Time mostly runs on a linear basis, but there are some differing paths.
Take the former Queen of Zeal. Normally, her destiny were to raise Lavos from the ground and become it's herald, before passing into the nothingness after being defeated on the flying temple by the heroes that sought to stop the destroyer.
But this timeline? The Ruby Knife's flight into the Mammon Machine was clear and true, and did more than just transform into the soon-to-be legendary weapon the Masamune and make Lavos appear. The knife dug itself into the machine, destroying it for good. More time gates appeared, and they dragged the three Gurus, the young prince Janus, and the Queen all across time.
Zeal didn't awaken right away. But when she did, she found herself lying in a small crater in the middle of a thick green jungle. This caught her by surprise; she came from a time where the color green was used for imamate objects and a few parks that she would see when she looked outside the window. Examining herself, the Queen found herself still wearing her royal gown and still clean.
But the next two days changed all that. Branches either snagged parts of her clothes off or made her trip into the thick mud. Zeal couldn't decide if the annoying frogs or the insects were worse, but they sapped her energy and made her sick. When she finally cleared out of the place, she was bleeding from the side, her clothes were all rags, she was covered in mud, and was close to death.
Then the blonde cavewoman saved her with a bright smile.
Apparently the time for Zeal to wake up and escape the hunting grounds was enough for Ayla's time travel adventures to come to a definite end. Lavos was dead, and the time gates were all closed. Zeal was stuck in prehistory until the day she died. Zeal didn't like this one bit, and raised hell in the village everyday with something new.
Zeal hated wearing the rough and itchy animal skins for clothes.
So Ayla made a darker version of her own outfit for Zeal.
Zeal found all the thick food to be disgusting.
Recalling from what Marle mentioned, Ayla managed to make some decent meals for the former Queen.
Zeal hated the lack of technology in this time.
Ayla had secretly taken some books from Lucca's room and was able to improve the village with technology that wouldn't be available for millions of years.
Ayla risked changing the timeline all for Zeal. Zeal found herself being seduced by the cavewoman who desired the former queen after seeing her nearly naked. As Ayla was the chief, she was able to marry both Kino and Zeal without any objections. Kino hated sharing, but it made Ayla happy and he decided that was enough.
Zeal patted her round belly with a slight giggle. The first use of magic in this world's history and she was carrying her lover's child.