the terror on some level. As I lay in bed, I'd imagine being surrounded in blackness and things approaching out of the darkness as I forgot what direction was up and which was down. This is probably more a megalohydrothalassophobia post, but I hope some of you at least appreciate this near forgotten vestige of my childhood which inexplicably surfaced while I slept.)The Sermon of the Ocean:Then did God the Traveler bestow upon the blue sphere with its endless oceans, great beasts as large as mountains and deep as dreams until the whole of the world did rage with life of scales, fins, teeth, and tendrils. God deemed them worthy for they were righteous that they fought each other only for sustenance, wise that they never fought those stronger than they, and strong that they won those that fights they began.But then did God the Traveler bestow upon the blue sphere with its endless oceans, islands of brown earth and green trees so that the oceans were no longer endless, and upon these small islands did God fashion from his hands Man, giving them his second greatest gift - that of Reason so that they may one day become Travelers too. But Man was wicked that they fought one another for no reason, foolish that they fought the great beasts of the sea, and weak that they could never win those fights they began.And God did say unto Man, "You who have thrice sinned against me to be wicked, foolish, and weak deserve no longer my grace nor my watchful gaze, and I shall never open the sea to you, nor shall I smite the great beasts of the sea that you may gather their bones."Then God the Traveler did depart the blue sphere as he left Man to fight himself and the great beasts of the sea, though one hundred of him would die for ever beast he slew, and for every hundred taken by the beasts another hundred would be taken by the sea, yet before God departed he granted Man one final mercy by his greatest gift - that of Fear, that if Man should think to leave the shores of his small islands among the great, once endless oceans filled with its great beasts of scales, fins, teeth, and tendrils, large as mountains and deep as dreams, he may think twice lest he travel too far.