"A man must know when to let it go!"
The last coherent thought of Zeph suddenly sounded to both of tree spirit as well as the Old man who was already shunned from little Spirit's resolve. They were both connected to him(Zeph), by blood and by master-artifact relation which might be the reason they heard the last thoughts of him so clearly sitting in their spirit world.
The seemingly normal words which described the heartfelt emotion and acceptance of Zeph of his fate without any grudge fell like a clap of thunder to the ears of Old man. He felt a physical shock from these random words which coincidentally was relevant to his situation also.
The tree spirit suddenly turned restless as it gathered that Zeph was beginning to lose his borrowed time. Even the remains of primal energy were beginning to wear off which were protecting his body from the boiling lava till now.