In her dreams, she's not on Earth.

No problems, no family, no humans. A whole realm of magic, filled with Demons just like her. There is much to learn, much to gain, and much to see.

Though Charvi has not been able to visit her sanctuary lately, it still invades her slumber, and so she savors it. Even if there aren't really dragonflies the size of cats whizzing past her head, or beings of all shapes, sizes, colours and breeds roaming past her, a dream is better than Earth.

Speaking of Earth, she can hear the wretched place calling to her in the form of hushed voices. Her heightened Demon hearing can pick up even the smallest of sounds, such as two girls trying to rescue their friend from underneath the man she fell asleep with.

Oh, that's right, I was at a party.

As she comes to wake, the flashy penthouse she has spent the night drinking and smoking weed in comes into view. The morning sun streams through the curtains and onto the mess of bodies, bottles and garbage strewn all over the floor. Charvi, however, occupies the bed. She lifts her head from the pillow to look behind her.

Her two friends she had come to the party with were cuddled up to the penthouse owner on the other side of the bed. If she were a human perhaps she would have succumbed to him, but she's not. No one at the party piqued her interest.

People were starting to leave. Not feeling the effects of anything from the previous night, Charvi gets up with ease. She was wearing a gold cocktail dress and dainty heels- still, so that's good. Her bag had not come away from its place slung over her shoulder. Her coat remains on the rack by the door. 

As she nears the two girls who woke her up, the man they were trying not to disturb suddenly rockets up, grabbing their distressed friend even tighter.

"Where the fuck do you think you're taking her?" He yells. Charvi vaguely remembers him causing a scene last night.

He shoves the girl off of him and onto the sofa they had been sleeping on before jumping up and standing over the two shaking women.

As Charvi passes, she balls her fists and without stopping, socks him across the face. He spins with the force and collapses onto the end of the sofa at the girl's feet.

By the time they had processed what just happened and turned to thank Charvi, she was already in the elevator ordering an Uber on her phone.

Before stepping out into the Metropolis air, she puts her coat on. The Winter chill had set into the city early on, but seemed to be dissipating fast. How can anyone expect the weather to be normal anyway, when some meta is always messing with it?

She waits until the blue sedan promised to her on her app pulls up out the front. The lift opens as other people start to escape the aftermath of a wild party. Charvi quickly makes her escape into the lightly snowed streets.

Though it had seemed early to her it must have been late morning, as the city was bustling more than usual. Sure enough when she checks her phone it's already 10.

Each street is messier than the last, but it was to be expected-  yesterday was Christmas. It was the first time she had not celebrated it in her childhood neighborhood of Hell's Gate, opting instead for a fancier party in a penthouse where many producers were supposed to be present. 

She's not personally interested in meeting any of them, but she did it for the music and her team. 

Up until the age of eleven, Charvi, her brother Mathis and parents Osairus and Kaiann lived in Hell's Gate; the shittiest, poorest, most trash and puddle filled overpopulated suburb in metropolis. Notorious as Gotham's Crime Alley, the area is renowned for crime, poverty and gang violence. 

Luckily, Osairus made it big in the music industry, and at seventeen, Charvi has been living 'the good life' for the last six years.

Sort of. 

How good can life be when your parents hate you with a passion? When you live miles away from any of your real friends? When there's a power growing inside you that you're not supposed to let out?

It doesn't take long for her ride to get to the estate where she lives with her parents. She gets out at the gates and punches the code in, nodding a thanks to the driver before she enters the compound. 

Tall, modern, imposing mansions line the winding streets. Every house looks like the other apart from varying colours and features. A woman walking her fluffy little dog gives Charvi and her cocktail dress a judgmental look as they cross paths. 

"Taking your mutt for a walk little guy?" She asks, specifically to the miniature samoyed which she pets briefly in passing.

"What did you just say?" The woman cries after her. 

Charvi doesn't look back, "You heard me," then adds quietly, "bitch."

She turns right and at the end of that particular cul-de-sac sits her home.

Again, sort of. 

The room at the top of the house, far away from her parents', is her home.

In the garden their maintenance man is working on the snow-dusted lawn, so the garage is open. Both her mother and father seem to be out, their cars gone. It doesn't matter either way; they would not spare her a glance let alone a greeting.

She gives a quick nod to the house staff before heading up stairs.

On the wall above the first flight sits the family heirlooms. A glass case containing four sheathed swords. The first a dark maroon, the second a pale green, the third a sunset yellow and the last a gleaming, glowing, pearly white. 

They connect to the family secret; their true heritage of Demon blood.

When she reaches the top floor landing, a chill runs down her spine. The hallway is dark and silent, but a heavy, familiar smell sits in the air; suave deodorant. 

It's coming from the door just before her own bedroom. His door. Her brother, Mathis.

Only, there shouldn't be any sort of smell coming from his room. No one has even slept in there in years.

Mom must have been in there, Charvi thinks to herself. 

She moves on to her room. 

The maid had been in, because the mess of clothes she had left behind before heading to the party had been put away. It must have been a surprise to find mess- Charvi hadn't been home much over the last two years, though no one ever questioned her. Kaiann and Osairus didn't even notice.

After a quick shower, she dries her hair and takes a seat at her vanity. 

She has her mother's warm golden brown skin, freckles spattered across her nose and cheeks. Kaiann, Osairus and Mathis all had steel grey eyes, striking and sharp. But Charvi was born with milky grey eyes, mysterious and cold. Sometimes they seemed silver.

Like most Demons, she is able to manipulate her appearance. She resorts to her latest hair style; a pale pink wavy bob with black roots. The white in her eyes becomes smaller and smaller, until her eyes are completely silver.

Charvi changes into her underwear, then summons her Demon-wear. She had collected them in the Demon realm, intricate pieces of clothing that don't compare to human textiles. 

She steps back and watches the manifestation of a white lacy knee-length tunic, high-necked and long-sleeved. It opens at her bare navel to reveal silk white leggings. The only shoes she has collected so far are a worn pair of heeled leather ankle boots, comfortable once they appear on.

Choosing a pair of thick white ram horns as her last accessory, jutting out from the side of her head and curling around by her ears, Charvi, (or Moonlight/Nova depending on your persuasion), is ready to enter the Demon world.

Inside her jewelry box, she removes layers of expensive pieces in velvet trays to find a green round stone at the bottom. It buzzes gently when she picks it up.

Charvi kneels down in the center of her room and closes her eyes, willing one simple request; open the gate. 

Golden, magic lines melt along the carpet of her bedroom floor, forming a large patterned circle around her. Charvi thrusts the round stone into the middle and the glow of the lines boosts greatly, creating a crescendo of whirring and crackling as a door to another dimension opens beneath her.

Boom. 

In a flash, the floor disappears and Charvi falls through, like Alice falling into the rabbit hole. That's certainly how it felt the first time.

She lands in the same position she left Earth in. Crouched to the ground. But when she opens her eyes, her carpet and mood lighting is gone, replaced with a red dirt ground and three bright suns.

The sounds of others arriving at the entrance to the Demon town of Bethlehem surround her, spurring her to stand up and move on.

In the same way human markets bustle, the Demon market is lively and moving. Stalls line the cobblestone streets under the tinted orange sky. It is morning, as it is on Earth. 

Everything is being bought and sold; food, clothes, weapons, armor, supplies, housewares, animals, magic, artefacts, jewels and much more. All sorts dash around trying to get their shopping done; great hulking, monstrous red Demons with heads shaped like arrows, arms that drag on the ground and gleaming sharp teeth; small grey Demons with pointy ears a long tail, likened to a human's imagining of a goblin; beautiful, half-naked humanoid Demons with varying rainbow skin and horn colours; Demons on all-fours covered in fur; Demons that move with an evil glint in their eye; Demon families with little children barely grown into their horns; put simply in Charvi's mind by her favourite author, an inexhaustible variety of life.

She walks for half an hour down every lane of the market square, admiring all the town has to offer, eating roasted meats and fresh fruits as she goes. How can anyone prefer Earth over this?

"Nova!" Now used to hearing her Demon name, Charvi looks over at one of her favourite clothing vendors. He most often carries clothes made for humanoids like herself. A bright and colourful tent covers the stall, which is completely strewn in clothing wherever there is room. 

"Hello, Michaelis," she greets the grey humanoid Demon, her eyes moving over many different dresses laid out on the table.

"Don't bother with those, I have something special for my most glamorous customer," he tells her, disappearing into the curtains at the back.

Michaelis is a Prairie Demon, a race dedicated to the faith of the Demonic church. Charvi looks to her left and finds a pair of female Succubi (Sex Demons) also looking over the goods. To her right, at the next store over selling spices, a stone Demon with a basket hanging from one pebble at the end of what must be his arm carefully inspects a rack.

They know what breed of Demon they are and so does everyone else.

Charvi can not relate. Though she has gone to many figures in town for help, most had no answer, or guessed at her being a glow Demon, a Succubi or a soul Demon. 

Nothing really stuck.

She could create powerful blasts, had strength, speed and invulnerability way beyond most breeds, could alter her appearance, easily seduce, drain energy and even had wings, not a common combination. 

Michaelis returns with a long, silky dress that seems magical when it moves. Charvi's eyes bulge, she loves a good dress. 

"A gown worthy of a princess, don't you think?" 

He holds it up to reveal its full beauty. She is instantly reminded of an ancient Grecian wedding dress, though no dress on Earth shimmers and shifts like the dress has its own breeze, constantly dazzling with a slight rainbow shift. The flowy dress is off the shoulder, a cape of small crystals also hanging off the gold woven neckline. 

"Michaelis, this is...the most beautiful dress I've seen in my life. I don't know if I can pull it off..."

Michaelis scoffs, "You're the only one around here who could pull anything like that off."

Charvi smiles humbly.

"How much?"

"For you my muse, nothing but a smile."

She shakes her head defiantly, "I couldn't."

Michaelis purses his painted black lips thoughtfully, muttering to himself as he thinks. His eyes suddenly brighten with an idea and he holds his finger up to Charvi before disappearing back into the tent.

He returns a moment later with a pair of soft, brown footwraps, "Buy from me the first shoes I have had in your size, and I will gift you the dress. I made it especially for you, and when people ask where you got it, you tell them Michaelis on Blue lane makes the most beautiful dresses in town. Deal?"

Charvi smiles warmly at him, "Deal."

From the small pocket inside her tunic, she takes out several rubies and pays. 

Michaelis wraps up her wares and sends her off with a promise he has more coming for her. Seeing as her breed is still not apparent and therefore neither are her specific requirements, she appreciates it deeply. 

Fianlly she reaches the last lane, just as lively as the others. She spots a sweet stall and instantly craves blood candy. 

As she takes her first step towards the tent, the wall behind it suddenly collapses in a fiery explosion. Before she can be thrown back Charvi summons her large, luscious white angel wings and beats against the force. 

When the rubble settles, she spots a purple figure standing on top of the part of the wall still upright, their body surrounded by violet, crackling electricity.  

Not far from where Charvi was standing, a crater had been made in the middle of the street, another figure trying to push themselves up inside it.

Citizens start to scream and run away from what is clearly a dangerous battle to be around.

The purple figure moves from the top of the wall down to the stalls in a blink. Charvi can see now that it's a humanoid Demon wearing clothes that can only be described as...Earthly. And heroic, to be exact.

"Where have you taken the humans, Witch Boy?" She asks, in human English, as she helps the owner of the sweets stall stand and run away. 

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Witch Boy smirks, clicking his fingers causing the rubble to rise and form great rock monsters. The small female Demon looks up at them unfazed and swipes her arm, destroying them with a single hit of purple lightning. 

Charvi can't help but laugh.

"I know you've been kidnapping Earth women with magical capabilities-" The girl dodges several large balls of technosourcery using nothing but speed, "-What I don't know is, why?"

The side to pick is obvious.

Witch Boy gives a cruel, cold smile, "That is none of your business, you abomination," he quickly raises his hands and destroys the whole wall behind her, pulling it forward and straight towards the civilians still running, or staying to watch.

Reacting purely on instinct, Charvi throws her hands out and with it, a strong, glowing energy that blasts the portion of the wall about to fall onto the nosy onlookers below her in the other direction.

Spotting a new foe, Witch Boy turns to her and hisses, baring long fangs before hurling red lightning at her. Charvi counteracts by clapping her hands together, sending a direct stream of light straight through the attack right into his chest, throwing the chaos Demon back several feet.

For a second he seems down, but his clawed hand suddenly smashes into the ground. He starts to transform as he pushes himself to his feet, growling ferally at Charvi with glowing red eyes.

He does not get far.

The sound of the punch his original opponent lands on his face echoes through the destroyed lane, followed by his body smashing into the rubble and creating the largest crater yet.

Finally Charvi can see the girl in all her glory. Dressed like an Earth hero, with black boots, pants, an armored crop hoodie, elbow pads, gloves, an eye mask and goggles perched in her vibrant purple hair, which matches the accent colour of her costume. She has a lightning insignia, but a familiar Bat symbol is also strapped to her arm.

Charvi looks around the lane and sees everyone virtually unharmed by the rubble Witch Boy pulled towards them, which is now surrounding the battle area as if it had been carefully stacked there.

She slowly descends back to the ground.

"Thanks!" The girl chirps at her brightly. She binds Witch Boy with rope, then slaps a thick metal collar around his neck, "He could have got away while I was deflecting his attack."

Her accent is pretty; Russian, Charvi thinks.

"My Demon name I don't use here, but on Earth I am known as Rapid. You?"

"Nova, here," Charvi responds, slowly approaching, "My name is Charvi."

"Oh, well, if we're using names, I'm Klavdiya."

The two shake hands with friendly smiles. 

"I'm guessing you're from Gotham?" Charvi asks, pointing to the Bat symbol.

"Yes," she smiles fondly at the logo, "And you?"

"Metropolis. Heard rumors there was a speedster in Gotham."

Klavdiya winks, "Except unlike the Flashes, my speed comes from being a Demon."

Looking at her she seems human, but the longer Charvi stares as Rapid continues to frisk Witch Boy, the more a feeling of unease grows inside her.

There's something...quite unsettling about this girl.

"Do you use your powers back on Earth?"

Charvi weighs answering with the truth. But when Klavdiya looks at her with a bright, warm smile, she can't help but push the unease aside. Who smiles like that after such a battle, on such a mission?

"Uh, a few times...as Moonlight. But Metropolis isn't really short on heroes."

In truth, she and Mathis had played at being heroes when their friends were dragged into the gang wars. 

"Can never have too many heroes," Rapid responds, hoisting Witch Boy up on her shoulder with ease, "Well, within reason." She gestures to Witch Boy, "Klarion here has been kidnapping human women with magical traits, we think to use in a ritual. I'm heading over to his place now, in Limbo Town, if you'd like to see this through?"

Charvi cringes, "I'm banned from Limbo Town. Their council didn't take very well to me killing one of their members for raping a succubus."

"That was you? Nice!" Klavdiya laughs, "Well, you know, the killing part. But leave your ban with me!"

The conversation is not unusual for when two Earthlings find each other in the Demon realm. What's your name, where do you live, all normal.

The hero thing is new.

Charvi would love to go to Limbo Town and make Klarion pay for his crimes, but a Demon ban means entering where you're not supposed to be can disintegrate you.

"I'm glad to meet you, but I better get going, who knows what he's done to those poor victims," Rapid pulls down her goggles and turns to the west, where Limbo Town, another land mass is. "I hope we meet again!" She waves enthusiastically.

Despite Charvi's aversion to bubbliness, she decides she likes her.

"I hope it's soon," she tells her honestly, before Rapid dashes away in a brilliant spark of purple energy.

Looking around, she comes back to herself and realises what a mess the place has become. The goods of each stall are broken and strewn everywhere, people are confused, injured and scared.

Not wanting to get mixed up in the mess, Charvi spreads her wings and takes flight, up into the air where kites fly with the flag of Bethlehem. 

She heads back towards the portals, satisfied with her visit, and buzzing off the adrenaline of heroism.

A satisfying trip indeed.