𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤

twenty-nine

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄

Kol was running.

The forest was surrounded with darkness and lightning flashed across the sky. The wind picked up and a blast of dark light swirled past his shoulder.

"Fuck," Kol cursed as he did his best to dodge. He had to get away. He spotted another vampire running as fast as he could and trying to get away from the void of darkness that swallowed everything in its path.

Things on the other side had gone from bad to worse in a short time. Everyone was confused, terrified, an above all desperate. No one wanted to get swallowed by the void. Even if they were all dead, no one wanted to find out what happened when you got swallowed by the darkness.

A young girl didn't even see it coming. On minute she had been standing near a grave and the next she had been lifted into the air by a dark tentacle that pulled her towards the black wave that was following Kol.

The girl's screams echoed around the forest, alerting others of what was coming their way.

There was another blast of dark light and Kol sank to the floor. The other vampire running close to him wasn't so lucky. He was hit right in the back. He screamed in agony and Kol watched horrified as the body disintegrated into a puff of black smoke, right before his eyes. He swallowed and pulled himself up, running once more.

He had barely started to run when he was hit.

It was like he had suddenly been thrown into a pool of lava. Kol screamed as his flesh burned and melted to the bones. He sank to his knees, tears blurring his vision as the pain viciously tore through his body.

The wave of darkness began to surround him.

Kol gasped and his entire body shook as an icy cold descended over his body. And the pain, it was like his flesh was being slowly peeled off his bones. He had never felt such excruciating pain before, not even when he died.

This is it. He thought with anguish. A memory came to him then.

A forest...

Leaves falling from the sky like rain...

Rebekah giggling as she took his hand in hers.

Nik's laughter as he led the charge.

"Wait for me!" Henrik's chubby little face as he ran after them.

Elijah always keeping a close eye on them, making sure they didn't get hurt.

Finn falling on his back as all of them tackled him to the ground.

Laughter...so much laughter...so much happiness and innocence...

Kol's last thought was of his family as the darkness began to devour him.

And then it stopped.

The pain abruptly stopped and the attack on his body ceased immediately.

Kol's eyes snapped open just in time to see a blast of white light coming towards him. He gasped as the light blinded him and blasted the dark wave of power away from his body.

The shadows always hid from the light. The darkness that had swallowed countless of others feared the light and the witches who controlled it.

Ayana, Sheila, and Emily Bennett appeared in front of him.

While Ayana cradled his trembling body like when he had been a child and in need of comfort, Sheila and Emily kept sending blasts of light towards the void, chasing it away.