It was never normal. Always extraordinary. Always an enigma.
The uses for it were beyond counting. Hardier than tungsten. More versatile than copper. In the right form, its ability to generate electricity and produce radiation were unrivaled. It's no surprise then that things moved quickly - impact, discovery, invention and production. All in rapid succession.
It took generations to notice the change - far after the great cataclysm and the rise of my elders. By then its roots had reached the far corners of the garden, and still it spread. Replicating. Infecting. Those it had use for became its shadows. The rest, it devoured.