Page 411 of Light Leech

“Who has the Yucatan jaguar?” I asked.

Oh. My. Zeg.

I held my mouth before I blurted out Akna’s name. “I didn’t know you could possess a Gui without a hypothalamic implant.”

“Who said I don’t have one?” She replied.

“But you just said you don’t have a Gui. Isn’t that the thing that powers–”

“Light Leeches.”

“Diama,“ Don said her name with tense camaraderie as he slung his arm around her shoulders. “Even if he is ours, I’m not sure just about how much we should talk about right now. I know you had me tell Kim that we needed to integrate him early, but–”

“He either works for us or he doesn’t.” She pushed his arm off her shoulder. “There is no sense in holding back if we want to go with him.”

“What are they?” I asked.

“Light Leeches?”

“The lesser forms of Gui. Gui are composed of pure light or what some call the anti-spectrum, while Light Leeches are the same thing that keep the bodies of Exos Sapines alive.”

“What about light souls?” I asked. “Deleon told us that those power those bodies.”

“Those souls, as he calls them, are what these leeches feed on, hence the name. Gui are complete beings, Light Leeches are husks of what could have been Gui that require a life to feed on. Once they have a soul, they can direct the host if it lacks autonomy, like the Exos Sapiens. I have the autonomy required to control mine. The combination of my light core–soul, whatever you want to call it–and adopted Light Leech is enough to power my hypothalamic implant or “Bite” as you call it. Oh yes, I’ve taken a lot of Deleon’s data on you since his passing.”

“But Gui are more powerful than Light Leeches,” an old man added.

Diama sighed, then nodded. “Correct. Gui are a complete being. Light Leeches are like the automated programs that power shacs. Without the light and programming, they are a husk of a synthetic human. Without the husk, they are but power and ideas.”

“And that is what powered the people you sent after us as assassins?”

She smiled. “That was Dear Leader Kim’s doing. He lent Light Leeches to prospective competitors, taking them from the storage that I manage.”

“Why did they mess with my head when they came for us? My Gui can’t do anything like that.”

“While your Gui isn’t incapable of such feats, they will never be as jarring as Light Leeches.”

“Why? Doesn’t that give the Light Leeches an advantage?”

“Not exactly. They are more unstable.”

“Because they lack a soul?”

She shook her head. “Because they shouldn’t exist. Light Leeches are an error in reality. They aren’t the only thing that defies existance.” She gestured to the pyramid hologram. “This is the hub of such anomalies. This pyramid and the other surrounding temples.”

“Then what anomaly has you so—“

“That is beyond your clearance.”

Don scoffed. “She doesn’t even understand it, so don’t try.”

I tried to nod, but the binding wouldn’t allow even a simple acknowledgement of understanding.

“Something that defies any science we understand,” Diama said. “Including the knowledge of Gong, Nuwa, and the deeper truths of our world.”

“Interesting,” I said.

“Yes.” Don clapped. “It really is. Now, let’s move along before Kim calls him back.”