What are the Asrai?

A furtive water spirit, the Asrai is largely unknowable. They live in the unexplored depths of lakes, seas and oceans. Quite possibly we’d never have known of their quiet existence, but once every 100 years or so they come and join us at the surface. They breathe our air and soak up the rays of a full moon for just one clear night. It is in the silvery rays of light the Asrai are able to grow. When the light of the sun begins to tint the sky, they know it is time to return home. If they are unable to dive back into the depths, the sunlight will meet them with an untimely end.

Their bodies tend to be quite small, less than four feet tall, or quite tall and whisper thin. As in all things, they do vary in appearance, but their skin is typically very light, a white which appears nearly translucent in the moonlight. Their hair is usually very long and in varying dark shades of green. Their long toes differ from ours with thin webbing stretching between the digits. Otherwise, their forms are incredibly similar to ours when they leave the water.

Even the Asrai need to grow. Unable to do so without the energy absorbed from the moon’s rays, every century they make a dangerous journey to the surface. Most are able to visit safely and unharmed. Some may even walk among us for a night before returning to the water. With bodies similar to our own, but just different enough to lend an exotic beauty, the Asrai sometimes find themselves in mortal danger. The fisherman’s net is perhaps the most dangerous human invention. Remaining near the surface, they will occasionally find themselves ensnared in a fishing net.

One night, not too long ago, an experienced fisherman pulled an Asrai onto his boat and believed it to be his good fortune. Meaning to bring this stunning fairy woman back home and perhaps marry her, or benefit financially from his discovery, he left her tangled in his nets.

Rowing back, he turned a deaf ear to her pleas to be released back to the water. As daylight pushed it’s way across the sky, she complained of the burning sun, and so he covered her with weeds from the lake. Her voice slowly lost its strength and by the time he’d reached the shore she was quiet. Believing her finally resigned to the fate he had set for her, the fisherman thought nothing of the silence until he moved aside the plants and fishing net. His fingers brushed against what felt like a large bubble which burst at his gentle touch. His incredible find was gone and nothing beyond a large puddle sloshing at the bottom of his boat was left of her. For you see, if an Asrai is unable to escape the rays of the sun, they cannot survive. Their bodies dissolve, ultimately returning them to the home they’d so recently left.