The Inamuri was an entity from a pocket universe, in which it was the only thing in existence. Hundreds of years prior to the 24th century, a Gamma Quadrant race, the Prentara, discovered the pocket universe and utilized the entity - calling it the Inamuri - to augment their virtual reality technology. Initially, they didn't realize that the Inamuri was alive, but when they did, they immediately stopped using it, horrified that they had invaded and violated a living being.