Daniel Clayton gingerly pulled the synthetic fibers of his mask higher on his face. As he did, the elastic strings caught in his sun-kissed, flowing blonde locks, creating a sensation that mixed irritation with unease. The mask settled, hugging the contours of his face, and he felt a minuscule amount of security even as his eyes took in the disconcerting spectacle before him.

The room—less a lab and more an arcane menagerie—assaulted his senses. Sterile fluorescents flickered from above, casting both light and shadow in an unsettling dance over rows of metal cages. Each held a creature more unnerving than the last. A squirrel sat perched on a branch, its tail alive with crackling sparks that lit the surrounding air with an electric blue glow. Across the way, a black cat lounged lazily, its fur a forest of creeping vines that seemed to breathe in a disconcerting rhythm. In yet another enclosure, a snake's fangs exuded wisps of flame, each flicker producing a soft, sibilant hiss that intermingled with the creature's intermittent tongue flicks. It was as if the very DNA of these animals had been rewritten into something out of myth and legend—creatures of nightmare, not nature.

“What are you doing?” Daniel shouted.

"Science, my dear brother," Tim grinned, a manic glee stretching across his face. "I've revolutionized them, Daniel! Turned them into elemental avatars. The serum isn't perfect yet, but when it is—imagine the possibilities!"

Daniel recoiled, pushing Tim back. "It’s been only a year since I left. What's corrupted you?”

Tim’s face twisted in a fit of rage, his previous elation evaporating quicker than a raindrop on a summer's pavement. "We started GeneSynth together, Daniel. And you abandoned it—and me—for NexTech's cushy job offer.”

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"Our vision diverged!" Daniel’s voice rose in crescendo. "I wanted to empower animals, not turn them into—into—mythic monsters!"

"Empowerment? What could be more empowering than a squirrel manipulating minds or a rhino electrocuting poachers?" Tim argued, brandishing what looked like a sophisticated smartphone. "With the AniLink here, they’re all under my control.”

"Control?" Daniel snorted, "What if one of these beasts injures a child? What if your electric elephant demolishes a city?"

Tim smirked, tapping his device. In response, the water-logged rabbit glowed stark white before being transmuted into lines of digital code on the AniLink. "Stored and controlled," Tim beamed.

Daniel sighed in disbelief. "This tech is beyond impressive, Tim, but it's a Pandora’s Box. We should—"

"Don't touch me!" Tim shrieked as Daniel moved to put an arm around him.

Just then, chaos erupted. A deluge of water burst forth from the rabbit's cage, triggering a cascade of elemental mayhem from the other creatures. As Tim frantically tried to capture them back into digital code, his device blinked—Out of Memory.

"Oh God, not the gorilla," Tim gasped, just as an incendiary roar erupted, and a hulking gorilla crowned with flames broke free, sending them sprawling against the walls.

"We need to leave, NOW!" Daniel screamed, scrambling to his feet. He reached for Tim, but his brother was limp, unresponsive, pulseless.

Daniel collapsed beside his brother's lifeless body, a tear cutting through the soot on his cheek. "This was madness," he whispered, even as another boom resounded through the lab. The gorilla had made a hole in the wall, a gateway for the unholy menagerie to escape into the world.

As Daniel clutched his deceased brother, he knew one truth—the world had irrevocably changed, and not for the better.