Iliach was the second of the three — Suren's pair on every expedition the order had made together, the angel who went in second because Suren always went in first. The order had paired them across centuries by a small careful symmetry of disposition; Suren was the first hand, Iliach was the second, and the second always followed.
The fortress on Kolonoth was the last expedition. Iliach was the same as Suren, by the time Grandex reached the hall. The Archangel knelt beside Iliach after Suren and did with Iliach what he had done with Suren: the order's small careful warming of attention came down on the place where Iliach had once carried his name, and on the place at the order's mark where the bond had been kept. Iliach did not answer either. The flicker of Iliach was the same flicker of Suren — present at no level the order's diagnostic recognised as angel.
The chronicle's deep wound is named by their two names and Vehrun's. The Darklume Colloquy is an attempt by Kryor and Vaelor to name what the warlock did to Iliach without ending Iliach's existence. The architecture of the universe, by the colloquy's reading, was built to count two states: standing, and ascended. A third state has been opened. Iliach occupies it, and the architecture has no door for it.
