And so you choose

[Time]

They come, lost in their own worlds. No, not really worlds, just different pockets of time. He’d plucked them all out of Time and placed them in a different stream. One by one, they pick a path, and as they do, he appears. Time is largely humanoid, strutting beside you on two legs, though a lion’s tail brushes the ground behind him and green eyes with a cat-like pupil peer at you. “I cannot go where I am sending you,” he says simply, wasting no time on introductions (no pun intended…maybe). If you do not yet know who he is, then you are fool anyway.
 
“And I cannot send you by a direct route.” Because of course, he is not supposed to go where you are going. If he were, he’d simply go himself. But She lives in a place Time cannot touch. A fixed point in time that even he cannot change, cannot manipulate, cannot go. It’s always a she, isn’t it? And it’s always love, in the end, that drives any tale worth telling. Any adventure worth having.
 
“Save her,” is all he says before disappearing just as he’d come. Without fanfare, without warning. As soon as he disappears, light glows in the distance. An exit. So you keep going, because there’s nowhere else to go but back. Though you can. You can always go back. It is a choice that so few make, but it’s always a choice for anyone but Time. Time does not go backward. It slows, it flows, and it stills. But it never goes back.
 
LEFT – Iasan, Divide, Hawke, Lucrezia, Cerva
At the end of the tunnel, wind howls. The temperature drops, colder than the winter you left behind in Beqanna. As you exit the tunnel, snow spreads out before you, rising up in front of you. You are at the base of a mountain, and there are two clear paths branching out beneath your feet. They look traveled, though by what, it’s hard to be sure. One path leads around the mountain – longer, but safer. The second path cuts through the mountain – direct, but harder. Which do you choose?
 
Choose your path around/through the mountain. Detail your trip. You must run into at least one obstacle that would make sense given the landscape you are in. That obstacle can be an animal (mythical or non), a natural disaster, whatever. Your trip ends when you reach a Stonehenge-like rock formation on the other side of the mountain.
 
CENTER – Jay’s Wing, Irisa, Argo, Briske, Rora
At the end of the tunnel, the light is almost blinding. As you exit, the sun sits high in the sky, the temperature rising, sweat breaking out on your coat. The earth beneath your feet shifts as sand does, dunes rising around you. The world is miserably hot, and in the glare of the sun it is hard to make out the paths worn by those who have come before you. But the paths are there. One leads to the west, the ground turning to a more stable, rocky terrain though the sun will be above you the whole way. One leads to the east, the ground remaining sandy and the dunes large, though with luck, as the sun sets, you’ll find a bit of shade. Which do you choose?
 
Choose your path through the desert. Detail your trip. You must run into at least one obstacle that would make sense given the landscape you are in. That obstacle can be an animal (mythical or non), a natural disaster, whatever. Your trip ends when you reach a tree-ringed oasis at sunset.
 
RIGHT – Druid, Nyxia, Teal
At the end of the tunnel, you hear the lullaby of gentle waves. The temperature is pleasant here, but the water an obvious problem. It is low tide though, and a land bridge is clearly visible right beneath the surface of the water. Partway to the island, the bridge splits right and left, dipping lower in the water. To the right, a volcano looms, smoke billowing from the top. To the left, the island turns to a dense jungle, where you know even from this distance light does not touch the ground.  Which do you choose?
 
Choose your path to the other side of the island. Detail your trip. You must run into at least one obstacle that would make sense given the landscape you are in. That obstacle can be an animal (mythical or non), a natural disaster, whatever. Your trip ends when you reach a hut on the other side of the island.
 
 
***
Blazing Sunfall, Karaugh, and October have been eliminated. For the next RL month, time will move uncontrollably around your character (effecting only your character). I.E. one moment you might speed up, talking or moving like you hit fast-forward; or it might slow down like someone put you in slow-mo; or it might just stop for you, and you freeze for a few minutes.

Please correct me if I have your character's choice wrong, and just reply to the correct prompt.
 
The 1,500 word maximum is still in effect. You have until Saturday, December 31st at 9am EST to reply.