The news of Emperor Selasto's self-murder rattled Emperor Jeliani. He least expected that he would take his own life rather than the life of his heir who had contravened the decree against any contacts, relationships or marriages between the two empires which he got the prince to sign. He was presiding over a meeting of the Council of Advisers when his personal bodyguard walked into the meeting hall to break the tragic news to him. What followed was a massive heart attack. He was quickly rushed to his room while the chief physician was summoned to attend to him.
For about two days, the physician battled to save the emperor's life but all his efforts came to zilch. He died of the attack, taking to his grave a guilty conscience of being responsible for the breakup of the old Diaspa Empire and the suicide of the man he robbed of his legitimate right to the throne.
The deaths of Emperor Selasto and Emperor Jeliani marked a turning point in the annals of the Caprico Region. Torn apart by the fraud committed by the Gulasi Ruling House for more than two decades, reconciliation between the two monarchs defied all known intervention strategies employed by the rulers in the region. Emperor Selasto took his animosity and disdain for his sworn enemy to his grave. Emperor Jeliani, having got the life of his eldest daughter and heir to the throne saved by the prince, softened his position and stretched forth his reconciliatory hand but Emperor Selasto responded by committing suicide, making good his "over my dead body" vow.
An emergency meeting of the Caprico Emperors' Forum was summoned to discuss the sad developments in the region. It was presided over by King Gilespa who was the most senior monarch in the axis. One of the high points of discussion was to engender reconciliation between the two empires and restore peaceful coexistence among their people. After their deliberations, a high-powered delegation was appointed to pay condolence visits to the families of the late monarchs. The team was also to be briefed about the funeral arrangements being put in place for the two rulers and report back to the Forum.
In view of the circumstances surrounding the passing of the two emperors, the two royal families agreed with the delegation that the burial ceremonies should be low-keyed. It was also agreed that the burial of Emperor Selasto should come first, to be followed by the interment of Emperor Jeliani two weeks later.
The Council of Advisers and members of the Ruling Houses of the two Empires went into series of meetings held behind closed doors. The two chief mourners, Crown Prince Ariasa and Crown Princess Salfina, were not in attendance because of the heavy traffics of sympathisers streaming in from across the region, but they were receiving briefings daily.
Emperor Selasto's burial ceremony was not quite elaborate but laden with emotions. The funeral procession to the Royal Mausoleum built after the creation of the Rambasi Empire was solemn. A large crowd of crestfallen citizens, most of them weeping uncontrollably, lined the route from the Imperial Hospital where the body had been embalmed preparatory for burial at his final resting place. He was the first member of the royal family to be buried in the tomb.
Crown Prince Ariasa struggled to come to grips with his father's tragic response to his action in the days preceding the burial ceremony. Empress Alsia was still recovering from the shock and was advised not to go through the stress of watching the entombment of the emperor's body. That was besides the grim reality of suddenly becoming a widow empress.
The Emperors' Forum was fully represented at Emperor Selasto's burial ceremony that attracted a mammoth crowd from all over the territories and his close friends from neighbouring empires and kingdoms. At the burial venue, the monarchs paid glowing tributes to him as the founder of the Rambasi Empire. He was described as a dogged fighter and a visionary ruler whose legacies would be impossible to match let alone surpass.
The burial ceremony of Emperor Jeliani followed two weeks after the interment of Emperor Selasto. The ceremony was also attended by a large number of monarchs in the region. He was buried beside his father at the Wislow Royal Cemetery. Princess Salfina, her mother and other members of the royal family were at the funeral. They had been inconsolable. In particular, the princess felt the inner guilt that she precipitated the circumstances that led to the deaths of the two emperors, even if that was the sacrifice the two monarchs had to make to end the animosity between them and restore normal relations between the people of the two domains.
Emperor Jeliani was deeply mourned by his subjects, even though many of them were not happy with the fraud that led to the unfortunate Civil War which resulted in the breakup of the old Diaspa Empire. They laid the cause at his doorstep.
After two months of mourning in the two empires, Prince Ariasa and Princess Salfina initiated a crucial meeting between the two ruling houses to look at the old decree establishing the old Diaspa Empire and fashion out a new order that would be in tune with their marriage and the future of the two empires. At the end of the deliberations that lasted for three days at the Rambasi Palace, an agreement was reached that since the Prince and the Princess were to be united in marriage, the two empires should also merge and be under a single ruling house.
The signing of the pact was witnessed by a delegation of the Emperors' Forum. The meeting also agreed that a new name should be given to the new empire. Princess Salfina came up with a fusion of the prefix and suffix of the names of the two empires… and Diabasi Empire was born! A decree was drafted to legitimise the birth of the empire.
The meeting rose with a resolution to fix a date for the marriage of Prince Ariasa and Princess Salfina, and the coronation of Prince Ariasa as the new Emperor of Diabasi Empire.
The news of the marriage of Prince Ariasa and Princess Salfina spread across the two empires like wildfire. There were spontaneous jubilations and excitements over the end of more than two decades of bitterness and bad blood in the two empires. The new development was also hailed across the Caprico Region. The Emperors' Forum was particularly pleased that the two children of the warring emperors had accomplished what all the monarchs in the region had failed to achieve.
The twin-occasion of the marriage of the prince and the princess and the coronation was low-keyed because of the deaths of their parents. All the monarchs in the region were present at the epochal occasion. The militaries of the defunct Diaspa and Rambasi Empires were brought back together under one entity, better and stronger.
It was a welcome phase in the history of the entire region and a pleasant reunion that ushered in a monarchy with a single line to the throne, culminating in the coronation of Crown Prince Ariasa as the Emperor of the new Diabasi Empire and Crown Princess Salfina as his empress.
After the coronation, Emperor Ariasa performed his first task of signing into law the decree establishing the new Diabasi Empire.