Prologue - Where We Were Then, Where We Are Now

"Time...Space...Reality...

It's more than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibilities-where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities. Creating, in the process, worlds similar to and different from the ones already known.

I am a Watcher...My kind, for untold millennia, have been tasked with observing the infinitude of worlds, whether focused on one specific reality, or an entire cluster of realities. For the one cluster I have been assigned, it was truly, for the longest time, one of the bleakest in the entirety of infinity. Across multiple variations within this cluster, the history is virtually the same:

On the planet Earth, in the year 2000, the catastrophic event known as Second Impact turned life on the planet completely upside-down, halving the human population and wreaking incalculable damage to the world's ecosystems due to the planet being tipped slightly off of its natural axis. Fifteen years later, humankind would face a new, greater threat when unearthly creatures-codenamed 'Angels'-began attacking the fortress-city of Tokyo-3. Mankind's response came in the form of the special agency NERV and its primary weapons: the colossal biomechanical Evangelions, each piloted by a teenager bearing some emotional burden for most of their young lives.

All of this, orchestrated at the direction of a secret cabal of old, yet rich and powerful men calling themselves SEELE. Guided by the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, their goal was to carry out the so-called Human Instrumentality Project, by defeating each of the prophesized Angels not to prevent a Third Impact, but to actually bring it about on their own terms. They aimed to forcibly release the rest of humanity from their physical forms and merge the untethered souls into a gestalt being, with the twelve-man council of SEELE acting as its consciousness. To them, it was salvation, ensuring not only their own immortality, but freeing humanity from what they perceived to be an evolutionary dead end. But that is far from the truth...

On the other side of the coin flip that would determine humanity's fate is an agent of SEELE: NERV supreme commander Gendo Ikari. Consumed by the loss of his wife, Yui, when she was absorbed into the core of Evangelion Unit-01, he worked within the parameters of his 'masters' while planning and executing his own scenario for a controlled Third Impact, with more dire consequences: the elimination of all humanity but himself and Yui, whom he believed would return to him in the process. To that end, he carefully manipulated everyone in his life like pieces on a chess board-even his own son, Shinji, who he distantly molded into one who would seek his own doom willingly, especially once forced to pilot the very same Evangelion that took his mother from him.

In spite of those who would seek to uncover SEELE's goals, the tragedy is that on most of these worlds...Third Impact would occur, though neither Gendo Ikari nor SEELE would see their dark dreams come true in the ways they wanted. It would ultimately be Shinji Ikari who determines humanity's fate, usually leaving them the option to return from Instrumentality. In most worlds where this happens, so far the only two to successfully return first are Shinji and his fellow pilot, Asuka Langley Sohryu.

Whether humankind returns or not, it varies across each world I have seen in this cluster. Though I do not show it, I have never felt such sorrow in my life than I have for the people of these worlds, and because of the sacred oath of non-interference upheld by us Watchers, I am prevented from warning them of their world's dark fate. And yet, of late...a wonderous thing began to happen that drew my notice.

New worlds began to appear within this cluster, ones that broke the seemingly-endless cycle of experiencing Third Impact, or even a near-Third Impact. Worlds where light and hope proved to turn the tide against SEELE and Gendo Ikari's ambitions. On a number of these worlds, it is the advent of superhumans that is the cause. Superhumans similar to, yet different from those who have appeared in other clusters in the infinitude. And it is not just superhuman individuals, but specific ones who have caught my attention.

On these Earths, the superhumans in question consist of women and teenage girls who are either directly or peripherally involved in the battle with the Angels, and ultimately, SEELE and Gendo Ikari. From the female Evangelion pilots, to their immediate commanding officers and support teams, to even their friends and family, the manifestation of varying superpowers, or a simple change in circumstances, granted these 'superwomen' the ability to defy the seemingly intended fate for their world. As a result, these Earths are spared from experiencing both another Impact and the Human Instrumentality Project, allowing their worlds to continue living.

It is this phenomena that has slowly but surely lifted the veil of sorrow from myself. Yet while these particular worlds have successfully evaded one catastrophe, like those of the other clusters they seem to take inspiration from, the superwomen of these worlds must continue to face challenges in a seemingly never-ending battle between good and evil. It is one Earth in particular that I shall now bring my focus to specifically...for now, one year after successfully preventing Third Impact, they will soon face another dire situation that threatens the existence of their world..."