Marvel crosses Star Wars, and everyone attacks the galaxy

"How did you correct a C7-C8 spinal cord injury?" Strange asked in disbelief.

“Well, I didn’t correct it. He couldn’t walk. I just convinced him that he could.

Stephen tilted his head. "Didn't you say this was psychosomatic?"

"When you reconnected the severed nerve, did you heal it, or did the body heal?" Ancient One asked him.

"It's the cells," he replied, as if that was the obvious answer.

“These cells are just programmed to put themselves back together in a very specific way.

"it is good."

"What if I told you that your own body could be persuaded to put itself back together in a variety of ways?"

“…You’re talking about cellular regeneration,” the former doctor said in amazement. “It’s cutting-edge medical technology. Is that why you work here? No regulatory medical board? How experimental are your treatments exactly?”

"Very good." Gu Yi said calmly.

“So, you’ve found a way to reprogram nerve cells to repair themselves?”

“No, Mr. Strange. I know how to redirect the spirit to better heal the body.

The hope in Steven's eyes quickly disappeared, replaced by disbelief.

"The soul that heals the body?" he asked in confirmation.

"Yes."

Furuichi walked away while sipping his tea.

Not wanting to give up on his last attempt to fix himself, he tried to play the game.

"Okay. What are we going to do?

The Ancient One soon returned with a book, opening it to a series of pages showing different medical maps of the body. Examples included Chakra, Acupuncture, and MRI scans.

By the end, Steven scoffed as frustration slowly took hold of him.

“I’ve seen these in textbooks and gift shops.

Seeing his reaction, Celtic Woman taught the former doctor a lesson. “Each of these maps was drawn by someone who could see the parts but not the whole.

Stephen could only scoff while trying not to tear his hair out of his head.

"I spent my last dollar to get here, a one-way ticket, and you're talking to me about healing through faith?" Strange said, not wanting to hear her answer.

Ancient One just smiled mysteriously at the man.

"You are a person who sees the world through a keyhole," she said, to which Stephen responded with a sneer. "You have spent your whole life trying to widen that keyhole, to see more, to know more. Now, upon hearing that it can be widened in ways you cannot imagine, you reject the possibility."

"No, I reject it because I do not believe in fairy tales about chakra, energy, or the power of faith." Strange then walked over to the Ancient One, a sneer on his face. "There is no such thing as spirit! We are made of matter, nothing more. You are just another tiny, transient speck in an indifferent universe.

"You think too little of yourself," said Mr. Gu Yi.

"Oh, you thought you saw through me, did you? Well, you didn't. The former doctor then began to poke Ancient One's chest repeatedly with his fingers, hanging on every word that followed. "But I saw through you!"

Tired of this, the Ancient One decided to deal with the matter at hand.

She clamped Stephen’s arms under her and put her hands on his chest.

A split second later, the former surgeon soon had his first out-of-body experience in the most literal sense, for he was now like an astral projection staring at his physical body.

Strange's spirit could only watch over his physical body, with both Mordo and Celeste already at his side to prevent it from falling.

It took only a few seconds for both his mind and body to reconnect as the former doctor hurriedly gasped for air.

"What did you just do to me?" Strange asked, gasping.

"I pushed your soul out of your body," Ancient One explained.

“…What’s in that tea?” Stephen tried to rationalize. “Psilocybin? LSD?”

"It's just tea... with a little honey." Ancient One teased slightly.

"What just happened?"

"For a moment, you enter another dimension. A place where the soul exists separately from the body.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"To show you what you didn't know." The Ancient One said, quickly placing his thumb on the center of his forehead. "Now open up."

What he experienced next surprised and frightened him greatly.

He was flying higher and higher now, his body flailing about, screaming in terror.

"Oh my god!" Strange screamed at the top of his lungs. "This isn't real! This isn't real! This isn't—"

He froze in midair, floating above the Earth, and to his surprise he saw a butterfly fly past him.

Strange reached out and touched it, then flew forward again at high speed.

He then found himself flying through what seemed to be a vortex of every color he could and could not comprehend at the same time.

"His heart rate was getting dangerously high. That was Mordo's voice.

"Master, do you really have to go that far?

It's Celeste!

A second later, Stephen found himself sitting in a chair with Ancient One beside him, a shy smile on his face.

"He looks fine," she said teasingly.

Celeste hummed. "You look like you're having way too much fun with him."

"Bullshit."

The room around Strange stretched and flexed in ways he could not comprehend, and then he was sucked back into a psychedelic roller coaster of color and sensation.

At the same time, Ancient One's voice was as clear as day in his ears.

"Do you think you know how the world works? Do you think this physical universe is all there is?

Strange felt his entire body shatter into multiple copies of himself, each less and less like himself.

A thumping galaxy, like a large stereo, pulsating to the sound of distant chanting, pulled him in.

“What is real?

Strange flew through another vortex, feeling himself being torn apart on a cellular level only to be forced back together.

“What other mysteries are beyond the reach of your senses?

Strange flies over some world where a volcano is erupting, and he enters some kind of kaleidoscopic object.

“At the root of existence, mind and matter meet. Thought shapes reality.

He was now in a place where body parts seemed to dominate, and to his horror he saw hands coming out of his fingers while more hands were growing out of his fingers.

Before he knew it he was falling into his own eyes, hands around him began to grab him!

"This universe is just one of an infinite number. There are an infinite number of worlds. Some are benevolent and alive. Others are filled with malevolence.

Strange flies through some sort of crystalline shape and finds himself in a reality he can't even begin to describe.

“In dark places, powers older than time lie greedily… and wait.

To his absolute horror, as he got closer he saw burning purple eyes glaring back at him and he began to scream, and what seemed like an endless tunnel of screams followed him.

Just as he left the realm, Strange found himself floating in an endless universe, immersed in sudden happiness.

“Who are you, Mr. Strange, in this vast multiverse?

After floating aimlessly in the void for a while, color filled his vision again. He was violently pulled back to Kamar-Taj.

As he passed through another tunnel to Earth, shaking and babbling incoherently, he saw Kamar-Taj approaching quickly.

Stephen Strange fell back in his seat and fell down a moment later. He felt his entire body trembling, every cell trembling with what he had just experienced.

"Have you ever seen anything like this in a gift shop?" Gu Yi asked as he watched the former surgeon stand up from his knees.

He looked at his shaking hands until he was staring at the Sorcerer Supreme in utter disbelief and awe.

"Teach me."