7.3 billion years ago
There was a planet before Earth existed many light years away. This planet had all the basic necessities for life, but life evolved a bit differently than on Earth. It could be because their sun was different – a Red Giant in the last cycle of its majestic life. Whether light was the catalyst for life on Earth or not is up for debate, but that was certainly the case on this distant plant. As the waning light from the Red Giant’s ancient inferno hit this lonely planet, simple lifeforms began evolving. Almost as if these is simple lifeforms could sense the frailty of their sun, they evolved faster to compensate – and more importantly, they evolved stranger.
In this tale, the first life we must know about is that of the colors. As light first hit the vast primordial sea, certain micro particles learned that at a certain angle they could reflect the most beautiful color from their Red giant. Eventually “male” particles learned that reflecting this color would attract more “female” particles and “female” particles learned that “males” reflecting this color were stronger mates. After learning how to reflect different spectra of light, these particles used light as rudimentary form of communication, entertainment and eventually community based on their symbiotic relationship with it. Fast forward a bit, these particles form something like sentience and worship their Red Giant – the entity that gives their existence meaning. As these formless sentient beings evolved they learned to manipulate their natural color and eventually form any image that could be projected with light. This of course made them incredibly skilled illusionists as they could project any image that they desired. In liquid, gas or solids they could mask their true form as they desired because actually, they have no form, they are simply sentient projections of light. With this evolutionary advantage they reigned as the dominant species on this planet for over 2 billion years. I suppose you could say they developed society, culture, technology – but I use these words loosely because as a human, we would never recognize it as such. It makes sense if you think about it – we evolved into who we are because we are upright-walking, tool-using, big-brained primates; the colors evolved from manipulated light. As an example, just as a hammer is fundamental tool to us, a reflective surfaces was perhaps the catalyst in their technological progress. But I digress – this shit gets a little stranger.
Evolution is always fair. As on Earth, no one species can maintain dominance without some competition. Throughout this 2 billion year span, one species began developing some defenses to the colors evolutionary endowment. The main advantage of the colors is their ability to shift form into literally anything, the only thing that makes them distinct is their underlying thought, intentions and sentience. The sensors were evolution’s answer to the colors. Unlike the colors, they have a physical form – I guess you could compare them to slugs, but much bigger and more sparkly. These primordial slugs started as just that but with an extensive sensory network on their skin. Eventually their sensory network grew so much it’s almost as if natural selection said “hey, let’s see what happens if we just jam every sense possible onto a slug, haha, wouldn’t that be funny?”. They sensed light of all frequencies, temperature, pressure, sound and touch. After a billion years, they sensory portfolio included electricity, magnetism and gravity. After another billion years, the sensors had some sort of cataclysmic awakening and learned to sense intentions and eventually thoughts and sentience. Now the colors had competition. You see, the colors can change form and project any images they desire with light, but they can not hide their thoughts. The sensors became the only species on this planet that could detect the colors in any form because they could sense their intentions, read their thoughts and feel their presence.
And so, two separate but extremely different beings evolved sharing in the same planet in the dying rays of the Red Giant’s light.
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