"I'm sure, to an extent, that's true, but the force that holds one's feet upon the ground is the same, regardless of where that ground might spring from, yes? Fire burns, water steams or freezes depending on temperature, the earth quakes as its layers shift, electricity arcs from cloud to cloud to ground, blah blah blah." He waves a hand to ward away his continuing examples.

"Seconds become minutes, which in turn become hours, days, months, years. Surely you follow." He takes another sip from the broken-handled mug Tony had given him. "Some men will never grasp mathematics. They weren't born with the capability, their minds simply won't process complex computation. It is a fact there exists a place beyond the physical, where energies exist without solid form. We call it the Fade. It is also a fact some individuals are born with the natural ability to...well, our bodies gather that energy, we store it as mana. We can use that mana to form effects in the physical world: flame, frost, wind, the movement of objects. Those movements and reactions occur in nature, we are simply able to...dictate their occurrence because we essentially generate the primal energies that fuel them. Stop me if I'm going too quickly."