is this a new series.... someone explain?

Yes, it's a short web-only series that premieres a new episode every Monday. They follow the original Kol's backstory in the early 1900s and the events in each episode are brought up on that night's episode of The Originals. You can watch the first three episodes here: http://www.cwtv.com/thecw/theawakening/?play=2a782e09-1791-4575-af67-2 6b4d3ea7b06

It's a four part webseries that's like 3 minutes each. They took it off the website, I had to watch them on youtube. :/ Even though they're interesting, they're too short. It shows How Kol got the diamond and the witches got trapped We saw the other side of it on the show. It was a neat concept!