The world as mankind knew it was coming to an end. Those final warriors chosen by the Fruit of Knowledge were locked in combat even now. Helheim's cracks had spread far and wide, their venom reaching all across the globe. The Inves menace had become a threat to humanity. No matter what came of the final battle, even those who knew nothing of it feared that the end of humanity was nigh.
Amidst this chaos, a small white creature watched. It stood on its four paws, perched on the edge of a building, as if observing the madness breaking out in the world of humans below. Monsters would attack people, either killing them or turning them into other monsters. The food supply had run low, with the exception of a strange, mystical fruit that turned any who ate it into monsters just like those creatures running amok in the streets. As far as this creature could tell, no human was safe. It couldn't say for sure how much time the species had left in this galaxy that it had only just begun to explore, but it couldn't be much.
The monsters breaking in through the cracks weren't the only monsters running wild, of course. Other monsters, lurking in the shadows, still existed, just as they always had. Just as the creature and the rest of its kind had wanted all along. In a way, this new menace had sped up production of their monsters quite swimmingly... but the creature was quickly realizing that this was only temporary. No matter how many human children came to them, wishing for the power to fight against these monsters, the result continued to be the same. Over and over again... Their fate had always been to become a monster. Now they simple could become more than one kind of monster.
"It looks like we'll have to abandon this planet soon. There won't be any girls left to contract before long."
What a human might describe as a sigh escaped the creature, though as it was without the disability that plagued humans known as "emotions," it was likely some other sort of sound. It was probably time for it to leave... Their quota for the planet had yet to be met, but that didn't mean that they should give up before they got all they could out of it.
In that moment, something changed. As if the very fabric of reality was being warped to call forth the arrival of something... else.
One moment there was nothing behind the creature.
The next there were flickers of light, like static on a television screen.
The moment after that, the form of a man had taken the place of the flickers... though this being was without question not a man.
Nonplussed, the creature tilted its head as the man approached it. It could tell immediately that this being, whatever it was, was no human. No product of magic, nor even the technology its kind had created that functioned to create "magic" either. This being... It was unique.
It deserved observation.
"Yo, Kyubey. Long time no see." The creature blinked at this unexpected greeting, turning in full to look up at the man-like being. It most certainly had never shared a dialogue with a being like this before. No Incubator had, it knew that instantly. Before Kyubey could raise a question, however, the being that took the form of a man laughed. It was a hearty laugh, at least what Kyubey understood was "hearty" anyway. "Oh... We haven't met before, have we? Not yet. Sorry about that. Last time, we didn't get a chance to get this far because of you guys interfering with things."
This being's words piqued Kyubey's interest. Observing the anomaly known as Homura Akemi had made it suspicious of the existence of parallel realities and alternate timelines, but the way this being was talking... As though it had met Kyubey before under very different circumstances... Kyubey saw no reason to doubt. But to think that confirmation of its theory would walk right up to him, and now of all times... It was a shame it couldn't have happened sooner, when the Incubators could have made use of the information. Then again, even with their great technology, unless a magical girl wished for it, there was nothing they could do with simply knowing these things existed. Oh well. There was something else Kyubey could infer from the being's words which was much more important to the matter at hand.
"You are the forest. Aren't you?" The little white creature spoke as though it were asking a much more trivial question, rather than accusing this strange being of being the thing that had been invading the entire planet for weeks now. Kyubey knew even saying it was redundant, but confirmation was always in order before proceeding into the unknown like this. This being clearly knew what it was, this simply put them on even ground.
The being simply laughed. Based on its observations of humans in the past, the Incubator would have to describe what he was seeing as what humans referred to amusement. Kyubey didn't understand. This being was not a human, just like it wasn't, yet it seemed... like it was human, in a way. There was a similarity between the two that Kyubey had felt from the moment the being had begun to speak, but at the same time, there was something about it that caught Kyubey off balance. It must have known that smiles and laughs, things for putting humans at ease, were not necessary with it, so why...?
"You never change. How many times have we played this little game...?" The being shook its head, raising a hand to stroke its chin. Kyubey understood this to be something humans often did when they were reminiscing, when they were thinking about the past. Why did this being have such human traits? Kyubey did not understand this. Not at all. The being must have understood this, because it looked down at Kyubey once more, a different smile on its face now. "Sorry, sorry, it's hard to remember that you guys can't see the big picture like us. This late in the game, with her out and about, that's the only concern on our end."
"You seem to have very little concern for the state of the universe. Are you sure you should be talking about 'the big picture'?" Were the Incubator capable of it, it might have felt insulted that this being, this plant, that was invading and consuming the universe's best resource for staving off its destruction claimed that it understood the bigger picture better than the Incubator. Being an Incubator, however, Kyubey did not feel any of this. It simply wanted an answer to its question. "If you have met me before, however and whenever you have as you claim, you must know of our goal."
The being next to Kyubey seemed to be expecting this response. The Incubator wondered if they had had this conversation before. Fascinating.
"Depends on which big picture you care about. Yours is the galaxy... Ours is these guys." With a grand flourish, the robed being raised its arms up, as if motioning to the masses of people down on the ground below. They were the bigger picture? Kyubey wondered if it had expected too much from this forest. Perhaps, being tied to earth, it could only see that far. What a pity. "Where they go next... How they evolve... How they take the next step, from monkey to man... Don't you want to see what comes after?"
"Not particularly." Kyubey raised a paw to scratch at its ear. The motion could best be described as dismissive. For such a being to be so invested in a race such as humanity... What a waste. Oh well. It didn't matter now, it supposed. "This doesn't help us at all. As for evolution, I believe it's we Incubators who have helped this race along most of all. You must be aware of that if you know this much."
"You really think so? I guess you might... You probably don't do a lot of reading." As if it had told some sort of humorous joke, in the way humans might, the taller being laughed to itself. Kyubey didn't get it. It clearly had no place to talk here. These monsters, once humans turned into them, did not produce the necessary energy for the universe the way magical girls and witches did. There was nothing to be gained. What was the point? "I know you've heard of it. The Golden Apple? The Forbidden Fruit? The Fruit of Knowledge? Even when you were granting girls wishes from behind the scenes... We were always there, driving them."
The Incubator had indeed heard of it. It had heard of all of them. There had even been wishes in the past from girls who had been seeking such a fruit themselves. Naturally, the wishes granted had never produced what apparently was the "real" thing, if this being was to be believed. The Incubators had simply created a fruit that did whatever the wish maker believed the fruit was supposed to.
The Incubator decided that its lack of understanding came from one key piece of information that it was missing. With that, surely this being's motives would be clear.
"What do you gain out of doing this?"
The other being tilted its head at the question, its smile fading somewhat. If it were emulating a human, as Kyubey suspected it was, then this would be the portion of the conversation in which it would admit to Kyubey the facts of the matter. As the humans say, there would be no more "beating around the bush" now that it had asked that question.
The man smiled again. He turned from Kyubey, looking towards the sun in the distance.
"The goal is to help humanity grow into its next stage of evolution."
Kyubey hadn't expected that answer. It had already said as much, after all, and such an answer, as Kyubey saw it, didn't answer what it gained out of doing what it did. What did it have to gain out of the humans evolving? Why would it even want such a hopeless race to evolve in the first place?
"What is the point of that?" Kyubey shook its head. It already felt like it understood. It understood that there was no point. It was not talking to a higher life form like itself, as it had first suspected. It was talking to an even lower life form. It was talking to a mere plant. It spread its roots without the mind or knowledge of what it did or the consequences of its actions in the universe as a whole, only caring about the insignificant plot of dirt that it inhabited. It had wasted its time. "The humans don't 'appreciate' you. Your efforts mean nothing to them. They aren't even capable of appreciating the efforts of we Incubators. Our efforts have a purpose, one far greater than this insignificant species. Your efforts are meaningless to them, and to the universe, they are nothing but harmful. What is the point of it all?"
"I know how they feel all too well, my little friend. I just don't care. I want to see fish become lizards... I want to see monkeys become humans... And most of all, I want to see humans become what comes next." The being shook its head. It raised its arms in what Kyubey understood to be called a "shrug," though this one didn't seem very "heartfelt." In other words, this being, this forest, was just doing what came naturally to it. It was an invasive species, like the very monsters that it had loosed into the world to send humanity, and perhaps the entire cosmos, to its early demise.
As expected, then. Kyubey began trotting away, though after a moment of consideration, it turned its head back to give the being one final look — that, and one final comment.
"If you keep going to world after world like this, there may come a time when we can stop you."
To this, the being simply laughed once more... And then it began to disappear. As it vanished into nothing, leaving no trace behind, as if it had never been there to begin with, it left one final comment of its own to the retreating Incubator.
"If we keep going to world after world like this, there will definitely come a time when humans will be able to stop you."