Walking into the stadium was very different today. It was the same location as their daily barrier mage classes, but today it was all decked out. Most of the stone seats were filled, the roar of the crowd was almost a physical thing. Some super fans were wearing the colors of their favorite player. Blue, green, yellow and red. Most were just there for the spectacle.

The stadium stage was no longer unoccupied. They had brought in the magical azad court. Apparently they set it up every four days for tournaments, but this is the first time Hugo had seen it this life.

The court was a large cube, four stories tall and made of transparent walls. The entire azad game was a marvel of magic. As contestants made their moves, each section of the game would light up in their colors. The audience could see the progression of the game, simply by watching the colors change.

Much like the harvesters out in the wilds, contestants would gain points by killing monsters. However, in this arena, only manufactured opponents existed. A combination of several different magical domains worked together to create what nature did naturally. Monsters.

The expense of creating the azad court and populating it with monsters was immense. The cost could easily cover building a new wing on the boys and girls dormitories, plus paying an extra sage to teach them. However, more students wouldn’t be as profitable as the games played here. In addition to the high ticket prices, the academy ran the betting, taking a cut of all of the action.

Hugo smiled. They would be losing money on his bet though. He was sure of it. He decided not to consider the possibility that he had changed things. No, Mia would win and that was that. Happily, he strolled down to his seat. It wasn’t an expensive one, since he had put everything he could into his bet. He just wanted to be able to see his victory in person.

A familiar face greeted him near his seat, it was Alice. He smiled. She was nice, it would make this whole evening a bit more fun. Sitting on her other side was someone else he recognized. It was Daniela. That was a bit awkward. They were in the same barrier domain class, but they hadn’t talked much after she flirted with him towards the beginning of the year.

He kept meaning to talk to her, but his anxiety kept getting in the way. Then enough time had passed that it just made things awkward. She seemed nice, but his brain kept trying to convince him that she hated him. He told himself to be more outgoing. His antisocial habits from Hugo’s poor and scarred body shouldn’t follow him to Cristain’s body.

“Hello Hugo, I am surprised to see you here,” Alice said, “I have had season passes in this seat, and I haven’t seen you before.”

“Alice, Daniela. You both look great,” Hugo said, meaning it. They were both dressed up. He wondered if he should have donned something besides standard school blue and white. Daniela was looking particularly attractive, she had done something new with hair. Hugo wondered if she was the friend that Alice said had a crush on him. He decided to flirt with her a bit today, maybe she still liked him.

Hugo answered Allice’s question by saying, “I don’t watch a lot of azad, but I figured I had to attend today. I bet a lot on the outcome, I wanted to see my win.”

“Oh, ho ho,” Alice said with a grin, “He rarely watches, but he knows enough to bet. Who are you rooting for?”

“I know Mia is going to win. Rasmus Jr is garbage, the other two are alright, but Mia is going to make a stunning sweep to win it all,” Hugo said. He had intended to wow the two girls with his memory of the azad match, but found that he didn’t remember as much as he expected. He didn’t even remember the names of the other two players.

“I hope you are prepared to lose everything you bet,” Daniela said, leaning over Alice to talk to him, “Saskia is going to take the trophy, just you watch.”

Saskia, that was her name. It started to come back to Hugo. He said, “Yes, Saskia is a good player. Her second is competent too. She might win if she was up against anyone but my pick. Mia is a superb strategist, it’s almost like she can see the future.”

A sudden idea derailed Hugo’s train of thought. Maybe Mia really could see the future. She had an uncanny way of winning at azad. Lenna told him once that she started planning a counter weeks before a matchup was announced. And her win today was only possible if she knew exactly what her opponents would do. Either she was the best strategist ever, or she had done all of this before.

Had she gained her powers the same way that he did, up on the mountain’s secondary ritual circle? They had said that the ritual had been in use for a few years at this point. Was it possible that she was a time traveler too? Perhaps someone that was traveling back to her own body instead of someone else’s. No matter what, he had to talk to her after this tournament was over.

The game started while Hugo was lost in thought. Alice and Daniela cheered as Saskia took an early lead. Just like last time, Mia ran up to the fourth floor, working on her risky azad strategy. Well it was risky for some, maybe it was a forgone conclusion for her.

“You are quiet over there, Hugo. Are you starting to regret your bet yet?” Daniela asked with a smile.

“Oh no. I am secure in my bet. Perhaps you should see if the bookie will take your bet back, I wouldn’t want you to be too sad when you lose. I would hate to see you lose that pretty smile,” Hugo said. He was trying to flirt with her, but wasn’t sure how well he was doing yet.

“I didn’t bet. Dad says that only fools and cheats gamble, and I am neither,” Daniela said playfully.

“Oh, and I must be one or the other? Well, I don’t consider myself a fool,” Hugo said, “And after this match I bet I will have you wondering if I am a cheat.”

“You wish. I am feeling a bit foolish. I bet that Saskia will win the match, without even going into overtime. When I win you have to write all of my essays for a month,” Daniela said.

Hugo smiled and said, “When I win, you will have to go on a date with me.”

Daniela turned away. Hugo immediately regretted what he had said. That was far too forward. He had been pushing himself to get out there, but now he had gone too far. He felt warm as a flush ran across his body. He was sure his face was red now.

She giggled and turned back. “It’s a bet,” she said.

And just like that, Hugo felt all better.

“Just watch the game,” Alice sighed.

“Sorry,” Hugo quietly said. He hadn’t meant to put her in the awkward position of sitting between two people who were flirting with each other.

The three of them focused back on the game. Three of the contestants were fighting construct monsters and each other. Their section of the azad court lit up with their color as they won points and expanded their territory.

Mia stayed in her spot, slowly working on her risky strategy. Hugo hadn’t really understood it the first time he saw it, but he understood it now. She was investing every point she had into an instant win option. It left her incredibly vulnerable and immobile for most of the game. A wandering monster or other contestant could take her out of the game. If she moved from that spot, she would lose the game.

The other contestants knew about this possibility, but each of them didn’t want to waste the time to knock her out of the game. If they left their battlefield on the ground floor to attack Mia on the fourth floor, they would lose time and territory. They were focusing their efforts on each other and counting on a wandering monster to take Mia out.

Hugo turned to Alice and Daniela. They were shouting with joy as Saskia gained territory. She was doing great, beating back the combined efforts of the two boys. Too bad it wasn’t going to matter.

Looking back up to the fourth floor, Hugo saw the four corners start to blink in sync. If any of the other contestants touched any one of them, Mia would lose. But if they turned solid, she would win. Will win.

“Look at the fourth floor,” Hugo said, yelling so he was heard over the roar of the crowd.

Alice and Daniela were knowledgeable fans and understood the blinking lights right away. They shouted down, trying to warn their favorite about the danger. Saskia couldn’t hear them but eventually enough of the crowd got the attention of her teammate on the edge of the game board. She alerted Saskia, and she abandoned her attack and raced up the stairs.

Hugo joined the rest of the stadium by jumping to his feet. He knew that Mia would have enough runed tablets to beat back Saskia and win the game. But it would be close. His positive self talk about Mia’s win crumbled under the real possibility of her loss. The other two contestants didn’t understand the danger and kept fighting each other on the ground floor.

Swept up in the energy of the crowd, Hugo yelled “Mia! Mia! Mia!”

Next to him, Alice and Daniela were yelling, “Saskia! Saskia!”

A few moments later, Hugo’s net worth more than doubled. A sense of relief washed through him as Mia won. He had bet everything he owned, including his weapons and gear. It would have been devastating if some random action he did changed the outcome of the match. He was so glad it hadn’t.

“I can’t believe it,” Alice said. “I can’t believe she won with that dumb strategy.”

“I knew,” Hugo couldn’t help but brag, “I knew all along.”

She narrowed her eyes and said, “Was the match fixed?”

Hugo held up his hands and laughed, “No no. Mia is just a brilliant strategist.”

“Yeah, well, whatever. Come on, Daniela, let’s go,” Alice said, still miffed.

“Bye Hugo,” Daniela said, “It was nice seeing you today.”

“Hey Daniela. How about I pick you up tomorrow at the eighth bell outside the girls' dorms,” Hugo said with a wink.

It took her a moment to remember their bet, and then she said, “You got it,” with a wink and a smile.

The two girls left the stadium with the crowd, one of them considerably happier than the other. Hugo turned and headed down to the stage. He needed to talk to Mia and figure out if she was in the same boat as him.

As he walked down the steps towards the stage, he realized he wouldn’t be able to get his conversation right now. Mia was up on the shoulders of a few people, in the middle of a celebrating crowd. He would have to wait a while before he was able to talk to her.

Instead, he walked over to the betting booth. There was a small line of people who had bet on Mia along with him. At this point he just wished that he had bet more. He turned in his betting slip and waited while they confirmed his bet. At three to one odds, his bet of three gold and eighty silver had turned into eleven gold and twenty silver. It would have been more, but the academy took their cut.

That was an enormous amount of money. More than he had ever hoped to own as a kid. The funny thing was that he needed about fifty times that much to pay off his tuition. Still, it made him happy. He secreted the money into his tunic and returned to the crowd.

They were still celebrating. Mia was back on the ground, and now she was hugging people she knew. Someone on the left side of the stage started passing out drinks to the renewed cheering of the crowd. Hugo smiled and accepted a drink himself. It seemed like he was going to be here a while.

He could just go back to his dorm room and meet up with her on a different day, but he wasn’t going to. The idea that someone else had time traveled as well, that someone else could possibly know what it was like, captured his whole attention. He couldn’t leave now.

As he partied with the other Mia fans he realized he had a bit of a problem. He had to figure out how to bring up the subject without seeming like a crazy person. He needed to come up with something better than ‘hey, are you a time traveler like me?’