Chapter 130: The Death of the Ancient One

Stephen Strange found a gurney and placed the Ancient One upon it, racing toward the operating room they had used before. As he ran, he shouted for Christine Palmer. Hearing his voice from the nurses' station, Christine murmured in disbelief, "No way!" She turned to see the gurney Strange was pushing and immediately rushed over.

"It’s not fibrillation this time; it’s cardiac trauma!" Strange told her.

"Is it neurological?" Christine asked.

"Yes!" They wheeled the Ancient One into the operating room and began emergency procedures. Strange donned his surgical scrubs and gloves. However, when he picked up a scalpel, he saw his hands trembling as they always did. He looked at Nick, a former colleague standing nearby, and handed him the blade. "Nick, we need to relieve the pressure on her brain," Strange said.

Nick nodded, took the scalpel, and began the surgery. But after only a moment, the monitor began to alarm; the Ancient One’s heart had stopped. Seeing her pupils dilate, Christine realized she was failing. Watching the situation unfold, Strange had an idea. He projected his astral form and saw the Ancient One’s spirit beginning to drift away. He immediately gave chase.

"What are you doing? You’re dying!" Strange followed the Ancient One out onto the hospital balcony. "You have to go back to your body! You’re running out of time!"

"Time is relative," the Ancient One replied, looking at the lightning streaking across the sky. Time seemed to freeze for them in those few seconds. "It’s just that you haven’t fallen yet. I have spent so many years exploring the mysteries of time, gazing at all of it, but I can no longer see what lies beyond."

"I have stopped countless tragic futures," she continued. "I solve one, and another takes its place! They have all led me here, but this is where it ends."

"Do you think this is the end of your life?" Strange asked.

"Do you want to know what I saw in your future?" the Ancient One countered.

Strange hesitated before answering, "No... well, yes."

"I never foresaw your future; I only saw possibilities," she said. "You possess many fine qualities, and you are always so brilliant. It is not how much you crave success, but rather your fear of failure that drives you."

"That is exactly the character trait that made me a great surgeon," Strange replied.

"It is precisely what has kept you from true success! Your arrogance and fear still prevent you from learning the simplest and most meaningful lesson."

"What is it?" Strange asked.

"It is not about you!" she answered. "When you first came to see me, you asked how I saved Jonathan Pangborn. It wasn't me! He infused himself with dimensional energy."

"He used magic just to be able to walk?" Strange asked.

"Always. He had a choice: return to his old life or do something greater."

"So, I could have healed my hands? Returned to my old life?" Strange asked, looking at her.

"Of course, but the world would face a crisis. I loathe drawing power from the Dark Dimension, but as you know, sometimes one must break the rules to achieve the greater good."

"Mordo wouldn't see it that way," Strange said.

"Mordo is young and headstrong, which makes him inherently stubborn and unwilling to listen to reason. He needs your flexibility, just as you need his courage. Wanda, Arthur, and you—only by working together can you hope to stop Dormammu."

"But I’m not ready!" Strange insisted.

"No one is ever ready. We cannot choose our time. It is death that gives life its meaning—the knowledge that our time is short. Do you think I have lived this long because I was ready? But look at me: stretching a single moment into infinity, just so I can watch the snow..."

Strange watched as the Ancient One’s spirit turned transparent amidst the flickering light of the lightning and then vanished. The Sorcerer Supreme had departed from the world. Strange stood alone, staring blankly at the frozen moment, lost in thought.

...

In the restroom outside the operating room, Strange was washing his hands when Christine Palmer walked in, startled to see his cloak hovering in mid-air.

"Are you okay?" Christine asked, walking to his side.

Strange snapped out of his reverie, looked at her, and reached out to take her hand.

"I don't understand what's happening," Christine said.

"I know," Strange replied, stroking her face. "But I have to leave now. You once said that losing my hands wasn't the end of the world—that it could be a new chapter in my life."

"That’s right, because there are other ways to save lives," she said.

"Very difficult ways," Strange nodded. They gazed at each other deeply.

Just then, the intercom announced that Christine was needed in the ER.

"I don't want you to go," Strange said.

Christine kissed his cheek, turned away with a sigh, and left. Strange donned his cloak and used a portal to return to Kamar-Taj. He sighed at the sight of the chaotic library. Suddenly, the globe above him began to glow. Strange looked up to see a dark purple energy appearing around it, beginning to envelop the world. Two golden magical shields appeared on the globe to block the intrusion—the two remaining Sanctums—but the purple energy was the Dark Dimension.

Suddenly, one of the golden shields vanished, and the remaining one was instantly shattered by the purple energy.

"No! The Hong Kong Sanctum!" Strange exclaimed, seeing the location of the lost shield.

He ran out of the library and saw that the sky was already shrouded in purple energy. Many of the apprentices stood in the courtyard, confused and talking amongst themselves. Master Mitchell approached him. "Is this an invasion of dark evil? Where is the Sorcerer Supreme?"

"The Sorcerer Supreme has passed away," Strange said. "The Sanctums have been compromised. Dormammu is here."

"It’s over! The Earth is finished! There is no one on Earth who can stop Dormammu!" Mitchell muttered, his eyes vacant.

Strange looked at the sky smothered in purple energy, then at the frightened and lost apprentices. He made up his mind to head to the Hong Kong Sanctum and stop Dormammu.

"Leave it all to me."

Strange summoned a portal, cast one last look at Master Mitchell and the others, and stepped through, under their watchful eyes.