I gasped as I awoke, my body jolting upright in the stark reality of my small seaside house. The cove outside my window was bathed in the soft light of dawn, and the world I had just experienced felt like a distant memory, fading rapidly as consciousness returned.
The beauty of the coral garden and the eerie stillness of the mermen were no more than a dream, a vivid and haunting reverie that now dissolved like mist in the morning sun. The sensation of the warm ocean water and the cold touch of the mermen's spears were just echoes of a fantastical world that had never truly existed.
As I tried to steady my racing heart, I couldn't help but feel a profound sense of relief mixed with disappointment. The eerie unease of the seaside town, the underwater enchantment, and the mermen's enigmatic presence all faded away, leaving me in the simple, mundane reality of my small coastal dwelling.
