The music stopped playing; there would have been a sheer silence in the dance studio, if not for Jongin's shameless effort to get his steady breathing back.

“Breathe,” he repeated to himself over and over again.

The guy plopped down onto the ground, his chest heaving dangerously up and down. He shut his eyes tightly and concentrated on his respiration. All Jongin could hear was blood rushing through his entire body. He felt as if his head was going to explode any moment from all the pounding.

He thought of how miserable he must have looked, trying so hard to achieve his goals but failing. Jongin was struggling with a new dance routine for the annual New Year's showcase at his academy. As probably the most promising student, he was expected to perform excellently. The young man himself desired to shine like never before, since it was his last year at the school. But he just could not come up with any good moves. Actually, he’s found it hard to do that on his own for the past seven months. He had not been the same since his whole family had passed away. The moment Jongin woke up in a hospital bed and was told that he was the only survivor of the lethal fire, which took his parents and brother's lives, was the moment eternal sadness fell upon him. The guy craved for release, he did not want to keep the rotting emotions inside. But things did not go the way he wanted. The grief was suppressed deep inside of the man and not even dance could help him.

Jongin was called back to reality by a sudden stillness in both the air and his lungs. Everything stopped and strange noises started creeping up in his mind. At first, the dancer could not recognize them; but then he realized how familiar they actually were. Somewhere in the distance a soft piano melody was being played, echoing more through Jongin's body rather than the whole room. The sound of water leaking from a rusted pipe sharply impeded the dreamy melody. Jongin winced at the unpleasant sound but stayed on the floor, his eyes still closed. He was well aware of the fact that it was Ares calling him.

“Giving up already?” the mocking tone of the evil spirit pierced the room and it immediately felt stuffy. “Honestly speaking, I wouldn't expect more from you.”

Jongin tried to sit up but a feeling of invisible force pinning him down to the floor prevented him from doing what he wanted. The guy heaved a loud sigh from the unexpected impact, but could not close his mouth anymore. It felt like someone, or rather someone’s ghostly fingers, were playing with his lips, keeping them far apart and it hurt.

The dancer was somewhat used to the tricks of Ares, but he had never experienced physical pain. When the young man felt freezing breath invading his mouth and going down his throat, he thought that he had lost his mind completely. He started choking and tried to move again, but the force on top of him could still be felt. Jongin could hear people's sneering laughs, created by the Devil. Thankfully, they were interrupted by a soft voice, whispering into the human's right ear:

“When you're lying on the ground just remember to breathe...”

These simple words of encouragement were powerful enough to give Jongin the so needed strength. Finally, he was able to open his eyes and take a deep, deep breath. The icy feeling that had just reached his lungs was replaced with fresh air. Now, Jongin was able not only to sit up, but to stand on his feet, too. Only then it hit him that the second voice he heard belonged to none other than Helios. Whenever Ares decided to play games on Jongin's soul and life, the good spirit came and helped the human.

“Why mus