A long time ago, in a solar system extremely far away from here. Physicists from a, we assume, long dead planet were on a quest to observe, as near as humanity’s own scientists of old could determine… Dark matter. From what we understand, the technology they wielded would have been phenomenally advanced. And, from the histories we know that they had been on this quest for an awfully long time.

However, they were determined to succeed. For if they could only understand this “substance” that we called “dark matter”, then they believed they could convert it directly to energy, and so have access to a near infinite energy source that pervaded all the useful parts of the universe.

They were correct. And were, upon succeeding, immediately proven correct.

The moment they made that first successful observation. The only such observation. Ever…

Everything changed.

That single particle of dark matter, a “substance” already half-way interdimensional, was observed. And, as with all things, the moment it was observed, it was also affected by said observation. Sadly, a change which then started propagating throughout the universe at the speed of light. Changing all other dark matter in the same way.

For the most part the altered “dark matter” still behaved the same. But with a twist. The interdimensional shift, which became the default state of dark matter in all affected regions of the universe, which for all practical purposes is everywhere. Sidled dark matter up to an infinite realm of somewhat conscious energy. It is told that they theorized that said “conscious” energy is not conscious like you or me. It seemed to only have a sort of attention. And able to maintain patterns of itself. Patterns which it turned out could theoretically be employed for any conceivable purpose.

So interesting stuff indeed.

The problem, and of course there just had to be a problem… Was that this nifty and exotic energy form was affected by Will. And that interaction was typified by an amplification of Will manifesting in physical changes. It also turned out that most lifeforms have a modicum of Will.

The biological chaos described is, frankly, hard to imagine. Imagine a pride of Lions. Coordinating as per their social instincts. However, the dominant lioness was sitting down, painstakingly grooming her cub, while the instinct to hunt was slowly rising within her due to hunger… Just as the change happened. In not much time at all, fueled by her prevailing intent, said lioness turned into a stationary monstrosity with a 20m tongue, covered in razor sharp blades, and a wicked hunger for all the flesh it could find. The alpha male of the pride was chilling underneath a tree but keeping a lazy lookout on the surroundings for any intruders. Within minutes turned into a slothful being, but with unnaturally sharp senses. Three lionesses were busy hunting, running as fast as they can after prey. Soon turned into three different, still somewhat Leonid, beings. One with large jumping legs and wicked claws. One that can run at speeds exceeding that of sound. One with a gaping maw filled with teeth that would do a T-Rex proud.

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Through their social instincts, and their natural desires to communicate information in simple lion ways, they quickly develop a telepathic hive mind. A single shared consciousness enabling them to act as one being to further the cause of survival.

A fearsome thought. Is it not?

And from there it only gets weirder, and more dangerous, as the minutes tick by. After fifteen minutes of wanton slaughter and substantial ecological domination, it runs out of easy to reach prey. As it is at this point quite a bit more intelligent than the original lions – It wonders what dirt tastes like, and in frustration takes a bite.

Of course, in no time at all the being can consume and live off dirt. And it gleefully proceeds to consume copious amounts of it. Its previous offensive capabilities swiftly shifting to territorial and bodily defense. And quite successfully so. Within minutes the being is little more than a giant, furry land urchin, but instead of relatively short spikes, it has long tongue-like tentacles bristling with large teeth, claws, and blade-like papillae. The original cub, little more than a demanding furry organ, ensconced in the center of the collective, the focus of the being’s instinctive intent.

5 minutes later it is squashed, and the remains soaked up, by a truly gargantuan, and very bouncy living ball of flesh. Which might have been the result of the merger of an entire city of the intelligent beings of that planet on the other side of the planet. Most were sleeping, but a few might have been sleepwalkers.

10 minutes later, The Ball, gets impaled and, petrified, and slowly absorbed, by a giant mineral protrusion shooting up from below a mountain it was rolling over. Which, it turns out, used to be an exceedingly rare, mildly conscious, crystal of silicon.

This is of course pure speculation. We were not there. All that we know is from the histories we discovered within ourselves. Some enjoy speculating about the things that might have occurred during that time of chaos. When very bored. As little as we understand of the abstract disciplines of those ancient alien scientists… One thing is perfectly clear.

The strangeness had no limits.