The dead,
they sigh to me.
They tell me to seek a warrior...
...more monster than man.
And only he can help me save my people.
Your uncle's a shaman of great power.
He's hiding something.
Mehe, I loved Father as much as you,
but he did not have Uncle's strength.
You call it strength.
Get away from them! He wants to sacrifice our children!
You should've killed me.
There is a boy held captive by three sisters,...
powerful witches. Find this boy.
You see, he knows the name of the one who broke the world.
- No! No! - Tell her, boy.
No! Mehe, they're killing me!
- Stop! What are you doing? - He's about to admit it.
He knows who broke the world; the dead told me.
- Why does he deny it? - Maybe the dead lied.
It thinks you're going to help it.
You want to believe that there is good in everyone.
Good people usually die badly - look at your father.
Fuck.
You're all going to die.
- Lay hands on it with us. - I'm not touching it.
- Is that all you care about -
- yourself? - Yes.
It will dig into your mind, but don't lie to it.
If you want to find its true name, only speak the truth.
- Understand? - Not really.
Try not to die.
You were going to leave me here.
I was going to abandon you. Yes, I am a selfish man.
I'm trying. I promise - I'll never leave you alone.
- What is your tribe?
Maiki! We are Maiki.
The Maiki are creatures who serve Whiro.
So it's not just the dead we fight, but a god too.
- Who broke the world? - It was my father,
Te Kaiporangi Turoa.
Did you know that it was my father who broke the world?
It's your destiny to heal the world
and cut that man's throat and offer his blood to the gods
for what he did to me, for what he did to us.
Uncle.
What is it?
What's happened?
They came through the walls.
And we sealed it.
Using the ancient paths through the Earth,...
secret and known only to me,
shown to me by my father and his father before - father to son,
and only I know.
So tell us before they return.
Release me and I'll show you.
- If he can help. - After what he did?
Well, I won't help you, then.
They're your people too.
But you won't let me lead them.
- Well,...
let the youth prove their worth.
Let's see how certain you are when the dead come again.
Because there are many tunnels like the one they used,...
and they all lead right here,
boy.
Hine.
Are you coming?
You, me and the girl?
What will you do, wait for the dead to come to feast on you?
There's nothing for me here.
The sacred tree is dying.
The Earth itself is poisoned. I feel it.
A war has begun.
What war?
Between Tane, god of the forest,
and his brother Whiro, lord of the underworld,
as it was when the Earth was born from the darkness
into light.
You heard what the boy said.
He said his father broke the world, not the gods.
But on whose instructions?
Well, I'll make them undo it,
and they can feast on my excrement.
Leave these lands before night.
I'll warn you a final time -
don't go to my father's pa. You won't like what you find there.
- Go well, boy.
I thought you hated him.
It's going to take days
to get around these maggot-infested lands.
We've seen some things, you and I. Haven't we?
I've said some things, and I can see that you think well of me.
Would you stop talking? I'm trying to think.
Just trying to be nice.
We're not going to the pa; we are going to my tribe.
Back to those shit-eating caves? What for?
To my people. After what Hine told us,
I need to make sure that they're all right.
And we're going to make camp for the night.
We are not going back - we are going to the pa.
I am - you can come or not. I don't care.
Liar.
- What? - You care.
Do you think I would... with you?
Is that what you thought?
I was trying to be gentle. I've seen the way you look at me.
- I look at dogs the same way. - So do I.
Now, Hine, she's more my taste.
- Well, fuckin' mine too. - Well, go! Good riddance!
Boil your head!
- You boil your head.
You saw it - I'm trying to save everything,
and she just walks away. I'm the noble one, not her.
I gave her every chance, and she's as stubborn as a rock.
She thinks she knows everything.
Well, this time, she can live with the consequences.
Fuck!
- Argh!
- Come on, you dogs!
There's better eating down here.
Fuck you, Waka!
You could at least say thank you.
For abandoning me?
- You walked away. - I could've died. Did you care?
All you care about is yourself.
I came back.
So you can feel guilt. I'm truly surprised.
I've no food. This is miserable.
Miserable.
Here.
You did come back.
- Thank you. - Finally.
Time to rest.
Fuck it.
Is that any way to talk to your mother?
It's one way. What is it now?
Can't a man sleep in peace?
You dead things nag me all the time.
Up. Time to train.
You've become lazy, boy.
You were never perfect.
Once you were the greatest fighter our land had ever seen.
- Probably true. - Now,...
you've become weak,
following this girl around,
doing whatever she tells you.
Even before that, choosing your opponents carefully,
- avoiding too much struggle. - That's a lie.
No, it isn't, and you know it.
A man with no skills, what does it matter if he wastes his life?
But someone who could be great,...
it's a disgrace if he doesn't become everything he should be.
You've become soft, boy. You need to sharpen yourself again,
because you will face many horrors,
like none you've seen before.
- Trust me. - Trust you?
Like when you gave me that bat piss to drink? 'Here.
'It'll give you protection against their sorcery.' Lies.
Who told you?
I'm a lot smarter than you give me credit for.
- No, you're not. Who told you? - No one.
Liar.
Do you speak to the dead? Other than me?
- No. - You're hiding something.
I can see it in your shit-eating eyes.
- Now tell me the truth. - Fine.
I'm hiding something.
- Say it. - I know who broke the world.
Your father. So?
And the god Whiro had a hand in it.
Go on.
He wars again with Tane for control of the land. There -
is that enough of a secret for you?
Whiro?
The old thief himself.
And the dead must pass him before reaching the afterlife.
And now it makes sense.
Even more glory for our family,
to heal the land... and defeat a god.
Good. Very good.
And don't go to the caves where the girl's tribe are.
Why not?
Because there, the dead pile up at the entry to the afterlife.
What did she say?
- Who? - You know who.
I heard you moaning away.
Nothing.
We made a promise to each other not to lie.
If we can't trust each other, then what's the point?
She said not to go to the caves.
- Why? - Many died there.
Then move your bones, old man.
They could be all dead, you know.
- Psst. - What is it?
Don't tell me they let that madman go.
- Kati!
So many lost -
more than half our people.
Mehe.
They came in the night,...
found a way in through these walls.
- And will again. - And we will fight again.
Mahia?
Tui.
I wish I could say,
'Welcome back.'
- The children.
- Where are they?
Not our tamariki,
our babies.
What do we have now? We have nothing.
Mehe,...
be strong.
Have you seen them?
- Who? - The children.
Have they returned as the dead?
It's only been one night.
- They're alive. - They've gone, child.
- No, they're alive. I know it. - I wish it wasn't so,
- but it is. - Tell them.
Fuck.
Hold on. You believe her?
She was right about your father.
And other things. I've seen them.
I saw them taken with my own eyes.
- I don't care. - Te Paea, listen to her.
You know she has a gift; she's your peer.
Yes, a student, not a tohunga yet.
I'm not a shaman; you're right.
But since this has happened, the spirits sigh to me.
- We can go down there. - What is this madness?
- We've done it before. - Yes.
Yes, and his father died for it. It is the place of the dead!
If the children are still alive,...
- I'll go. - I forbid it.
No more!
You, talk to her. And you,...
how many are there left who can bear children?
Think of the future. The past is gone.
We should go now.
It'll be dark before we can make plans.
And the dead are stronger at night.
Tomorrow, then, when the sun is at its highest.
You'll all die,... for a dream.
You'll be the dead.
Probably true.
Sit.
Sit. I want you to try something.
You said the dead come to you when you least expect it.
Like maggot-infested rats.
Sometimes I think I can hear them, too, in my dreams.
They take me to the afterlife.
What if you can go there on your own?
Close your eyes. Clear your mind -
that shouldn't be too difficult.
- Do you think this a joke? - No.
Please.
Be still.
It doesn't work.
You've just started.
You were asleep.
It doesn't work.
- And usually I call them. - So call them. Close your eyes.
Mother,... where are you?
Someone wants to meet you.
Aue. Dead things.
Come away or you'll be seen.
Greetings, ancestors.
What's wrong you?
- No! - Send me back!
Waka! Argh!
- What is this? - Let him go.
- Now. - Give in...
- ...and he'll live.
Let him go, and I will.
That wasn't very nice.
- Why? - He's infected you.
You've lost your mind to this creature -
you listen to him, but not your own people.
I won't let you throw your life away.
We can't wait for the dead to kill the few of us who are left.
What are you going to do?
Burn those creatures out of existence.
- They're our children. - Not any more.
Don't give up. Do you hear?
Have I a choice?
Argh!
You can be fat for the flame.
Argh!
- Stop that! - Make me,
- you shit!
- Tainui!
What do you want?
- To talk some sense into her. - Go away!
- Tui!
Move, and I'll gut you of your liver...
and eat it in front of you.
You said father was alive, and I didn't listen.
If I had, he might still be here.
I'll follow wherever you lead.
Fill all the tunnels, all the entrances.
- Waka!
Quiet. They might hear you.
- Who? - The rocks
Who do you think?
I need a weapon, a patu.
No, wait!
Not a wooden one.
- We'll come for you. - We can't reach him this way.
- We'll find another way in.
Thank the gods.
Not that any of you helped.
Well? Which way?
You could at least help, you motherless shit-eaters.
Waka!
I don't think that's Waka.
Psst.
What are they doing?
It's Tane.
The children.
We need to get Waka.
- Argh! Shit on you!
Shit on you!
- Tui!
Waka!
- Finally.
Wait. They feel the light.
Why is he shielding the children?
I don't know. We can't get to them.
- There's too many. - I'll draw them away,
- and you get the children. - That's a terrible idea.
Do you have a better one?
I can't think of all of them myself.
You can't think at all if you're dead. You're mad.
- Probably true. - Definitely true.
No, Rangi!
Anei au!
Come and get me!
- Shh, shh, shh.
Come on. Follow me.
How many times do I have to tell you I'm better off alone?!
Go!
- Argh!
- Rangi! - We found the children.
We found the children.
That way! Go! Go!
- No, no! Don't light it!
Go! Go! Don't light it!
- Go, quickly! Go! Go! Go! Go! - Come on! Quick!
- Quick! - My babies!
Waka's still coming! Waka's still coming!
Let him burn with the rest.
- No! You can burn! - No!
Argh!
Tane.
Help me! Help me!
Help yourself!
Thank you.
I think Tane was protecting the children.
So he's a slightly friendlier monster. What of it?
Some of them can still think and feel, not just hate.
Maybe.
Yes, you're right.
Where are you?
I can feel your eyes on me, dead things.
Did you know?
Know what, Waka Nuku Rau?
That it was my father who broke the world.
The signs... suggested it.
Thank you for telling me.
My ancestors,
what of it?
Did you ever honour your ancestors?
Worthless piles of dog vomit.
Your mother?
Your father?
One as evil as the next.
It was hard to build the enthusiasm either way.
You will go to the Great Pa and confront your father.
And cut his throat.
No.
Do you think you can stop me?
If you kill him before the world is fixed, what then?
Fuck the world.
You must listen to me, Waka Nuku Rau.
If your father did this,
then you must find a way for him to fix it.
If you kill him before that,
then you will never find redemption for your many sins,
ever.
Do you understand me?
Be careful, Waka Nuku Rau.
You stand on the edge of a precipice;
not only you,...
but the girl.
Why is Mehe so important to you?
And no more of your pathetic riddles.
Not important to me,...
but she'll be very important to your father.