Link Shadow – First Demise

Link Shadow – First Demise is the first part of the Link Shadow works.

Chapters
The work is split into several Chapters, most of which are split up into Acts. Getting 100% completion on all Acts in a Chapter will unlock a Secret Act, which is optional. Completing all Secret Acts will unlock the Secret Chapter.

Prologue
A large group of friends in an unspecified high school are talking. One of them brings up a website that can predict the future as it happens, garnering the interest of the other friends. After school, they use their school's computers to check the website out (though the link is not displayed on-screen). All of a sudden, the computers all simultaneously crash, and the floor falls apart. With no escape, the group of thirty-two friends fall into a seemingly-endless darkness.

Chapter 1
What is known is that this Chapter is presently inspired by the Corpse Party games. So, it gets gory. There are four Acts.

Chapter 2
What is known is that this Chapter, which has seven Acts, is presently inspired by RPGs such as the Dragon Quest or Shin Megami Tensei games.

Chapter 3
What is known is that this seven-Act Chapter is currently inspired by fighting games such as Little Fighter 2, Tekken, or Street Fighter.

Chapter 4
What is known is that this four-Act Chapter's inspired (at present) by Metroidvanias such as Castlevania.

All Acts share one palace, entered from the eastern side, but the map in each Act is always altered - whether upside-down, right-side-up, flipped horizontally or vertically, or a mixture thereof.

The Secret Act's version of the palace is the true form, and is a mixture of the palaces from the four Acts.

Chapter 5
Inspired by visual novels and shoot 'em up games, this Chapter has four Acts as well.

Chapter 6
While it's presently not clear what the inspiration is for this Chapter, which has four Acts again, it has been decided that the areas here are themed either around the deepest desires of the surviving characters (or whatever would be close enough to that), or be themed around the seven deadly sins (or whichever would fit a corrupted version of a character's deepest desires).

At the end of Act 4, a massive quake will shake the world and everything will fall apart as darkness envelops the surviving friends.

Chapter 7
The idea for this Chapter, with its six Acts, is that it could be a mix of past Chapters' inspirations.

The first Act starts off with a shocking revelation: that what's happened was no dream, but truly a nightmare. The world, stripped of its illusory form, is revealed to be a digital worlds with ones and zeroes. The survivors' only chance to completely break free of this cursed world now lies upon them.

By the start of Act 2, only six friends remain (Shane, Ellen, Julie, Bloom, Lloyd, Robin).

By Act 4, Lloyd and Robin are both killed by malicious coding.

The final boss, the titular Link Shadow, is fought in Act 6.

Epilogue
Depending on the player's choices, made as early as the very first Chapter, the Epilogue changes. While some details remain unchanged, all endings require the defeat of the Link Shadow and escaping the digital world. No ending can otherwise be seen.

The start of the Epilogue
The surviving friends, having vanquished the source of power of the dangerously malicious website, come to inside of the computer room. Exhausted from their ordeals, they go home to get some sleep, returning to school the next day with some of them being wary of computers as a result of what's happened - each survivor bearing unmistakable signs of having gone through horrific events.

Positive endings
These endings are the good endings. In all endings, Shane and Ellen become an official couple.

Best possible ending
Everyone who had been killed within the digital world have been brought back to life in the real world, as though they've never entered the digital world at all. In addition, it's like the website never even existed. Only the four surviving friends - Shane, Ellen, Bloom and Julie - can remember any of the events from the digital world, however.

One evening, the survivors receive a mysterious e-mail from an address that shouldn't exist - and with it, a link to a new website. The only one who follows this link is Shane, who finds an untitled video game… that appears eerily similar to their experiences…

Negative endings
These are the bad endings. Yeah.

Eternally trapped
Unfortunately, the cycle starts anew, so the survivors have to go through everything all over again. Shane feels that there's a positive to this - they could try to save more of their friends. But at the very end… there is no Link Shadow to fight, leaving the friends forever trapped within the digital world.

Non-existence
The surviving friends discover, to their horror, that those who died within the digital world have completely ceased to exist - and nobody other than these surviving four remember them. Their families live on their lives, as though they never had the children who were killed in the digital world.

Bloom is driven to complete despair, and takes her own life by gassing herself in her own bedroom.

Ellen is diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and is completely non-responsive as well. And nobody can figure out why.

Julie resents her elder brother for what had happened, and runs away from home.

Shane drops out of high school and withdraws entirely from society.

Secret Chapter
This is unlocked by getting the best possible ending, in addition to having all Secret Acts completed.

This Chapter allows full exploration of all areas from past Chapters, and have additional optional content as well. And by using various save points, the digital world can be left or re-entered freely. Everyone, including those friends who perished in the digital world, can be used in this Chapter.

In addition, every area gets a secret, randomized dungeon, though every ten floors gets a strong boss. Every hundred floors after have a stronger version of a given boss. The final floor is floor 1000, though anyone crazy enough to go that far must have nothing better to do with their time, probably.