Chapter I: The Legend Begins

It’s said that the first Shrimp just appeared out of nowhere. Nobody knew whether it hatched from a little egg or was the result of a lab experiment. We’ll never know for sure because no one else was there, apart from the Shrimp. You could ask the shrimp, but it won’t be much help because it can’t remember either.

Life wasn’t great for the shrimp at first. The underwater world was just so big and empty. No matter how much the shrimp wondered about the past and the future, nothing would add meaning to its existence in the endless, Open Sea. There was nothing for the shrimp to do except swim down to the darkest depths of the sea where not a single ray of light shone through. Here, the sea floor was enshrouded in the swirling gloom and the shrimps scuttled about in a never-ending gloom. The only unusual thing about the sea floor was that it was crystal clear glass, under which you could catch a glimpse of a flooded civilisation in ruins. That’s how the days went by for the shrimp: complete solitude, darkness and uncertainty.

One day, enjoying a lunch of delicious seaweed, the Shrimp thought: “I just eat and sleep, couldn’t I do something useful? What is my purpose in life when there’s no one else around? How am I valuable? And most importantly, to whom?”. The shrimp finished its food, but still couldn't think of anything else. The thoughts engulfed its mind. But then something strange started to happen. The shrimp started to think about existence and why things were the way they were. It couldn’t work out exactly how, but afterwards, things were different. The shrimp had become self-aware. But, even though the shrimp’s life would change forever after its thought experiment, the business of surviving in the endless Open Sea was still more important. So the shrimp had to go about his life with one eye on its thoughts and the other on its next meal.