Dark energy is an unknown force that is attributed to accelerating spacetime.
But what if it just seems like spacetime is stretching (the universe is expanding) because spacetime is being consumed by mass. Or even if not by mass, but the fabric sort of evaporates that gives the same effect as it stretching.
But it doesn't necessarily have a defined volume/ limit,
*Edit* - we see quantum gravity, within larger fields of gravity. This is prevalent in how we can split solutions under varying levels of acceleration. Mud from water in short times. Blood seperation under increased pressure being spun in test tubes. Fossil fuel distillation (any dissemination process)
